Storytelling Game Design Vishnu Kotrajaras Ph D Designers

Storytelling Game Design Vishnu Kotrajaras, Ph. D

Designer’s story n Many game has one predetermined story – Story told with cut scene n Some game allows simple branching – But they are usually limited, and predetermined by the programmer anyway

Player’s story Mini story unique to the player, of how he won that level n The idea is to merge designer’s story and player’s story into one n – Allowing what player does to have impact on the main story – Dungeon and dragons • Dungeon master leads the game and telling the story as it happens, but he adds things according to what player does • Neverwinter Nights – Computer can’t do this, so we have to anticipate what players can do • Do your best, you can’t come up with every possibility anyway

Dungeon & Dragons and d 20 game www. privateerpress. com

www. wizards. com/dnd monsters Armors & weapons items

Neverwinter Nights

Places for storytelling n Out-of-game n In-game n External materials

Out-of-game storytelling n The player is not playing when the story is told, such as – cut-scenes: cinematic techniques – Text briefing before mission – Images: • • Map (Zelda, a link to the past) suggestion of a next challenge recap of what the player has achieved Comic book style – Audio • Together with document or mission briefing (X-Wing) • Can save budget for cut-scene

Zelda shows map guide before each journey Admiral Ackbar briefs you in X-wing

X-wing versus Tie fighter text briefing

– But don’t let it interrupt gameplay (players want to play) • The 7 th Quest (or any FMV game is a good example of FMV’s failure because of using it too much)

Designing cut scenes n Consistent visuals between cut-scene and gameplay n Many games use the same graphic engine for cut-scene and gameplay – Pac-Man – Karateka – Zelda (2 D and 3 D) – Metal Gear Solid

n Games that don’t use the same graphic engine in cut scenes – Command & Conquer • Cut scenes between levels, but uses live actors. So it looks very different from the in-game environments – Mechwarrior 2, Centipede 3 D, Final Fantasy VII • Super-high polygon, pre-rendered 3 D (much more beautiful) • Disjointed visual experience! This reminds player that this is a game!

Red alert 2 Mechwarrior 2 cut-scene Mechwarrior 2 real game

Centipede (PS) real game Centipede (PS) cut-scene

FFVII screenshots and cut scenes

n Remember, cut scene is for single player to experience – Therefore it is not like watching a film in a cinema – So it must be like reading a book if possible – Player must have freedom to stop, read text with her own pace, or re-watch cut scene

Designing cut scenes n Early final fantasy: None (bad) – Players have to hack to watch the movie file n Final Fantasy X, X-2 – Can’t re-watch cut scene right away, but can do later at a movie location – Cinema experience when first watch (can’t rewind but can pause if you want) – But allows freedom of watching eventually

FFX now graphics are almost the same for cut scenes and normal scenes

n The Last Express – “Egg save” allows players to go back and re-watch cut scene at any time n Damage Incorporated – Interactive mission briefing – Can flip back and forth between images and documents – Pause, rewind, fast forward spoken dialog

The last express (real-time adventure) Damage Incorporated

n What about skipping cut scenes? – Necessary, since players may have played many times and will get bored if he is unable to skip – The best is to allow skipping forward and back within the cut scenes, • Especially for very long ones • but this is quite rare at the moment

Cut-scene examples n Most famous = Final Fantasy n Tekken, what? – Cut scene before the gameplay and after finishing the game with one character – Characters do not show personalities during gameplay – Arenas have noting to do with the story – Why have a story at all? (yes, reward cut scene for finishing the game)

Cut scene from Tekken 4 Tekken 5

In-Game storytelling n Story occurring while playing – Setting configurations – Choosing conversations – Pre-mission planning n Half-Life has only in-game storytelling – Chat – Announcement on PA – NPC behavior n Command & Conquer – In-game storytelling in mission design – Otherwise, cut scenes n Soul Edge – Players have some control for the story at the end (mixing ingame and out-of-game)

