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Storytelling In Games and the Use of Narration
MarkN writes "The use of story in video games has come a long way, from being shoehorned into a manual written for a completed game to being told through expensive half-hour cut scenes that put gameplay on hold. To me, the interesting thing about story in games is how it relates the player to the game; in communicating their goals, motivating them to continue, and representing their role as a character in the world. This article talks about some of the storytelling techniques games have employed, and in particular the different styles of narration that have been used to directly communicate information about a story, and how that affects the player's relation to their character and the degree of freedom they're given to shape the story themselves."
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I still remember the first games with "cut scenes" - Ultima II the grand finale, Karateka and Questron on Commodore 64. Questron was the most elaborate one - the celebration parade at the end of the game was epic, almost StarWars like. I remember to this day how it blew my mind.
P.S. Welcome back Slashdot
Not sure what this was about but it didnt sound healthy:
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http://xkcd.com/462//
Many games spread out their chunks of story like breadcrumbs for the player to follow, in between somewhat repetitive sessions of gameplay; the continuation of the story serves almost as a reward for getting through more of the game.
When I read this, all I could think was "Assassin's Creed". Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and are eagerly the release of its sequel, but it was ridiculously repetitive.
Games need to be 'told' like a story, and follow similar rules of development, plot structure, and the like. One problem developers face is that while changing a few lines in a written story are easy, changing a scene in a game can be quite an undertaking. So, the narrative of a game needs to be fairly mature before you start building scenes from it.
Game can 'jump the shark'.
Probably the most famous jump-the-shark moment in gaming (for me at least) was when we rented a copy of Daikatana to laugh at ._. for the N64. The opening has the main character jumping up and balancing on an out held sword. *shakes head* Romero, wtf were you thinking? It's cheesy every time they do it in anime too.
One of the biggest strengths of games is the ability for choices to mean something, and for alternate endings to bloom. Chrono Trigger is a big one for me, to go back and play it through all over again, the story is rich and wonderful, and experience a few different endings here and there.
"I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist"
If you want to have a read of something a bit more meaty, try this thesis (title: VIDEO GAME VALUES:
PLAY AS HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION):
http://www.pippinbarr.com/academic/phd.php
Not quite the same subject, but it does deal with narrative a tiny bit (e.g. section 5.3.3).
p.s. this guy managed to score an Xbox and PS2 for "research purposes", which were (and probably still are) enjoyed by many in the graduate lab.
Ask me about repetitive DNA
TFA makes it sound like nobody thought storylines were important initially; but in the days of Donkey Kong, were non-superficial storylines even possible? With such repetitive gameplay, could good storyline exist?
Maybe the more creative out there could enlighten me. Can you make a good storyline for Donkey Kong?
(Oh no! Kong found more barrels! Again!)
I clicked the link. I pressed F3. I typed "snake" with no result. I typed "solid" with no result. I closed the tab.
I found the most enjoyable game storytelling technique in Torment. The hero is himself unaware of the story (has amnesia), and the player discovers along with him clues to his own past and the story behind the game setting. I loved how I got a first glimpse of what's going on and then the plot was progressively clarified.
I never got how the media went nuts over the great plot of GTA 4. It really wasn't that good. It was completely scripted and most of the jobs you are doing for the different mobs seem completely disjointed and unrelated from an overall theme and plot narrative.
Ok, there were a few plot diversions, but nothing completely major. The end was the best part (GTA4's "Godfather part III ending" moment), but again, it came too late in the game to save the direction of the game.
Take a game like Deus Ex, or Knights of the Old Republic which allowed for different takes on problems, and a bit of a karma system. Different endings too. The world reacts around you and to the things you do.
Deus Ex is a standout because your boss gives you a stern talking to if you go exploring in the women's toilets. Something you'd do in a game but not in real life (hopefully), but here, the game catches you out for it. ;)
It's nice to find out later in the game that something you did a long time ago pops up again.
Either way, to give the player complete freedom, the player should be able to start the game and go in a completely unique direction - so that there is no one real "true" ending and the game can get so divergent that the player ends up somewhere completely different towards the end in each case.
That is all.
