Download - GAME WRITING INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING [email protected] marcin.sarnek
GAME WRITING INTERACTIVE NARRATIVEINTERACTIVE STORYTELLING
[email protected]://prac.us.edu.pl/~marcin.sarnek
What we’ll do?
LECTURES / semester ONE Intro: Immersion and game writing Defining ‘game writing’ Purposes of game narrative Game writing process – discussion Player in game writing / Player agency/ Player experience
CLASSES / semester TWO Pragmatics of game writing Game writing process – workshops / writing and the graphic
department Game world / story Structuring the story Characters Artifacts / assets Cut scenes and scripted events: Hollywood format vs. what’s needed for
games Dialogue engines / dialogue editors
References
Rafael Chandler, ed. Game Writing Handbook. Boston, MA: Charles River, 2007.
Chris Bateman, ed. Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames. Boston, MA: Charles River, 2007.
IMMERSION, INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING AND GAME WRITINGA LOOSE COLLECTION OF REMARKS
[email protected]://prac.us.edu.pl/~marcin.sarnek
Immersion
Some say it’s a myth Some say it’s what’s in your head
solipsism and virtual reality and video games
Some say it’s what you feel Some say it’s what you experience Most gamers say, nonetheless, it’s what
really matters in video games How does immersion happen,
anyway?
Immersion and Virtual Reality Virtuality Simulation Interaction / Interactivity Artificiality or / and Fictionality (how about ‘reality’ then?)
Convention? Is willing suspension of disbelief necessary?
Does suspension of disbelief actually require ‘believing’ in what’s being shown to the immersant / audience?
Multisensensory illusion
Telepresence IMMERSION
Telepresence
Allows a user / immersant / person to feel as if they were present to give the appearance of being present or to have an effect
at a place other than their true location Transparency of telepresence Dillemmas surrounding transparency
mimesis or diegesis? How about video games? Are they mimetic or diegetic?
Non-diegetic interface. Why? Telepresence ≠ immersion!
Reality and realism. Not the same thing. Simulated reality Virtual worlds Simulated environments
Mediated environment Projected environment Full immersion environment
Realistic and real… Can telepresence and immersion (in
ANY MEDIUM) suffer due to too much realism?
VR and philosophy
solipsism platonism and neo-platonism reality as a construct Subject and the construction of reality
(Descartes) consensus reality
Real uses of VR
Simulation Telemedicine Military technology ScienceInteractive entertainment?
… is often thought to be kind of different.
Yet, immersion in interactive entertainment…
Immersion and video games
Immersion – one of the attributes of games that create high
playability Is immersion about a realistic experience? Multi-sensory engagement
Evolving controllers, photorealistic graphics, ecology of sound Game ecology:
Coherent gameworld Sound environment Solid characters and NPC’s Convincing AI etc.
In short – everything that hinders the experience destroys immersion, while everything that makes the experience
more ‘fluid’ enhances immersion
How? Gameplay is immersive What the game is… rules of the game/ how things
are done / how things happen in the game ‘A series of interesting choices.’ - Sid Meier. ‘The structures of player interaction with the game system
and with other players in the game.’ ‘One or more causally linked series of challenges in a
simulated environment.’ ‘The experience of gameplay is one of interacting with a
game design in the performance of cognitive tasks, with a variety of emotions arising from or associated with different elements of motivation, task performance and completion.’
‘the interactive gaming process of the player with the game.’
(industry figures, quoted after Wikipedia)
How? Game design is immersive Immersive experience requires coherent game
design and level design. E.g. players know what to do in the game and when they don’t game and level design offer rational and coherent solutions. Otherwise, frustration grows, the magic’s gone…
Performance-optimized game design makes the experience as flawless and fluent as possible.
Interface design often makes games unplayable or ‘unimmersive.’
Etc.
How? Graphic Art is immersive Coherent high quality graphics make the game
world immersive. Graphic assets need to fit the gameplay, and
need to be optimized for performance. etc.
How? Sound design is immersive Well researched and designed ecology of sound makes the game
world more immersive Sound effects and soundtrack need to be optimized for performance An interactive movie? Not quite… Yet both diegetic sounds and
non-diegetic sounds make the experience more immersive – like in movies, although on different levels – sound communicates action and its context to the active player, not to a passive audience.
Flawless, communicative, well written, well played, and rich dialogues need to be consistent with gameplay and level design. E.g. dialogue cues need to be triggered when the player has a chance to hear them (so, not in the middle of an explosion – so much for realism… : )) – yet – stichomythia / dichomythia.
Another example: dialogues need to be optimized for performance and platform capabilities (e.g. against the number of possible sound samples / tracks being played simultaneously), yet at the same time they cannot be overrepetitive.
Etc.
… if these definitions are good, they should work with every immersive game…… is it likely that a game that would feature all of these elements would still do poorly to engage players in an immersive experience?
Yet…
Can you think of immersion in PONG? After all – these are just some poorly
rendered squares and rectangles… No sound. No real game world (really?) No
real level design. Context? What context? Gameplay is what matters! For real?
FOR REAL ! Yet, context established by the
story / writing makes the game ‘more immersive’ (well, what’s the story in PONG…?)
Games are done together!
Producers Programmers / coders Graphic artists Game designers Level designers Sound designers Marketing department Last but not least… Writers
What do writers do?
Help the game! The game (and hence gameplay) comes first
Establish context: develop backstory help design game world develop game and level storylines and story arcs develop characters and character arcs design game assets (artefacts, buildings, vehicles, creatures, etc.)
Write dialogues and often monitor voice shoots Write cut-scenes for story driven games and often monitor
cut-scenes production Influence immersive gameplay by designing possible choices
within the story, which relate both to the narrative and to the gameplay and game design, e.g. moral dillemas, choices pertaining to sidekick characters, etc.
Work with other team members throughout the production process to ‘defend the story’ in the game and keep a coherent narrative within the game.