Gamer
Designer
Writer
Graduated High School with a diploma in Computer Science and Maths. Hold a degree in BA Games Design and Art from University of Southampton, part of the Russel Group.
Present-day passions include writing stories and learning about environmental creation.
Narrative: A Design Framework
Before creating the GDD of Dreamland, I first had to set up a couple of frameworks for the points of focus for the respective document. Those points were Narrative Design and Character Design. As such I went through several articles written by people from withing the game industry in order to create frameworks that could keep me on track in an efficient manner in order to finish the GDD.
HitBoxTeam
Designing game narrative
by Terence Lee
This article was written by the above author, one of the members of the Indie game developer HITBOX TEAM. Their former project, Dustforce DX has witness an increasing number of positive reviews. Their current project Spire, has been in development for over 4 years, as they try and update the
technology.
His article focuses on the comparison of the way narrative is told, drawing comparisons with books and movies. He also enforces the idea of games using interactivity, advising not to use cutscenes, as to better immerse the player and make him feel like he is influencing the story.
Medium of communication
Mediums of communication – books, movies and games – are a way of transmitting ideas. Constructing upon each medium, adding dimensions of storytelling and putting in front the benefit of building on the former one results in an updated way of experiencing the narrative.
The graphic applies to books as a way of communicating ideas. They use words to present the ideas over time, however to engage the readers, the language must not be bland, it must be well-developed as to be fully used as a mode of storytelling.
The following graphic applies to the usage of movies as a medium of transmitting ideas.
In comparison with books, movies look to also add a sensory experience, through visual and auditive sensations. The full usage of the two mentioned capabilities should be taken into consideration, by re-enactment of scenes, dialogues and events. By using them to the maximum of their capabilities, the
storytelling can be improved significantly, avoiding the creation of a boring and uninteresting movie.
As it can be observed, games add a third dimension, that of interactivity. It adds to the experience of the story, by allowing the player to take initiative and giving him control over how it unfolds. In comparison with the two mediums mentioned before, games allow the player to become the protagonist of the
story, instead of observing him or being told about him. This allows them to communicate the depth of the narrative by experiencing it, instead of making them seen, as is the case with movies. It must be mentioned that overlapping
gameplay sequences with narrative ones, albeit briefly, could create a disadvantage, as it can take away from the immersion that players experience.
Story and Storytelling
The next approach is the difference between story and storytelling. While games that are successful have a delightful story, they tend to not have the most
complete storytelling.
Story can be understood as the totality of information about the events, characters and places that exist within the game. While an interesting story can provide a pleasant experience, it cannot be said that it could not be improved.
Storytelling is the way the information contained within the story is brought together and presented to the player. It is the narrative. It should be noted, that currently, the narrative is not a crucial component in games, therefore it locates itself towards the last parts to be finished, when a project is near completion.
However, by using a narrative which makes full use of the medium it exists in – in current case, games – to properly express ideas by use of interactivity, could lead to a better overall experience and immersion.
Game criticism
When talking about storytelling and story, the problem about subjectivism arises.
What can be considered subjective is the value of the desired experience and theme, which can be understood as the story.
The storytelling, which can be clarified as the effectiveness of communicating the story, is objective. This is reinforced by the fact that most reviews and criticism tend to evaluate the story, rather than also looking at the way it is shown, therefore presentation being taken for granted.
Artistic Quality
The next point that is evaluated is artistic quality. It represents how effective individual elements can work together to express a theme. In case of movies some of the elements are music, acting, makeup colours and angle of the
camera.
Artistic quality helps reinforce the message/theme sent throughout the game. In this type of environment artistic quality could be recognized through the proper usage of elements such as interaction and decision making.
Having an attitude which takes into consideration artistic quality can lead to creative works that feel consistent and elegant.
Dissonance
It is the next idea approached by the article. Dissonance can be defined as a mental conflict that appears when two opposite ideas come together at the same time. Three types of dissonances are identified.
First one is Ludonarrative dissonance. It is observed when the story and what the player experiences does not match up. For example, the hero is mourning the loss of his long-time friend, and the next moment he is running naked punching people in the face. The actual state he is in does not match the actions
done. It occurs when control of the gameplay is isolated from that of the story. Nevertheless, some games exploit this, the best example being Saints Row 2, where the story purposely does not match with the over the top actions done by
the player.
