good evening gaming world citizens i am doctor doug beach. today i am sitting down and drinking coffee. there also appears to be a person beside me going by the name of dulcinea. i am not entirely certain who this person is but the powers that be are telling me i have to interview them or i am fired. i will not stall this further here is the interview...
Credit to GZ for this interview.
INSIDE THE GAMER'S STUDIO with Dulcinea
by Doctor Doug Beachgood evening gaming world citizens i am doctor doug beach. today i am sitting down and drinking coffee. there also appears to be a person beside me going by the name of dulcinea. i am not entirely certain who this person is but the powers that be are telling me i have to interview them or i am fired. i will not stall this further here is the interview:
i lied i am wasting more of your time but this time is for real:
Doug Beach PHD: ok first of all who are you??? i make it my business to personally stalk all gw members so this information is already known to me but state this for those out of the loop.
Dulcinea: I’m a nineteen-year-old Canadian, currently in my year off high school. My hobbies are singing, painting, cooking, hiking, writing and dancing. I’ve been in the performing arts since I was three years old when I began modeling. Currently, I’m working toward a career as an actress. This September I will be going to school for Undeclared Arts.
Doug Beach PHD: i also have in my dossier that you like peaches. this is worth mentioning in my opinion. with this said i am now required by contractual obligation to ask about your game making background.
Dulcinea: I started with RM2K3 almost three years ago. A friend of mine was making an RPG and posted some screenshots. I thought- I want to do that too. So I downloaded RM2K3 and began the game I’m still working on. My motivation for making an RPG is really for the purpose of storytelling. For me, there’s almost nothing more cathartic than writing, so I write all the time. This story is so big and has so many intricacies that it allows me a lot of opportunity to write about different cultures, experiences, and characters.
Doug Beach PHD: what is the origins of your name. the origins of my name is that i am a doctor and my name is doug beach. if you could give an explanation like this i will be grateful.
Dulcinea: Dulcinea was the woman whom Don Quixote believed he was in love with. When Don Quixote met a woman named Aldonza, he believed her to be Dulcinea. In truth, she's a representation of the things which we devote ourselves to but aren't real. I liked that idea (and I really like Man of La Mancha!) so I picked the username.
Doug Beach PHD: tell me about your game you have been developing for 3/10ths of a decade. also why should i download this game when it is released instead of kangaroo bingo (with free bonzi buddy installation)?
Dulcinea: The Story of Palis is set on and around a continent called Lithia, where a holy war has raged for over seven-hundred years. The protagonist of the story is Malice Areté (a prince of Theira). The story opens when Malice is nineteen years old. His country, Theira is very small, and –because of an enchanted fog- has long been isolated from the rest of the world. While war and violence cripple most nations, Theira remains out of the fray, and its children live in peace. Now, because he has been looked down upon most of his life and treated as if he will never succeed at anything, Malice develops a very laissez-faire attitude, choosing to shirk his responsibilities and duties, and disregard almost all authority. To most it seems as if he doesn’t care about anything, but deep inside, he dreams of being like the heroes in his favourite epic poem.
if the story of final fantasy one was converted into a food product it would most likely be a ham sandwich. in comparison the palis story would probably be a buffet.When Malice’s trademark negligence more-or-less gets his cousin killed, and allows for a mysterious artifact to be stolen, he is banished by his father, and sent to the continent to fend for himself. Once there, he gladly joins the war, thinking that if he fights well he will become just as great as the heroes of The Epic, and his glory will prove all the prophecies wrong. What I think sets Palis apart from other games is really how its story is shaped by its characters. It’s set in three wars- The Gracian War, The Ragnarok, and the war within the individual. It’s the last which is really the focus of the story. There is already a literary Epic in the world of Palis, and its deeds have already been recorded. This “new” epic (the plot of the game) is supposed to be telling of what is never written; that is, the humanity of the characters themselves. Some have looked at my characters and said “Wow cliché.” You have the optimistic young man, the veteran, the healer etc. What is being missed by people who say this is the fact that it is all intentional.
