story telling and_narrative
TRANSCRIPT
FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGNSTORY TELLING & NARRATIVE
Sayed AhmedBSc. Eng. in CSc. & Eng. (BUET)MSc. in CSc. (U of Manitoba)http://sayed.justetc.nethttp://www.justETC.net
Just E.T.C for Business, Education, and Technology Solutions
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TOPICS Focus on story oriented games How to weave a story into a game Examine what makes a good story How to keep the story from overwhelming the
game play Define interactive story and narrative Discuss linear and non-linear storytelling and
mechanism Scripted conversations
To participate in dialog with non-player characters Discuss episodic story telling
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WHY STORIES IN GAMES? Some players want stories along with the game play Some games require one
Adventure Games Action Adventure Role-Playing Games
Will story improve a game? Depends on the genre of the game How good is the story How you tell the story
Four reasons to have stories in Games Add significantly to the entertainment that a game
offers Stories attract a wider audience
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WHY STORIES IN GAMES? Stories help keep players interested in long
games Bejeweled, Checkers, Tic-tac-toe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAOA7TYtXTs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVlm2tuf_kg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbLFPl4A4fE
Stories offer novelty A long game need variety Compelling story provides the variety
Stories help to sell the game Marketing
What is good storytelling? Read creative writing books
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WHY STORIES IN GAMES? How stories can be incorporated into games How interactive stories differ from traditional ones
What kind of entertainment experience you want to provide to the players
What kind of players you want to serve Space invader – one line of story Dreamfall and Discworld Noir – incorporates stories like a
novel Storytelling offers half the entertainment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XrkGztFr-0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGDHlRalQFE
Game play comes first than story In some games, the story overwhelmed the game play
The initial games derived from movie or book franchise Build player centric game
If it helps include, otherwise do not include..
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HOW MUCH STORY A GAME SHOULD INCLUDE Factors that affect
Length Characters Degree of realism
Ms. Pac-Man http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOMa8i9w7-Q http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man
Emotional richness Want to inspire greater variety of emotions – include a story Single player gameplay seldom inspire any rich emotion
Other than Pleasure in success, frustration at failure
Deeper emotions come only when the player identifies himself With characters and problems – happens in well written story
Half-Life
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KEY CONCEPTS Story
Is an account of a series of events either historical or fictitious Credible Coherent Dramatically Meaningful Credible
People can believe the story Coherent
Story must not be irrelevant Must harmonize to create a pleasing whole
Dramatically Meaningful Must involve something or someone the
listener/reader cares about
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KEY CONCEPTS Interactive Stories
Stories are usually written in the past Interactive stories are written in present
Game story are in present Includes three kinds of events
Player events Game events Narrative Events Player Events
Actions taken by the player as part of the Game Play Actions involved to overcome the challenges If the players’ actions can affect the plot and change it’s future
– they are called dramatic actions Game Events
Initiated by the core mechanics Can be response to the players’ actions The user may be able to affect how these occur
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KEY CONCEPTS Narrative Events
Events whose content the player cannot change May be able to control whether such events
occur or not Narrates some actions or story to the player Players may not interact with this
Interactive Story A story may be interactive even the players’
actions do not change the game plot Agency
The power to change the direction of the plot – future events
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KEY CONCEPTS Narrative
The text or the discourse produced by the act of Narration In an interactive story
Narrative is the part of the story that as a designer you narrate to the players
Not the actions that the players take Nor the events created by core mechanics
The Role of Narrative Present events over which the player has no control Usually – events that happen to the avatar that the player
cannot control/prevent Events that happen when the avatar is not present But we still want the player to know about the events Scenes depicting success or failure are usually narrative
events
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KEY CONCEPTS Role of Narrative
Show the prolog to the game or the current level Introduces the player to the situation in the
game Create a background Players who don’t like stories in Games can
ignore them But many players enjoy them a lot
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COMMONLY USED NARRATIVE BLOCKS As an opening sequence to introduce the
story at the beginning As an ending sequence To wrap up the story when the player
completes the game As an inter-level sequence