The second type of dissonance is that of Identity. To better understand it, a roll back to the books, movies and games comparison would help. In books, 3rd person is being used, the author describes the protagonist and his actions; in movies, 2nd person is used, the audience is observing the subject; in games, 1st person is used, the audience is the protagonist. As such, the dissonance comes from the breaking of immersion, where the player is the hero and next he is watching his character interact with others on its own. A suggested way of
avoiding this type of dissonance is making the player do the respective actions, mainly making him avoid the trap, not showing the hero dodging it. It is also recommended to maintain the point of view, to avoid breaking immersion.
The last type of dissonance that was identified was Cutscenes. Being initiated after a sequence of intense gameplay, lead to the player to relax, therefore breaking immersion. This results in the player knowing that his former decisions did not really matter, detaching him emotionally from the scene, as the way it plays out is already decided and scripted. A possible workaround
could be that of cutscenes playing in sequences where there is not intense involvement in the gameplay, while also maintaining the point of view.
Stories: Explicit and Player
Before moving on, a better understanding of the type of stories would aid in improving the storytelling.
The Explicit Story can be defined as the traditional one, the one which describes what the game is about, characters, plot, dialogue. It is the aesthetic context, as understood through visuals, sound and words. It is mostly present in role-playing games, adventure and action games.
The second type of story is the Player Story. It is created by the narrative in the mind of the players. It comes because of interactivity, by the actions made and their result, by interpreting and perceiving the characters and the events, by experiencing emotions within the game. This story is present in all games.
The optimal result would be to aim for a player story, while the explicit one supports it. Therefore, the two cannot be designed separately. Should the design be proper, the two types should be almost similar, hard to distinguish one from the other. In other words, what the player is supposed to do should intersect
with what he wants to do.
Giving control back to the player
The current technique that is mostly used is based on first creating the explicit story, building the gameplay around it. This results in the player story to be limited, leaving less space for the gamer to create his own story within the
game.
A given alternative that is mentioned is to first design the Player Story, afterwards creating the narrative around what the player would want to do. Simply put, the characters, events all happen because of what the player did, not because he needs to do it.
Some games that are making use of the new technique are: Journey, where the explicit story is loose, you need to follow the light, everything else is created as the gamer is playing; Dwarf Fortress, where the only explicit story is creating
an underground dwarf empire, everything else being left to the imagination of the player; Brogue, a game where the premise is to recover a lost artefact, everything else that happens, is left to the player to decide, including the story.
New Possibilities
The scope is to push forwards the boundaries limiting games. The aim is to immerse the player as much as possible, by making full use of the technology at hand. Cutting up on the cutscenes and maintaining a consistent point of view
would aid in designing a better narrative. Also creating the narrative so it emerges as the player is doing the actions, not pointing him as to what to do, would create a more consistent storytelling and improve the immersion the player would experience.
Dead Link
How the Rise of Narrative Design is Revolutionizing the Craft of Video Game Storytelling
by Simon Martin
This article is an interview with Evan Skolnick, a narrative designer who worked on titles such as Star Wars Battlefront, Mafia III and The Walking Dead: A New Frontier. Evan talks about his work and also his opinion on narrative design.
When speaking about narrative, in the case of games, there is one factor that is different from plays, movies and books, which is the player. This comes with three substantial changes: the player becomes the main character, the player expects to be able to influence the world, the characters and the story, and
finally, stories that were unplanned by those in the development team can appear suddenly.
The introduction of a player as a protagonist leads to making the goals of the fictional character to match up with what the player wants. Being unable to adapt to this requirement can lead to what is called Ludonarrative Dissonance, which translates as making the players do something they do not want to or blocking them from doing what they desire.
To be able to give the player the freedom of choice it is imperative to leave him the impression of steering the experience. A lot of games that give the player
the option of choice, often have the same result, effectively pinching back to the same conclusion. This is helpful for the team, as they are not trying to build a lot of endings, which would require more resources than available.
In order to find inspiration, it is indicated to often look in the past, at titles that found success and analyse them, deconstruct them and see what made them successful.
The best way to approach the design of a game is to also take into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the platform the game is going to be built for.
All in all, narrative design is just at the start, the domain evolving, allowing us to expand storytelling to increase immersion.
A Narrative Design Approach
4 – Layers, A Narrative Design Approach
by Thomas Grip
Thomas grip is the co-founder of Frictional Games AB, an independent Swedish video game developer. Their games Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA found themselves with positive reviews. In the article he talks about the way he approaches narrative design, by using an approach that let him design the narrative of the successful game SOMA.
Narrative
Before discussing the approach to narrative design, the term narrative is clarified. Narrative refers to the totality of the experience, it is that which player go through as they play the game over a longer period. Narrative is created of all the elements of a game that are afterwards put together: gameplay, dialog, graphics, settings, notes, etc.