Video Games and Storytelling, this is a really neat YouTube video talking about storytelling in video games, told in a format similar to Zero-Punctuation.
Portal had what I felt was an interesting way of telling the story. The "narrator" was mostly there to explain the rather quirky gameplay. Only in the later levels did she become part of the story.
Much of Portal's story is in objects you find in optional areas of the game world - secret rooms you find behind walls. You only see the objects in the 3D world and have to read them yourself to understand their storywise meaning; nothing with them is directly narrated.
In the end, your knowledge of the story is entirely inferred from vague clues and events you find throughout the game.
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
Storytelling in games is one thing, GOOD storytelling games is still another one. Now, considering what we now get in movies, game stories get closer and closer to movie stories, but sadly not because the game stories get better.
There's also still the problem of replay value. Cutscenes are expensive to make. And you watch it ONCE. Maybe a few times if it's good and/or funny. But then, you skip.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
In the early days of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Jumping Jack had a narrative delivered in a non trivial way. You would unfold a poem, line by line after completing each level. This is how it was delivered through gameplay, and this is the whole poem. (I'd never seen it complete before today! Thanks for making me remember).
Is a limmerick a non-superficial story? The only thing I know, it did get you wanting to know which was the next line...
Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
I really enjoyed portal. And HL2. System Shock2 was very similar. For just telling a tale, try Cave Story.
Yay me!
Sega CD game -Myst style, was reminiscent of Blade Runner movie. Everything was cool about the narration of the game. Then at the end they messed it all up with a cheesy 2 level arcade ending. I mean the last part was really stupid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_Dragon
A consequence of gaming going mainstream is that even a "hardcore" gamer these days isn't necessarily seeking a well-designed, well-balanced, maximally interactive game. Indeed, many of the best-selling and most acclaimed games of our time, are actually pretty terrible at being games, but they're pretty good at being interactive movies.
For almost as long as games have existed, there's been a caveat that better graphics do not equate to better gameplay. Moving forward, it seems we need another caveat -- no matter how good a story may be, it doesn't make a good game. Only good gameplay makes a good game, and sadly the top-ranked games typically aren't very good.
When I hear "story" and "video game" in the same sentence, I always think of Marathon. It didn't have anything fancy like cut scenes, or three dimensions... But it had an evolving plot. Beyond the "you're human, they're alien, go kill them before they kill you" that most FPSs use. It's certainly not the best, but for a game released in 1994, it was pretty unusual.
the best ever Game Story started like this:
You're a marine, one of Earth's toughest, hardened in combat and trained for action. Three years ago, you assaulted a superior officer for ordering his soldiers to fire upon civilians. He and his body cast were shipped to Pearl Harbor, while you were transferred to Mars, home of the Union Aerospace Corporation.
RUGBYRUGBYRUGBY
Although it was not mentioned in the original article, some games have been very successful by *not* telling the story, and leaving the player-protagonist to work it out. In Half Life 2, the player wakes up on a train, arriving at 'City 17'. There is very little information about what this is or why he is there. All you know in the first stages is that the environment is very hostile, and there are very few people who help you. You explore a town that has clearly been retrofitted with advanced security beyond it's original architecture, but no-one explains why or by whom. Civilians you meet are mostly in despair or injured, and there are clear signs of recent conflict (ruined homes, destroyed buildings). Most of the time, you can see a huge structure towering in the distance, which seems like a focal point but whether and how you'll get there is a mystery. The result is that you feel (or at least I felt) lost, confused, and quite alone at the start of the game, and intrigued to find out more. This builds up a bond with the character you are playing, and makes the arrival of friendlies (Barney, etc) much more significant. Providing the full setting of the story can detract from the realism, as it provides a perspective on the situation that a real person in the equivalent real-life situation would not have. I can only speculate about the armed forces having never served, but I suspect that in a real life battle, a front line soldier will probably not be aware of the full context of the setting, or it's strategic importance. They just carry out their duties such as a patrol, and all of a sudden one day, there's an explosion and someone starts shooting at them. They then have to figure out what's going on, survive a battle, and most likely only later think about why it all happened. I think there exists a balance between telling the story and not. Give too much information, and the story can become boring. Give too little information, and the player does not feel intrigued to play, and interest can only be sustained with gameplay. When done well, game designers will strike this balance well, and provide a good compromise between narrative, confusion, chaos, and action, all of which can be compelling.
