Now, nobody in particular said it was – that I know of – but with the increasing number of talks regarding emergent gameplay and freedom in games, I thought you might think so.

Just let me point out two of the best games I’ve ever played: Call of Duty 4 and Portal. Both were critically acclaimed, receiving numerous and various amounts of “Game of the Year”, “Most Innovative Design”, “Best Writing”, and “Best New Game Mechanic” awards (I’m probably even missing some). And yet, you can’t tell me of game that’s more linear than these two. So what have we there?

Historically, games were made by programmers and artists: they had an idea, tried it out and got it out the door if it worked for their friends. But of course, no matter how skilled they are at what they do, they’re not necessarily skilled at the craft of making games.

So what ways are there to expand the world of possible in a game? I see two of them:

• The cheap one: you write a game based on smart interoperable modules; an AI that’s responsive to the environment, a well-integrated physic system, a set of user inputs that lets the player free enough, etc. That’s how you get a sandbox-typed game, from which comes emergent gameplay. Deus Ex, GTA, there are plenty of other examples, as it is the easiest way to increase the quality of your game, because it uses the resources companies already have at hand: programmers (hence the “cheap”, which wasn’t meant to be pejorative).

• The elaborated one: you elevate the craft of making games to an art. You have people that are aware of the narrative technics specific to games; you integrate your linear storyline with your game mechanics. You might end up with something incredibly scripted and linear, but if it’s as immersive as COD4, how is that a bad thing?

I think this more elaborated way of making games is still a very young one, but let’s get ready for more: the game industry is maturing, and this is a sign of it.

PS: On a side note, if you’d ask me to name a company that’s doing this well, I’d have to go with Valve; they have a lots of interesting publications on this topic over here, notably Stylization With a Purpose and Integrating Narrative and Design.