Game Story Development Lesson 3 Demonstrate an understanding

Game Story Development Lesson 3

• Demonstrate an understanding of game genres and it’s codes and convention • Analyse existing games and evident your understanding of its genre • Compare two games of the same genre Aims and Objectives

You have been asked to explain the following areas (with illustrative examples): • Forms of storytelling • Game genres • Approaches • Representation • Emotional themes • Interactive story • Writing strategies Assignment 1

Quick analysis of The Legend of Zelda Genre: Action adventure RPG Narrative: Will Wright’s Structuralism theory Representation: Female lead – weak, society is weak. Ganon – ginger. Interactive story: Cut scenes, player control, dialogue. Fan fiction. Emotional themes: Relationship between man and the bird/competitiveness (Skyward). Heroism, courage, hope. Relationship between Link and Zelda.

• Genre • Narrative • Representation • Emotional themes • Interactive Story Elements of game story: Recap

• ”A means of constructing both the audience and the reading subject” (Fiske 1987, 114) • “As a filmmaker you get typecast just as much as an actor does, so I'm trapped in a genre that I love, but I'm trapped in it!” (Romero) • ‘The concept of genre offers the possibility of recognizing similarities even in the midst of great diversity. ’ (Shepherd & Watters, 1998, pp 97)

• The word genre comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for 'kind' or 'class'. • Genres were defined by Film Production Companies (Warner Bros. – Gangster films, MGM – Big budget, Ealing Studios – Comedy) • Now they are widely used to describe a type • It is a definition of a type according to the codes and conventions of that product What is genre?

• First-person shooter – Halo • MMO FPS (massively multiplayer online first person shooter) – Planet. Side • Light gun shooter – Duck Hunt • Shoot ‘em up – Space Invaders • Tactical shooter - Medal of Honour • Third-person shooter – Gears of War • • No narrative during online games Campaign For fun Can be mixed with horror, adventure, warzone and RPG The ‘Shooter’ genre

• In groups of 3 -4 research a given genre (25 mins) • • Horror Simulation Adventure RPG Task 1 • Do these genres go into other genres? • Sub genres • Codes and conventions? • Examples of games? • Effect on narrative