Famous quote attributed to John Carmack: "The plot in a video game is just like the plot in a porn movie -- merely an excuse to get to the action."
You want games based on the story? Take a look at Infocom. Founded in '79 and had nothing but story based games. I got my first computer (an Apple ][+) in '82 as a kid and spent much of my time on it playing Infocom games.
... but to keep up with a story and solve puzzles and problems ... OMG I haz 2 think0rz!!11!! ... gamers have gotten lazy (lazier?).
And of course Softporn Adventures (which later became Leisure Suit Larry)...
Hell, even Final Fantasy has more of a story than a lot of games these days. People became less interested in the story and plot of games and more interested in the flashy graphics. It doesn't take a lot of brain power to look at the spoon fed pretty pictures
For me, the perfect example of narration as a means of effective and immersive storytelling has to go back to the old Tex Murphy games - Under a Killing Moon, Pandora Directive & Overseer. The storylines were spectacular to begin with, but the ever-present narrator set the mood perfectly. (Another reason for their success could probably be attributed to the excellent quality of the sound production in all of their games.)
...and, purely as a rabid fan of the work the 'Tex' creators, I can't resist a chance to pitch their latest - Three Cards to Midnight was released just a few hours ago. Haven't had a chance to play it yet, but it sounds as though they've stuck to their trusted method of immersive story-driven gameplay and quality audio production. Can't wait!
for me, this was the best ever "game as narrative", with baldur's gate 2 following a close second. I loved Torment's focus on choices unlocking memories and changing your stats as well as those of others, and it's titanic themes of tragedy and identity.
I have been looking for a game like it ever since. BG2 was close. I guess the work involved in making these types of games makes them unprofitable. It's a pity but i can't see how to change that. The backstory for nameless was immense, and the romances in BG2 apparently were quite difficult to write (perhaps because the people involved in computer gaming aren't generally romantic, more's the pity (go viconia romance go!)).
Does anyone know of a contemporary computer game with the focus on personal choices or romance, rather than blatting people real good (not that there's anything wrong with that, but it doesn't appeal to me)
Each time I read something like that... I can't help getting the picture of someone with his head so far up his rear end that he assumes that he's not just a representative sample of 1 for the whole gamer population, and indeed world, but verily _the_ prototype from which all others were moulded. And if, god forbid, they happen to like something else, they must be deluded in some way.
Guess what? We all play games "as a funny way to spend time." You're not revealing some great wisdom to anyone, you just reveal your own disconnect from the real world. The idea that someone actually tries to play games as some form of art _as_ _opposed_ to actually having fun, and to the exclusion of actually having fun, is a delusion that exists only in the imagination of fanboys. Again: we _all_ play games "as a funny way to spend time."
We just find different things fun. Some like to read a book, some like to watch a movie, and some like their stories in a more interactive form. And then some others seem to genuinely like mindlessly mowing down gazillions of NPCs just for score/level/whatever. (And who am I to say there's anything wrong with it?) Different things for different people. That's all.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Your princess is in another castle
Why do we stay up way too late reading a gripping book? Because the author is dropping little tidbits we really want to know. We keep reading because we just know the answer is no the next page.
The worst games I've played dole out the storyline like it cost a million bucks and most of it is filler or, a real sin in RPG's, stupid goblin nose quests. They could have just as easily had the quest tied into a major part of the plot but they didn't.
The best games tie that story in there tight and everything keeps fresh. You're not just blowing away generic baddies, you feel like there's something involved in the story. You can really relate this to action movies. Lucas said and then forgot "A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing." Bad action movies don't setup the action, don't invest you in the characters, the motives, it all just comes across like a sloppy mess. But a good action movie, ah! You have a feel for the character, you know what's going on, and when the action scene kicks in, you feel engaged.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
This is one of my pet peeves with story telling in games, the reliance of scattered notes, diaries, e-mails, or whatever in order to advance the story. It's cliched and unnatural. For example, in the world of Rapture in Bioshock, apparently people had a habit of recording short (1-2 minute) audio "diaries" and then left them lying around. Who would do that?
