BRINGING SCI FI TO THE VIDEO GAMES SCENE
By Kurt
McClung, Scenarist of Flashback
What is Sci
Fi? What defines the genre?
Sci Fi is what humanity and
all that defines it could be. It's the "what if?" where all other
fiction is simply what happened. Jules Vernes and H.G. Wells were forefathers:
"what if" there was another world in the center of the earth, "what
if" man could go to the moon, "what if" we could travel in time?
Science Fiction started out as a question and it involved a new discovery or
new invention, before they had been applied to reality.
How has Sci Fi
evolved since the genre was first categorized? When did it actually
start?
The
biggest change concerns the expectations the fans of science fiction are
putting on the genre. When it all started it was considered hypothetical
fantasy, and now it's taken on a role of prophetic prediction. People now go
around saying that whatever man can imagine will one day become reality, and
recent technological discoveries are proving that to be true. Where science
fiction used to be a warning system against wrong turns for humanity, it's
becoming more like watch towers not only steering us away from rocks but also
pointing us in the direction of safe ports.
The
messages and themes generally treated by Sci Fi can be broken down into two
sub-categories that follow the same pattern. There are the dystopias; those
horrible possible futures where mankind has gone down a dark and dreary path
and is on a course of total destruction, and then there are the utopias, where
mankind has made tremendous progress and has created something better for
itself, but is in danger of being destroyed by some outside force. Typical
dystopias in SF are Gattica, Escape from New York, A.I., Total Recall, Planet
of the Apes and Terminator. Typical Utopias are Star Trek, Star Wars and
eventually Minority Report (where the science being showcased is the danger
threatening humanity). Utopias are harder to write but when they work, they are
great.
Flashback
is a Utopian Science Fiction story. Humanity has colonized the solar system and
is doing really well. We've got terraformed jungles on Titan and everyone has
free circulation, cool clothes, food and a place to live. We've also got some
kick entertainment shows like the Death Tower. The only problem are the Morphs
from another galaxy that trying to take it all away from us... turn us into a
single mega-mind.
How did Sci Fi classics influence Flashback?
Flashback
is a sci-fi classic that was greatly influenced by the 1990's blockbuster
films. Special Effects reached a new level with Terminator, Blade Runner, Total
Recall, and Robocop to name just a few... Flashback brought that energy to a
video game, and started to tell a story in the game.
How did Flashback influence the Sci Fi genre?
It was on the coat-tails of a Sci-Fi tornado. AND it
was the first video game to shoot for high quality animation and storytelling
in the game. Flashback was immersive interactive entertainment, and not just a
video game. For the first time you were part of a story. The movies in
Hollywood were doing something great for SCI-FI, and as a result, SCI-FI was
now doing something great for video games. There is no better place to write a
sci-fi story than in this "new" interactive media called video games.
Video games were the future, and that's why the match was so perfect. Video
games were delivering SCI-FI's promise for a mind-blowing world, and Flashback
was one of its first tailor-made stories.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Flashback
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