Soul Calibur 2

Techniques for in-game storytelling n Text – Signs, notes, books that players can read – Graffiti on the wall n Level settings – Centipede: garden – Monopoly: real estate – RPG: Scene can tell about inhabitant of an area, including the area’s past • Advent children (not a game, but good example)

FFVII – Advent Children

Techniques for in-game storytelling (2) n Dialog – Conversation with NPC – Items in the game: PC terminal, PA systems, tape

Phoenix Wright

n NPC behavior – Two people that hate each other will argue – NPC in a peaceful village may flee when seeing our weapons – In a hostile town, NPC may attack players who draw swords, demanding players to give up weapons – NPC may interact with other NPCs in various ways

n Marathon – Lots of computer terminals • Reveals more plots • Objective of current level • But the game is still active – Player can be attacked while sitting at a terminal – Keep tension of real-time – Yes, player can control the reading speed and choose the page he wants to read

n Damage Incorporated – Dialog • • Response to player’s order Comment about mission Response to player’s performance Different teammates react differently – Behavior • Rebel against player when they do not agree

Will player miss the story, if it’s ingame? n Player may not have chance of talking to some character, or witnessing some events n Don’t worry, it’s the player’s responsibility to seek the “complete” story elements

External materials n Introduction written in the manual – Back-story Map n Often used for games with limited hardware (old games) n Arcade n – Written out on the cabinet n Infocom games always come with extra documents – Some time the extra materials are needed to complete a puzzle (not good in term of gameplay though)

Infocom text adventures

External materials used today n We don’t need storytelling in the manual anymore – Technology is better today – It distracts from gameplay n but extra materials to the game world is welcomed

Linear story? n Screenwriter and novelist – Not good for non-linear storytelling because they only know how to create one-track story – Movie-like nonlinearity, because they will delete non-narrative path – But we need various paths, even not-so-narrative ones. – Player story is more important than designer’s story n Glory of film maker – Some game designer wants it – Long cut scenes -> failure as a game

Character personality Player character needs a distinct look n But little personality n Because players want to play as themselves n – Mario – Lara Croft n too strong character will make a player feel that she is not in control – Player character keeps repeating irritating dialog n Some popular characters are exceptions!

An exception!

Tomb Raider: angel of darkness

NPC personality n On the other hand, NPC needs to have memorable personality n If player is annoyed by an NPC – It’s actually not bad – It means the NPC has enough personality – Sephiroth vs Ultimacia, the opposite – Yuffie (_/), Rikku (^_^) – Oaka (do you want to visit him? )

Writing story n Should worry about situations that player can interact with game world n If characters and situations are good, then the story does not really matter – But it’s even better with a good story – Just don’t overdo telling story • Only give players what he needs to continue • The rest, player will figure it out, or fill it with their own imagination – Final Fantasy VII ending

Overdoing the story n Star wars – The force, mysterious power in all beings – It doesn’t need an explanation – Episode 1, Mediclorian. What the hell?

Underdoing the story Too many unexplained things n Or does not explain important points n Final Fantasy VIII n – Time compression? No explanation? And no clear picture in our head how it would benefit Ultimacia n Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions – Hard-to-understand dialogs – Where are the henchmen from Matrix 2 in Matrix 3? – Why does Neo have power out of Matrix? (this is totally impossible, and actually destroys my belief of The Matrix)

Non-Linear writing n use in-game storytelling when possible – It forces us to think in non-linear term n Branching story n Player chooses order of the story components – Maybe only the first and final chapters need to be in order

Working with the gameplay Do not contradict gameplay and technology with story n See the environments you are working in n – Think of the most interesting content possible for that environment n Example: – Know that we will have team mates in FPS • then think about each team mate personality, their reaction when comrades are killed, what kind of person each one is – Ideas come out of limitations, gameplay, and technology available

Beware of marketing people n They want complex story – Easier to put in advertisements than game play n They want strong personality character – So they can sell action figures n But great games must allow player to tell their own story – Sim city – Civilization No pre-made or complex story at all

Story Tip #1: Create a Conflict! n No conflict, no story. n Conflicts are interesting. n Keep it simple.

