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In most video games, the computer-controlled characters have neither names nor personality. In first person shooters, they show up, shoot at you, get shot, die and are quickly forgotten. Enemies rarely run away to hide in an alley and wait for you to walk pass, nor do they play dead, have nervous breakdowns, call their moms or run away only to come back later when you least expect it.
In strategy games, you send hundreds of troops into battle but do you know their names or feel bad when they die? Do the "units" plead or yell when you send them on suicide missions? And where are the protesters and the angry letters from the children whose families you've killed? Role playing games are a little better. Sometimes the characters even have names. But those characters don't react to most of what you do - in how many games do the women get mad when your male character walks into the woman's restroom (as far as we know, only one, and only in one room). Created in 2009, Shikigami Games is a tiny Minnesota-based game developer focused on making games filled with intelligent characters. And we're going to revolutionize the industry! How do we know? We don't - every game company claims they're going to change things and most release games that are just like the ones they complain about. Maybe we'll do that too. But our hope is to build something a little better. |