Chapter 2.2Game Writing and Interactive Storytelling

as told by jeffery

2

Overview

3 ways a story can be experienced– Tell– Show– Do <-- duh!

Games can use all 3, but 3rd is best

3

Know Your Audience

Dev team needs to share vision Appropriate storytelling for genre Even shooters seem to benefit

from a real back-story...for some

4

Budget Storytelling?

Famous games with ground-breaking stories ...can flop

Easy to write plot points that can't be (or exceed budget) conveyed in game...or even in a cutscene

5

Basic Storytelling

Inciting Incident– Usually, before game “starts”– Maybe an immediate conflict

Rising Action– Discover identity and capabilities

Climax Resolution

6

Plot Types

Linear – player is along for the ride Branching – player sees 1/2k

Modified branching, parallel paths Modular storytelling-”sitcom” model Nonlinear Plots-”sandbox” model Quasilinear Plots

– Linear within a sandbox Forest – many little stories

7

Interactive Fiction

Player's decisions write the story– Used in a niche of print books– By default, implies Branching

Agency– The more the player's decisions

affect subsequent gameplay, the more real and immersive it feels

8

Narrative Devices

The Spine– Those elements that are required

in order to complete/finish/win The Golden Path

– Optimum path to experience the game as intended

– Maximum rewards– Motivation to return to the spine

9

Algorithmic Storytelling Generate new stories/questlines as a

result/consequence of player actions “narrative intelligence” Easy to generate “valid”, hard to

generate “interesting” or “fun” Facade [Mateas09]

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Story Mechanisms Cut Scene Scripted Event Artifact NPC Internal Monologue Triggered Event

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Character Development Three-dimensional characters vs caricature Backstory, motivation, goals Flaws NPCs that have “a life” other than their quest

dialogue Attributes of player will project onto main

character– Less development needed for them– Player actions should affect character

personality/capabilities Hero often ends up more memorable than

story line!

12

Dialogue Usually, a weakness in games Spoken vs. Written Brief and conversational Avoid empty thread syndrome Menus vs. chats Dialogue Trees vs. AIML scripts