NARRATIVE FLOW AND FLOW CHARTS STORYBOARDS

LINEAR Linear – The game story starts and the player will be confronted with a predetermined series of challenges. Every player will see these challenges in the same sequence when the game is played. It is a fixed course from beginning until the end. The beginning and the end will always be the same.

NON-LINEAR Open World Branching Parallel Branching

Open World McIntosh, Cohn and Grace ( ) define game play in open world. They say that a player can “ encounter different parts of the overall story in whatever order they choose, or, the player is able to access smaller, more isolated side stories in whatever order they choose.” Open world quests in World of Warcraft can usually be completed in any order for a given level. ( )

Types of Choices Story choices represent any story decision. they can be of three types: Challenges are story choices that are based on player performance overcoming a conflict. Challenge choices always transition to failure or success story exposition nodes. Player choices are story choices based on the player will. The player chooses what to do. Random choices are story choices based on randomness or luck. Taken From:

Branching 1)a tree that branches out with different end points 2)difficult to implement due to programming and asset management challenges. Branching types of stories give the player options that often lead to more options which may affect the overall direction of the narrative. A good example of this would be Heavy Rain with its multiple endings. ( )

Parallel Branching Games that have only one ending like Siberia, options are given as to which sub-locations and NPC's the player would like to interact with first, even though each chapter begins and ends the same way. It's all about the illusion of control. ( )

Flow Chart

High-Level Flowchart Nonlinear Narrative Design Example