If you look at the ancient Greco-Roman cultures, you’ll see how much stories like The Odyssey, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and The Iliad really affected people. In those days, such stories had the power to shape entire generations of people by setting examples for them. The faithful Penelopea, the clever Odysseus, Hector the prince- all of these characters were larger than life in their goodness (or at least, the classical ideal of goodness). People would take these examples to heart and try to emulate their heroes. I wanted to play on this kind of impossible idolization. I have made them on the archetypes that many have named (the soldier, the optimist etc), but given them fatal flaws and personalities that contradict these archetypes. You have Malice –who by assumption of his archetype- should be very capable, and fearless, but isn’t. Nichi –the good prince and soldier, who hates war. Artemis, the strong husband, who ends up failing his wife and daughter. Titania who believes she should never show strength, yet does. The pressure that these characters feel to fit the ideal is hurtful to them, and yet they continue to act the way they do because of what’s dictated by their culture.
owning tablets from the epic of gilgamesh is considerably rarer than having a sealed copy of panzer dragoon sagaAside from these struggles, I also believe the setting of the story is integral to its appeal. There is a rich cultural background to Lithia- language, art, ethos, literature, religion and –of course- the culture of war. I wanted to create a world that –while fantastic with its use of monsters, magic, and deities- felt real to the player. And I guess that what I wanted to do with the characters too- make them fantastic, but still allow the players to find themselves in each one of them. I also think that the way the story shows good and evil sets it apart. Too often in RPGs you have good, and then you have evil. In The Story of Palis, it’s a little harder to tell the difference- along with heroic and not-so-heroic characters lying on both sides of the war, almost every character believes that they are doing the right thing. Not to mention the plot is quite twisty, but that’s a given since it’s an RPG.
Doug Beach PHD: my reports say during the development of this game your hard drive deleted. please elaborate
Dulcinea: Well, I stopped working on the game for over a year after that happened. I was very upset, and didn’t want to start all over again. Then one day I just decided I would make the game over. I’m glad I did- and, in a way, I’m glad that the old game was cleared. I had gotten so much better as a writer and as a gamemaker. The game I’m making now is worlds away from the first one I made- it’s better in every respect.
Doug Beach PHD: the release date july 2008 appears in the trailer for your video game. tell us what we can expect on this date.
Dulcinea: It's sort of a demo sort of a full game. I've divided the game into books (parts) so that I will be able to offer installments to players within shorter periods of time. When I'm finished, I will release the game with all the parts together. I'm not sure when that will be. Right now, the plot is divided into four books, but that may change.
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---------- ADVERTISEMENT ----------Doug Beach PHD: can you please tell us something that illustrates the difficulties in game making? i am not entirely certain independent developers are demoralized enough and i would like to crush their dreams further.
Dulcinea: I think the hardest part of the process is translating thoughts and feelings into 16x16 sprites, and blocks of text. With books, we are given the benefit of descriptions- at any moment, the author can tell us exactly what the character is feeling. With film we have the actors’ reactions to guide us, and with radio we have the sound of their voices. In games, we can only rely on the dialogue and what limited range of expression we can get across with our facesets and our sprites.
Doug Beach PHD: one can only assume anyone who makes games likes pain. given this statement is there any additional reason you make games (besides pain)
Dulcinea: I think the best part about making a game is being able to create something where there was nothing before. Within my own computer, I’ve managed to create a world, and create characters who I probably know as well as myself by now! I really can’t wait until others are able to experience what I’ve created.
Doug Beach PHD: if gaming world was a singular entity what would you say to it.
Dulcinea: I guess- thanks for reading the interview of someone who's not too known here. I look forward to playing your games in the future.
Doug Beach PHD: they are not paying me enough money to ask you any more questions. bye.
Dulcinea: Thanks for the interview!
this is dulcinea
The Story of Palis topic
The Story of Palis trailerin any event you should probably check out dulcineas game "the story of palis". it has already earned my coveted golden frying pan award and more importantly i get paid .003 cents per click on the topic links. please click on the links as many times as you can otherwise there is a 90% chance i am eating macaroni today.
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Inside the Gamer's Studio #6: Dulcinea