A briefing about the next level events In the form of cut scenes – short non –
interactive sequences Presented during play that interrupt the game
momentarily
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EXAMPLES Half-life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x3wQ7Opltg The player’s avatar takes a tram ride through the
research complex… A voice explains why he is there This opening sequence introduces the game world Sets the stage for the experience to follow
Narrative blocks presented between levels usually Last for 30 seconds to 4-5 minutes Beginning and ending blocks can be longer
Provide important narrative bookends to the entire experience
Halo-2 the introductory scene is more than 5 minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P3Sry-SvGA
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NARRATIVE BLOCKS Cut-scenes during play – should be shorter
As they interrupt the flow and rhythm of the player’s actions Fast-moving game players are annoyed (real time
strategy games, action adventure games) Slower moving game players may like them
Adventure games Role playing games
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FORMS OF NARRATIVES A pre-rendered movie A cut scene displayed by the graphics engine Scrolling text that introduces a mission Voice over commentary that explains the
back story of the game Long monolog by a character Individual lines of dialog are not narratives Long interactive dialog between NPCs
qualifies as narrative
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BALANCING NARRATIVE AND GAMEPLAY Remember
The more narrative you include, the more the player has to sit doing nothing
Games must find appropriate balance Designer’s need to narrate and players need to act
Too much narrative = bad value of money for the players
Players pay to act in a fantasy Computer game is about interactivity
Provide enough narrative to enrich the game world
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DRAMATIC TENSION AND GAME PLAY TENSION Dramatic tension
What will happen next Game Play tension
Desire to overcome a challenge False analogy
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STORY TELLING ENGINE
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STORY TELLING ENGINE Game with story
Interrupt the story to introduce narratives/stories Narrative events must be interspersed among the game play events Storytelling engine does the weaving Weaves narrative events to Gameplay Core Mechanics
Oversee the players’ progress through the challenges Storytelling Engine
Oversees progress through the story They must work together to create a single seamless experience Core Mechanics Manages
Player Events In Game Events
Storytelling Engine Manages the narrative events Keeps track of the progress of the story Determines what part of the plot should come next Determine the story has reached a critical point and trigger the core
mechanics to cause change to the internal economy of the game
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STORYTELLING ENGINE Level designers are also involved Triggering the cut scene And the transfer of the Avatar’s property
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LINEAR STORY Agency
Let the player change the game plot and also change the outcome
Stories that player cannot change – linear Stories that player can change – non-linear Linear
Interactive but interactions are limited to contributing actions Half Life Star Craft
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ipBCEZwbM0
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LINEAR STORY Require less content Storytelling engine is simpler Less prone to bugs and absurdities Deny the player agency Are capable of greater emotional power
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NONLINEAR STORIES Branching Stories Fold Back Stories Emergent Narrative
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NONLINEAR STORY Branching
Player have a different experience each time he plays the game
Offers many plots – that split from each other at different points
Responsibility of designers What are the plots How do they relate to each other
Storytelling engine keeps track what is the current plot Core mechanics will send triggers to inform the next possible
plots Immediate, Deferred, and Cumulative Influence
Immediate: The event cause a branching immediately Deferred: Early decision influences later events – deferred Cumulative: Some decisions together defines the branching at
a later point
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BRANCHING
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DISADVANTAGES OF BRANCHING Extremely expensive to implement Player must play the game repeatedly to see
all the content Every critical event has to branch to it’s own
unique section of the tree Plan out the structure in the concept stage Resource requirements expand very rapidly
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FOLD BACK STORIES Compromise between Branching and linear
stories
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FOLD BACK STORIES
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EMERGENT NARRATIVE Research problem Does not contain narrative blocks created by
the writer The story emerges from the act of playing
games Sims can create emergent narrative The core-mechanics should be able to
generate coherent credible dramatic story AI Research Field: Automated Storytelling
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GAME STORY ENDINGS The ending of a story is one of the most
critical emotional moments in a game Craft the endings to evoke specific feelings How many endings should your story have?