Story Tip #2: Put the story to work! n Shape it to meet your needs! Story is more flexible than gameplay. – 3 DO story – Gravity Gun n Use clichés when they can help you! – Examples?

Story Tip #3: Use Simplicity and Transcendence! Medieval n Futuristic n War n Modern n

Story Tip #4: Keep your story world consistent!

Jumping the Shark

Jumping the Shark n n n n Same Character, Different Actor Birth | Death Ted Mc. Ginley Puberty Singing Live! I Do They Did It n n n n n The Moving Special Guest Star A Very Special. . . New Kid In Town Hair Care Exit. . . Stage Left Graduation Color

Story Tip #5 n Make your story world accessible!

Finding preferred narratives n Exp 1 – 12 students (age 20 -23, played 10 or more games in the past, selected from 70 final year multimedia students ) played 4 adventure games individually. • • Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror Ecstatica 2 Discworld 2: Missing Presumed The Curse of Monkey Island – Analyzed their responses to those games in 5 small group sessions (group size = 3, 2, 2, 3, 2).

Broken Sword Ecstatica

Discworld II: Mortality Bytes Monkey Island

n Exp 2 – Inviting all 1 st year management students. – Selected by gender, gameplay exp. , and earliest response. – Four sessions: 3, 2, 4 and 4 participants, playing individually before joining discussions. • Play for a few hours. • Gothic, Might and Magic IX, Morrowind – Propositions from exp 1 were debated.

Gothic

Might & Magic IX

Morrowind

Like n Social/Psychological traits in the story – Trust, suspicion, anger, rudeness, goodness, badness – Player likes to be able to choose how to respond to questions (polite, rude, angry, etc) • And they like it even more if has a subsequent effect on a story. – Gothic: people go around asking what you are doing. n Background/character story interspersed with play activities – Morrowind: too long speech, not good. – Broken Sword: Every time you click on an object, it’ll give you a little bit of story. You build the story yourself. : D – Gothic: you only get the info you need.

Like 2 n Long term character memory – – Morrowind: NPC talks the same all the time. Broken Sword: NPC changes what he/she talks every time. GTA: gangsters try to kill you after you betray them. Gothic: meeting guards, they remember they met you before. • 1 st they warned you that they’d kill you. • If you go up to them again, they will really do it. – Gothic: enemies follow you all the way. n Combat that arise from player’s own aggressive behaviour – Might and Magic: enemies attack you the same at the same location, not good. n Control in navigation – M &M: only 1 path, not good. – Gothic: many choices : D

Like 3 n n Choices to be limited A story to be episodic and directed. – Difficult level can be opened for access, but the player will choose not to go there until they are ready. – This keeps the story linear, but also gives the player the feeling that it’s his choice not to go there. n Not allow to leave certain areas unless players obtain necessary resources. – So that the player do not have to come back after progressing for many hours. NPC to direct him to another NPC. Otherwise the player will get bored, not doing what the story is focusing. n A game that maintains the degree of the “illusion” of freedom of choice. n

Don’t like n NPC talking too much – Discworld: NPCs talk too much about themselves (too much background), without giving direction.

Illusion of choice that player wants n n Different paths in traveling. Different speeches. Different items and equipments. Side quests – Baldur’s Gate – FF Offering earned clues when a player gets stuck. n Allowing different ways of solving problems. n – Different elements in fighting monsters in FF, but players don’t need to use it. – Buy your way into a castle, or smuggle your way in.

Tools and techniques n Façade n IDTension n Planning (LISP) using intention parameter – http: //people. ict. usc. edu/~riedl/pubs/disser tation. pdf