WRITING for GAMES Speaker: Jenny Gibbons PART 1: HARMONIZING STORY THEME with GAMEPLAY
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WRITING FOR GAMES Speaker: Jenny Gibbons PART 1: HARMONIZING STORY THEME WITH GAMEPLAY How does the narrative enforce the gameplay, and vice versa? NARRATIVE SIGNIFICANCE • How important is the story to the overall experience of the game, and why? There can be many levels of narrative significance in a game. For instance: 1. Narrative is crucial to gameplay experience • “The Wolf Among Us” or “The Walking Dead” by Telltale Games • “Heavy Rain” by Quantic Dream • Visual novels such as “999” or The Wolf Among Us “Danganronpa” NARRATIVE SIGNIFICANCE 2. Story experience regularly interwoven with gameplay • “The Last of Us” by Naughty Dog • “Metal Gear Solid” games by Konami • RPGs such as “Final Fantasy” 3. Story only serves as a device to launch the game • “Super Mario Bros.” by Nintendo (rescue Princess Peach) THEMATIC HARMONY • No matter what the narrative’s tier of significance, the theme and tone of the story needs to match/reinforce the mood of gameplay • Good example: • “God of War” by Santa Monica Studio (Kratos’s story of revenge and violence goes hand in hand with the player’s violent gameplay) • Bad example: • “Grand Theft Auto 4” by Rockstar Games (Niko’s search for redemption is in direct opposition to the player’s desire to wreak havoc) • Games that create a functioning paradox: • “Shadow of the Colossus” by Sony • “Nier” by Square Enix BRANCHING STYLES • Limited branching: has a set amount of basic decisions and a set number of outcomes/endings. Might diamond back to a set path • Funneling Narrative (Chokepoints) – There might be an open-world, but there will always be chokepoints where a player must go to advance the main story • Critical Paths: there is one success path; the player might deviate occasionally but the game will guide her back to the predetermined path • Open-ended: Complex decisions that continue to branch. This is obviously tempting from a conceptual standpoint, but can quickly get out-of-hand (Rimworld) • Nodal storytelling: another good style for open-ended worlds, the story is scattered throughout the game world in self-contained pieces, which can be explored at the player’s leisure (kind of like episodic tv) PART 2: CORE ELEMENTS OF A COMPELLING STORY Theme, character goals, constant conflict, and all that other good stuff CONFLICT • In typical literature, there tend to be 4 main categories of conflict: • Man vs. Man • Man vs. Society • Man vs. Self • Man vs. Nature • When considering the primary conflict of a game, consider how the story conflict matches the challenges of gameplay Super Metroid THEME • Theme is the glue that holds all elements of the story together. I like to define a theme using the question and answer method • Your story poses a question to the player • Metal Gear Solid: Is mankind caught in an endless cycle of destruction and warfare necessary to its own evolution? • Assassin’s Creed: Can an assassin ever truly act with honor, or is he just another criminal seeking to justify murder? • Reinforce the theme with repeated symbols and motifs • A motif in Assassin’s Creed is that whenever your assassin kills someone, he exchanges some final words with the victim and usually finds a reason to sympathize with the person you just killed • Behind the scenes, the story’s conclusion should suggest an answer CHARACTER GOALS • Your main character should have both a plot goal and a theme goal • The plot goal is the external objective the main character (and player) strives to achieve • Journey: reach the giant mountain in the distance • The Last of Us (Joel): safely escort Ellie to the Fireflies • The theme goal is the internal, emotional need driving the character (Control, Independence, Belonging, Security, Self-Acceptance, Connection) • Journey: Belonging. The journey to the mountain is really about figuring out where you belong in the world • The Last of Us (Joel): Connection. Joel’s drive to protect Ellie is about him finding someone to fill the void in his heart losing his daughter left behind • Balance strengths and weaknesses: why might he succeed, and why might he fail? CHARACTER FOILS • Foils: characters who might share the same plot goal as the main character, but for different reasons/different theme goals • Final Fantasy X: Tidus and Yuna both want to defeat Sin. But Tidus is merely looking for personal security, whereas Yuna