[Firesteel]

As a game design student doing work with narrative, I thought I'd let you guys know that I wrote a short analysis of FreeSpace as a whole, in addition to Transcend, Vassago's Dirge, and Derelict specifically in how they deal differently with player agency and overall narrative structure. I've posted a few excerpts below. I'll admit I wrote these fairly late at night and they were primarily designed to answer questions, rather than be a part of a larger overall essay.

FreeSpace as a whole has a somewhat strange interaction with player agency as the story never professes to give the player any agency and the missions themselves are generally limited in what the player can accomplish, though not usually with what they are allowed to accomplish; an important distinction. FreeSpace stories almost always have some narrative reason for ordering the player around the way they do. In most stories the player is a member of the military, meaning their job is to follow orders of their superiors (the game in this case). Even when that line gets blurry, as in Transcend with its focus on forcing the player to run, the narrative is still structured in such a way that doesn't suggest any other options to the player. Once we get into the gameplay, a player is given a fair bit more agency, primarily through the ability to move anywhere and interact in the same way with every entity in the space. Interestingly, in spite of how heavily scripted missions are, they never suggest the player cannot do something and instead focus the player on what they should be doing. For example, in one of the later missions of Vassago's Dirge, the player is tasked with spotting targets for beam cannon artillery and protecting a smaller capital ship. Both the narrative logic building up to the mission as well as the mission's structure don't suggest the player should be trying to accomplish other goals or in any way break from what they are supposed to be doing, otherwise the ship they are serving on will get destroyed. This careful meshing of the story with the gameplay is what gives FreeSpace its high sense of agency, even if in reality the player is forced into performing a specific way. In well designed missions, the player isn't being forced to do something by an invisible entity, instead their adversaries are acting in a way that forces them to respond in a specific way.

In my opinion, the above excerpt is really the only piece that actually deals with something that is less specific to the study of interactive narrative than the rest of what I wrote. So in short, some of us in academia (probably just me) are keeping an eye on what goes on here and some of the awesome stuff you guys work on will get a bit more awareness!

[ScottFreeCapital]

I think that's pretty awesome that you put together a paper pertaining to FreeSpace and its fan expanded universe per se.

One thing that strikes me about FreeSpace, and always has, is that at the end of the day the mechanics are actually pretty minimal. Sure, you have a lot that goes into the simulation portion of it, but at the end of the day the thing that really makes it special is the way the different pieces tie together.

FreeSpace isn't just a shooter, but then it is - it becomes more than one once the player is immersed in the story and when the game world is used to portray certain themes and ideas beyond what the player has the scope of altering. If FreeSpace were "mechanic heavy" then chances are the story would clash with what the player had the ability to alter. Stated differently, if the mechanics were highly involved and dealt the player a huge degree of control then the players would just create their own stories.

I think the game does a marvelous job of balancing the two, and so too have the modders of this community.

[karajorma]

For example, in one of the later missions of Vassago's Dirge, the player is tasked with spotting targets for beam cannon artillery and protecting a smaller capital ship. Both the narrative logic building up to the mission as well as the mission's structure don't suggest the player should be trying to accomplish other goals or in any way break from what they are supposed to be doing, otherwise the ship they are serving on will get destroyed. This careful meshing of the story with the gameplay is what gives FreeSpace its high sense of agency, even if in reality the player is forced into performing a specific way. In well designed missions, the player isn't being forced to do something by an invisible entity, instead their adversaries are acting in a way that forces them to respond in a specific way.

When referring to a mission created by Axem, I'd be very careful about the distiction between the game telling you should be doing something and the assumption that the mission won't check that you are doing something else. I remember when we worked on Beyond the Red Line that Axem's mission (and mine for that matter) included completely different mission paths based on the player disobeying orders. I don't know if he did the same in VD but I definitely wouldn't put it past him.

[Firesteel]

@karajorma
I wouldn't be surprised if there were hooks in there for alternate paths. What I'm referring to was mostly about what the mission tells you and what you perceive you are allowed to do. The perception of what you are allowed to do combined with what you are actually allowed to do is what some of us in academia believe gives that feeling of agency. If a game incorporates the player not doing what they are supposed to, that's even better, especially if it doesn't tell the player they have alternatives.

That specific anecdote was included mostly out of it being really fresh in my head while I was writing, partially because of how many times I'd failed . I'm also trying to get my point across to people who've never heard of the retail game, let alone any of the work done here.

@Scott
I'd agree with you that FreeSpace's mechanics are on the simple side, which is to its benefit. FreeSpace also has a large amount of depth to its mechanics mainly through the systems they build, which have been improved upon by the community's creativity.

I'm not sure if I agree that FreeSpace having more mechanics would inherently alter its gameplay and story relationship. One of the most important reasons for FreeSpace's feeling of agency is how your available interactions, with a few exceptions, are the same regardless of the mission, just the consequences for those actions change. This includes those stealth missions where you still have weapons access and can get involved in combat.

[qwadtep]

You sort of have to account for alternate paths. If you don't account for alternate paths then you risk softlocks when the player does something unexpected and breaking immersion.

[Firesteel]

I'm not saying you don't have to account for player behavior. If you play any table top game you very much know that players never do what you want  . What I'm referring to is the way that many campaigns structure missions to force the player to do specific things without being overbearing about it. Of course as a mission author, you don't want players to be able to easily break the mission script, but your goal should be to guide them as subtly and effectively as possible.

A fairly recent event in the Sixth Wonder springs to mind when the mission got stuck after all my wingmen died and the messages never triggered other events, in regards to what qwadtep is referring to.

[karajorma]

You sort of have to account for alternate paths. If you don't account for alternate paths then you risk softlocks when the player does something unexpected and breaking immersion.

I know you have to account for them, but often games account for them in ways that break immersion (invisible walls, etc). With the exception of the 75,000m limit (750,000 in SCP) FS2 handles this exceptionally well.

What I'm talking about in Beyond the Red Line though is not a simple attempt to guide the player back onto the main mission path should they choose to disobey orders but an entirely different mission path which only appears if you choose to do something that is completely contrary to your orders. That sort of thing is much rarer in both FS2 missions and games in general.