As many Train2Game students will be aware, dialogue can be a very important factor in the success of a game, but a game doesn’t need a character that says anything at all in order to be successful.

Just look at Portal 2 for example, which as the Train2Game blog reported, held No.1 in the UK charts for two weeks.  Valve writer Robert Wolpaw spoke about why protagonist Chell  is silent during a talk at NYU’s Game Centre, and revealed that it’s because she “could be anyone”

“It could be you. There’s the silent protagonist, which I don’t know is specifically a Valve thing, but it’s a thing” he said “It’s probably a little bit tougher in Half-Life, because it’s slightly more realistic and there’s conversations that are happening and you kind of have to write around why Gordon isn’t saying anything.

“I don’t think people are super invested in the character of Chell…obviously because we haven’t given her much character. But they’re invested in the relationship they have as the player. We always assumed she could talk, she just chooses not to, what with robots all being dicks, why give them the satisfaction?”

Wolpaw also discussed how Chell is used to emphasise the comedy in Portal 2.

“There’s this thing with comedy…there’s sort of two different patterns,” he said “One is, you’re the straight man in a world gone mad, and the other one is you’re a crazy person in a straight world. Portal is definitely the world gone mad straight man, and the straight man is you. Because you have to write in the margins in a game, time is at a premium, so the fact that there’s already this established thing where you have a silent protagonist, that saves us a lot of time.

“You may want to know Chell’s backstory, you may want to hear her say things, but I guarantee, if she had to say her straight man lines at the expense of half of the other dialog, it would suck.” he concluded.

As reported by the Train2Game blog, Valve claim that Portal 2 is their best single player game.

Of course, many Train2Game students will also be familiar with Valve’s other prominent silent protagonist – Gordon Freeman of the Half-Life series.

So Train2Game, why do you think Valve have had so much success with silent protagonists? Would you consider putting one in your games? Or do you believe the industry is moving towards more dialogue in games?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: MTV via VG247]