Narrative design is looked as creating a story that covers the mechanics and tactics that are used in the design of a game.
Storytelling
To aid the process of narrative design, understanding the way storytelling is approached would prove beneficial. By respecting the suggestions, a game with a focus on narrative would benefit from them.
The focus is on storytelling – the main goal of the game is to make the player experience a specific story
The bulk of the gameplay is spent playing – self-explanatory, therefore cutscenes or reading notes should be limited
The interactions make narrative sense – every action made should be tied to the story in some way, helping the story move forward, or helping the player understand their role, should never be useless and should match with the narrative
There is no repetition – repetitions give way to patterns, which will be sought to be optimized, leading to the best systematic outcome, detracting from the actual narrative of the game
There are no major progression blocks – the player should be faced with balanced puzzles, which should not take a lot of solving time, to keep the player focused on the narrative
The 4 Layer Approach
This is the framework that was used for Frictional Games when creating the narrative for their game SOMA. This process divides the design in 4 big steps, starting with gameplay, building afterwards upon it.
It is important to note that the game would benefit more if it was broken into scenes. These scenes can be understood as encounters with enemies, puzzles, etc. This allows the freedom of making the gameplay fit each specific scene of the game.
LAYER 1 – Gameplay
The first layer is focused on how to approach gameplay. The framework follows 4 basic rules that help in giving the game play a role in the narrative.
Coherency – gameplay should fit within the world, mood and characters of the game, pushing the player to decide without thinking about it, each action letting him get a deeper understanding of the story, therefore they should make sense
Streamlining – means that the gameplay should cut down on the number of steps necessary to advance the story, in order to avoid the player getting stuck, as to let them plan ahead and give them the sense of understanding the world
A sense of accomplishment – the player should feel like he achieved something after completing the task, however it must be implemented with care, lest the risk of falling into press button to progress type of gameplay would happen; some possible ideas are: memory tasks, grind, endurance tests, difficult story choices, exploration, navigation, maze escape, overcoming fear
Action Confirmation – the players must understand what it is they are doing and why they are doing it, therefore they must know what happened after doing a certain action
E.G. There is a door which is locked. Some earlier information has uncovered that the key is hidden nearby, and it is necessary to find it in order to advance. This respects the rules because: 1 – key and door do not conflict with the story, 2 – place to search for the key is small, low chance of the player getting stuck, 3 – player feels sense of achievement after passing it, 4 – if set up properly it is obvious the door need to be opened, therefore the key is needed
LAYER 2 – Narrative Goal
The purpose of the second layer is to give the player some sort of short term narrative goal, directly connected to the current gameplay. As such it would motivate the player, making him do stuff because of the story. The result is making the goal a reward in itself as it rewards the players for completing the gameplay section, feeding him with information about the story, helping him to stay on the right track.
There are three examples of possible narrative goals given:
Mystery – there is something that the player needs to find out; it is easy to implement and make the player remember through environmental assets; it is easy to fit inside a gameplay scene
Uncomfortable environment – it makes the player advance through the usage of uncomfortable scenery such as dark environments, depressing scenes; however, there should be a story reason to make the player uncomfortable, not mechanics like spikes popping up from the ground; the focus should also be on the narrative, not the systems that make it work
Character Conflict – can also be used as a narrative goal, as gameplay that change social dynamics can act as a powerful motivator to make the player go forward with the story
E.G. The story with the door is updated. A man on the other side of the door is trying to get in. He wants to recover something from within the room, asking the player to open the door. In this case there is a mystery used as a short-term narrative goal, giving the player the motivation to look for the key and find out what the man wants to find and who could he be.
LAYER 3 – Narrative Background
Until now, all the actions the player did are focused more on the gameplay, having little to no storytelling in them. As such, this layer is focused on adding the storytelling inside the narrative.
This can be achieved by feeding the player story while he is interacting within the game systems. This can change his mentality towards doing stuff, so he can make the story appear, therefore confirming that his actions make it emerge.