Would you kindly come up with a better way to fill in the back story?
Half-Life 2 was revealing the story gradually through naturally occurring dialogues and events throughout the gameplay. It's one of best storytellings (no external narrative at all, actually, all naturally interwoven into the gameplay) I've ever encountered in a game. Portal gets a close second.
I'm playing Bioshock now and honestly, the recorded diaries feel forced for a storytelling device.
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I've seen quite a few games over the last couple of years that have really impressed me through the way they tell their story. In particular:
Lost Odyssey - not the fairly standard Japanese RPG fare that makes up most of the game, but rather the text narrative used for the dreams. Very minimalist - just animated text on an almost static abstract background with a few ambient sounds, but they covered an impressive range of scenarios and even genres. A few were genuinely well-written, even by the standards of non-video-game writing.
Valkyria Chronicles - awesome game (a genuine PS3 killer-title), awesome visuals and a very well-told story. The whole "book" device used to tell the story works extremely well. It's also notable that, unusually for a Japanese game, Valkyria Chronicles manages to avoid most of the usual anime cliches when it comes to its characters. The recently-started anime is sadly a bit more "traditional", making Alicia into more of a typical tsundere type, but it's still good stuff for a game-to-anime adaptation.
Red Alert 3 - knows precisely what it is - pure B-movie schlock - and has a lot of fun with it. It's completely ridiculous in every respect, but it carries its storyline along with such energy that it's really difficult to care.
Super Smash Bros Brawl - interesting one, this. The story's wafer thin. But, unusually for Nintendo, they did put a bit of effort into it and the game is far better for it. The short, punchy and completely over-the-top nature of the CGI scenes fits the game perfectly.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 - integrates its storyline into the gameplay with consumate skill. Japanese RPGs are often criticised (not without truth, in some cases) for being essentially a series of cutscenes separated by fairly cookie-cutter battles. Not so with Persona 4. If you want to beat the game, not only do you need to fight through the dungeons and beat the bosses, but you also need to solve the murder mystery. At the risk of spoilers, the player is asked, around 90% of the way through the game, to identify the culprit behind the murders that have occurred throughout the game. If the player has paid attention, watched for background details and picked up on the right clues, he will be able to do so and procede on to the final dungeon. If he hasn't, then unless he gets a lucky guess (and there are a lot of options to guess from), it's BAD END.
Portal - the best example around of a game which tells a story with a minimum of actual narration, at which it far surpasses the horribly over-rated Half-Life 2. Within the specific confines of Portal, the traditional Half-Life storytelling technique works fantastically. It doesn't matter that you've got next to no background information - it's easy to assume that the protagonist has woken up without her memory. It's also easy to accept that she doesn't speak - there's nobody to speak to. In Half-Life 2 by contrast, the technique fell flat on its face. Not only were we expected to believe that Gordon never says a single word, but we're also expected to believe that none of the other characters ever go "Oh, Gordon, you might want a quick update on what's happened while you were away...". This was just too much for my suspension of disbelief to handle.
It would probably help more if the examples the guy cites weren't all two or more game generations out of date. Seriously, when I read that article, I thought I had stumbled onto something written eight years ago, not in 2009. No mention of the narrative in games like Oblivion, Fable, etc.? WTF?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
No love for the epic narration from the Myth series? At a minimum, those games had the best use of narration in tutorial scenes ever, and the maps and narrations gave Myth games a Lord of the Rings feel, years before the movies.
Thanks, much.
Here's a short indy game that has unique storytelling and gameplay, using interactive poetry: Today I Die.
I give you Mr. Ox... (small spoiler for VTM: Bloodlines)
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
The self-proclaimed king of storytelling, Chris Crawford, recently annnounced the release of a follow-up to his "Balance of Power". Read all about it here: http://www.storytron.com/
I thought slashdot was for techies, not lit crit majors ;)
but how many games actually compel players to create enjoyable stories? Most games I've played are not good vehicles for storytelling because the players are compelled to focus on game mechanics. If you want a good story, read a book.