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CHALLENGES AND CHOICES Games that include a lot of decision making
esp. moral choices, which feel dramatically important Should be non-linear Offer multiple endings
Choice and actions should reflect the endings Good acts should result to positive endings
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WHEN TO USE MULTIPLE ENDINGS Each one should be dramatically meaningful
and Emotionally consistent If not much dramatic freedom – multiple
endings not required
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GRANULARITY Frequency with which the game presents
elements of the narrative Star craft
Tells a long story Presents narratives only between missions Coarse Granularity
Coarse Fine
Infinitesimal granularity is the target Avatar and his actions (half life) No sitting and watch – but play where stories also evolve
consistently Granularity is Relative
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MECHANISMS FOR ADVANCING THE PLOT The story as a series of challenges and
choices The story as a Journey The Story as a Drama Challenges and choices
Advance only when the player meet challenges or make decisions
Plot change and Game story movement Wing Commander - leads to different story
Story as a journey Avatar’s movement trigger the storytelling
engine to advance the plot
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STORY AS A JOURNEY Benefits
Provides novelty Continuously sees new things Experience fresh and interesting
Allows the player to control the pace But can be time limited One way door concept Role playing games
Stories as journeys But highly non-linear stories
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STORY AS A DRAMA Advances with the passage of time itself Story takes place in real time No trigger from the core mechanics to the
storytelling engine Night Trap operates as a drama
Protecting teenagers from monsters Facade
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EMOTIONAL LIMITS OF INTERACTIVE STORIES Story less Games
Don’t try to arouse complex emotions Thrill of victory Agony of defeat Frustration of repeated failure
With story, you can create Create characters that the players care about Subtle relationships among these characters
Betrayal by a lover Satisfaction at justice done Protective instinct for a child
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EMOTIONAL LIMITS OF NONLINEAR STORIES May not always lead to most powerful
emotional experience Non-linear stories sometimes restrict the
ending to a single or multiple emotionally meaningful endings
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EMOTIONAL LIMITS OF AVATAR BASED GAMES The Avatar must be alive until the end of the
game But player can reload the game if the avatar dies No emotional experience at the death of the
Avatar – the story ends If you want to affect the player’s feelings with the
death of a character your game can kill a side character Avatar’s friend
Planet Fall: Sidekick Final Fantasy Vii: The player’s allay
Party based games Provide more freedom to kill off members Other characters can take the story forward
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CHARACTER ARCHETYPES Allies
Those that help the hero Shadow The main enemy that must be defeated The ultimate evil Does not have to be a character Sometimes more important than the hero Can be very present or hidden until the end
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SCRIPTED CONVERSATIONS AND DIALOG TREES A scripted conversation
Allows the player to engage in conversations with non-player characters – storytelling games
Special mode All other activities are unavailable Chooses a line of dialog Never winter Nights 2
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STRUCTURE OF A DIALOG TREE The Dialog Tree Data Structure Same sentences with different emotions As a designer you should provide the dialog
tree as well
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DESIGN ISSUES FOR DIALOG TREES Conditional branches and exchanges Another approach
Flexible list of options
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BENEFITS OF SCRIPTED CONVERSATIONS It produces a sequence of plausible remarks and
replies Illustrate the personality of the Avatar and the NPCs Wise guy – Phrase Monkey Island Games
Guybrush It’s a real part of the story The player’s choices can have effect on the
story as well
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WHEN TO WRITE THE STORY Story should be written in the elaboration
stage Not in the concept stage Concept stage
Define the player’s role The kind of game play he will experience A list of levels or episodes that you may want to
include in the game
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OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Frustrated Author Syndrome
Giving the player no freedom Episodic Delivery
Selling Player’s entertainment a few hours at a time rather than a long story
Unlimited Series A set of episodes
Each consisting of a self-contained story The plot is introduced and solved A single theme or context runs through the entire
series Stories exist so independently that you can play
each episode in any order and still makes a sense A through introduction…
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SERIALS Infinite sequence of episodes Episodes are not self contained Ends at a critical event to create a strong
desire to see/play the next episode Get players hooked in a story and pay
episode after episode
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LIMITED SERIES Features from both unlimited and serial Single episode introduces and solves one plot But with other plot lines it can be carried
over to the next episode
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POTENTIAL AND LIMITS OF EPISODIC DELIVERY Industry already makes games in the
unlimited series It may start to make games in the limited
series And encourage to buy the whole set Harry Potter series of games May work well with the internet models PC or console games
Do not leave the story unfinished
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SUMMARY Most video games will benefit from a coherent and
dramatic story Designer should remember the interactivity
Do not write novels Linear, no-linear, multiple ending
Will depend on the genre And Game play
For more engaging, deeper emotional response, greater satisfaction Designer should maintain Good story that maintains
player interests, shows character growth, balances narrative elements, remains enjoyable to play
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REFERENCES Fundamentals of Game Design, 2nd Edition,
Ernest Adams, Prentice Hall, 2006, ISBN-10: 0131687476. ISBN-13: 978-0131687479
http://computer.justetc.net