wants to protect mankind. This leads to conflict between them Yuna and Tidus – Final Fantasy X CHARACTER ANTAGONIST Seymour – Final Fantasy X • Antagonist: a character or entity that seeks a plot goal opposite of the main character, and thus provides constant conflict • Final Fantasy X: Maester Seymour wishes to save/become Sin and destroy the world. Therefore, his goal directly opposes Tidus’s and Yuna’s PLOT: BEGINNING • Point of Attack: what in the main character’s life or personality is lacking when the story begins? Why must she go on this adventure at all? • Heavy Rain: Ethan failed to save one of his sons, Jason, from a fatal car accident. As a result his life is in shambles; he is lonely, unmotivated, and disconnected from his remaining son • Do not rely on back-story. The player lives in the now, not the past. If you must relay something critical about the character’s origins, begin the game with that sequence • Heavy Rain: in the opening, you experience Ethan’s loss of his son Jason • Inciting Incident: what happens to necessitate the plot goal? • Heavy Rain: Ethan’s only remaining son, Shaun, disappears PLOT: MIDDLE • Break the plot goal into a list of steps to be achieved by the player • Heavy Rain: complete the trials on the five origami figures • Constantly beg the question: what happens next? Scenes should not end on a happy note until the story is over! • Use every side quest or mini-goal to reinforce the theme of the story and/or the theme goal of the main character • Heavy Rain theme: How far must a father go to prove his love for his son? Heavy Rain PLOT: POINT OF NO RETURN • Point of no return: an event that forces the main character to commit to his cause. This can be used to commit the player to a certain branch of the narrative • Tends to occur about halfway through the overall plot • Witcher 2: The player must choose to side with Iorveth of the Scoia'tael or Vernon Roche of the human Blue Stripes • Point of no hope (near climax) The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings PLOT: ENDING • Plot Climax: will the character achieve her plot goal? Has the player obtained the necessary skills? • Has the character changed since the beginning of the story--i.e., come closer to achieving her theme goal? • It’s okay if the character doesn’t change, so long as you make a firm decision on the matter (his inability to change is a core aspect of his identity) • Dénoument: goals are obtained or lost, tensions fade, conflicts resolve. But is the world better off as a result? • Final Fantasy X: Tidus defeats Sin and gets to go home, but that means he has to leave everyone else behind PART 3: WRITING IN SCREENPLAY FORMAT Choose your words carefully! PRACTICAL RULES • Use screenwriting software for formatting (Celtx is free) • Always write in present tense • Make sure to list all the characters in the scene near the beginning • If there are important objects in the scene that are vital to its function, make note of them in an action block • Use as few words as possible to convey a mood or setting • Don’t over-direct. Imply your vision wherever you can, then leave the rest to the talents of the actors, artists, and directors DO’S AND DON’TS • Avoid exposition. Let facts be implied by the details of the world and dialogue rather than explicitly stated • If something MUST be explained blatantly to the audience, create a scenario in which this would happen naturally, then add conflict • Write only what you can see. Show, don’t tell. • DON’T: “Carrie wonders whether she’s beautiful.” • DO: “Carrie looks at a magazine cover featuring a beautiful model. Then she frowns at herself in the mirror.” • Then take it another step further: PLAY, don’t just show. • “Carrie looks at a magazine cover featuring a beautiful model in a STRIPED DRESS. Then she frowns at herself in the mirror. / PLAYER CONTROL: Carrie can explore the bedroom. In her closet, there are three dresses to choose from: PINK, GREEN, and STRIPED. ” YOUR BEST FRIENDS • Conflict, conflict, conflict! • Does the story feel slow? Add more conflict (qualitative or quantitative) • Do you need a vehicle for exposition? Use conflict • While building suspense, conflict also gives new opportunities for gameplay • Correlatives: physical items that carry emotional or symbolic significance • Arno’s pocket watch in Assassin’s Creed: Unity • Angela’s knife in Silent Hill 2 • And then… Assassin’s Creed: Unity WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?.