Three possible backgrounds give as examples are:
Story Fragments – this can be done by having narrative clues through the environment; it is important to have them vary, not just audio books or diary entries; another point is not designing them in a way that makes them a side-activity; they should also be found as the player makes the actions needed to overcome the obstacle, therefore becoming part of the scene’s main gameplay
Complementary Dialogue – the dialogue could appear as the player is doing certain actions, giving context to them; for example, in Bastion, the good usage of narrative voice, makes the game feel more like a story, as it narrates most of the actions done by the player
Emotionally Significant Assets – if the assets used by the player hold a strong connection to the story or have some kind of emotional value it is less likely for the player to see them just as abstract tools; these could become small stories, which would add to the story depth of the game
E.G. There are now improvements upon the door section. The room is full of pictures, paintings and documents. The man behind the door hid the key inside the room for a very specific reason, which he would not tell. He is quite talkative as you go through the room, searching for the key, often telling you to take care around certain areas. There are now some story fragments throughout the example in the form of clues from the documents, pictures and paintings. The man comments on all the actions the player is doing, revealing his character a bit. Considering that he hid the key for some reason, it now has narrative significance, instead of just being a normal object.
LAYER 4 – Mental Modelling
The purpose of the last layer is to change the way the player thinks and perceives the game.
Usually what is in the players mind does not match with what is happening on the screen. He is using the knowledge from the real world to build a mental model of the game.
By hiding the systems of the game, the immersion the player perceives is amplified. Making the player play the game in a way which makes him use his gut feeling and intuition, further immerses him inside the game, changing his mental model.
Considering that creating a mental model is a valid form of play, it is possible to put it at the same level as the narrative, as both are formed from all the elements beneath them. Therefore, by making them work together it is possible to achieve the purest form of playable story, where all gameplay choices are made inside the narrative space.
A sizable number of narrative games present a mental model, that is present in the worst form, collectables, which makes the player focus on obtaining all of them, ignoring the narrative. This is a mental model meant to be avoided.
There is a considerable number of mental models, however a few examples that could be used are given:
Danger – it is something that poses a threat for the player, however it should not be a common occurrence that relies on twitch reflexes or similar; ideally it would be something that just makes brief appearances, hiding most of the time, forcing the player to constantly scan the environment for danger
Goal focused mystery – the game has the focus on solving a crime or something similar, making him to scan the game world for important clues that could lead to the solution of the mystery; therefore each new location would act as a motivation for the player, by exploring it in order to find new clues
Social pressure – the player is faced with the goal of figuring other characters out, therefore the interaction and findings of the NPC should update the mental model as to what motivations characters have and what makes them tick
E.G. Updating the scene with the door and key with the last layer. You have been chased by the demons for days now. Somehow you survived and find yourself in a locked room. Behind the locked door a voice of a man is coming through. You do not know if he is friend or foe, yet something makes you want to find out about him. You must try and discover the mystery behind the man. A key is hidden and through searching it you will slowly resolve the mystery of the man. The decision of opening the door will be yours to make. The 4th layer that was added was that of present danger, through the shape-shifting demons, which are a big part of the story. The scene is now a complete story experience, as the player is under the threat of demons, he must find the mystery of the man behind the door as well as finding the information and key, at the end having to decide if he will open the door or not.
Endnotes
All in all, this approach makes the developer to always think about the story, making it an essential part when coming up with the design of the game. The 4-layer approach also acts as a filter, in order to find out if parts of the game are put in as fillers, or they still need something, so they can be kept in the game.
The downside is that this approach requires a lot of planning and is not completely practical when it comes to building it up through experimentation and iteration alone. Also, taking into consideration that the gameplay and narrative are intertwined, when updating one of them, it is also necessary to update the other one.
Narrative Design Framework
The framework is composed of two parts:
Story – it deals with all the information of the events, of the characters and world, as well as how they are tied to one another; this part will also be linked with character design, as background story also is involved in the creation of one
Storytelling – it is the part that connects the story with the gameplay and will focus on how to reveal the story to the player; while the gameplay elements will be briefly explored, the way they are used to create a narrative will be more detailed
The storytelling used for the narrative design will be based upon the 4-layer approach, being less strict than the original, considering the size of the GDD, which is more condensed than a normal one.
I will keep some rules in mind when designing the storytelling, which were a point of interest in the 4-layer approach as well:
Focus on storytelling
Limit the cutscenes and notes
Actions must make narrative sense
Avoid repetition
Balance challenges
The framework that will be used in the creation of the storytelling is made from the following steps:
Gameplay – analysis of the gameplay elements, and updating them, to fit them within the Game-world
Narrative – creating short-term goals for the scenes, that are tied to the story
Narrative Background – making interactions within the scene reveal the story
Mental Model – trying to include a mental model within the scene, that fits properly within the overall narrative
That is the framework that I used when creating the narrative as well as what I will be using to some degree in the future as well.
The next part covers the Character Design Framework that is part of the Dreamland GDD and which I still use most of the times when creating a character.