Chapter 2.2 Game 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 3 rd 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 1/2 k 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]

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

11 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