2. Chapter 3
Story Composition

3. Objectives Determine when to add a story to a video game.
Outline the basic creative writing procedures.
Differentiate between a linear and a nonlinear structure for interactive story delivery.
Explain how level design mimics the story design and differentiate between level designs for linear and nonlinear games.
Define the essential elements of a level.

4. To Add or Not to Add a Story
A story illustrates a series of events that describe the process of a character resolving a problem or conflict
The plot is the plan or map for the story
Not every game tells a story, such as sports games
A role-playing game (RPG) depends on a story to motivate the player

5. To Add or Not to Add a Story (Continued)
A story should be added to a game for one of five reasons
Add entertainment to the game
Define the audience
Keep player attention
Differentiate the game
Integrate with marketing

6. audiovisual experience
literature can be characterized by using words to present ideas over the course of time, cinema builds on that by adding a second dimension of expression: sensory input.
“It was a dark and stormy night. Bob was an evil man. He said to John, the good guy, ‘I hate you and I will kill you.’

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8. Why and when do I need a strong storyline

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10. What’s the backstory?? Is there a backstory??
Pong
Donkey Kong
Breakout
Space Panic

11. Pong
Pong (marketed as PONG) is one of the earliest arcade video games and the very first sports arcade video game. It is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics

12. Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong is a series of video games featuring the adventures of a gorilla character called Donkey Kong, conceived by Shigeru Miyamoto in 1981.

13. Breakout
Breakout is an arcade game developed and published by Atari, Inc
In the game, a layer of bricks lines the top third of the screen. A ball travels across the screen, bouncing off the top and side walls of the screen. When a brick is hit, the ball bounces away and the brick is destroyed. The player loses a turn when the ball touches the bottom of the screen. To prevent this from happening, the player has a movable paddle to bounce the ball upward, keeping it in play.

14. Space Panic
Space Panic is a 1980 arcade game designed by Universal, which Chris Crawford calls "the granddaddy of all platform games", as it predates Nintendo's Donkey Kong (from 1981) which is often cited as the original platform game. Space Panic lacks Donkey Kong's jump mechanic and the main character instead digs holes in the platforms into which he must lure the aliens. He must then hit them to knock them out of the hole and off the screen. In later levels, two or more holes must be lined up vertically in order to dispose of the aliens. There Is also a limited supply of oxygen.

15. Creative Writing
Creative writing is developing a work of fiction that tells a story with characters, places, and events
A good story has rising action, a climax, and falling action
A simple outline process can be used to get the writing process started

16. Creative Writing (Continued)
The basics procedure for creative writing is
Brainstorm ideas
Determine the central premise
Define the characters
Create a primary conflict
Structure the story
Develop an ending point
Brainstorming is recording as many ideas as possible without sorting or editing them

17. Creative Writing (Continued)
Try to follow these keys to a central premise
Be brief; use about 30 words
Identify a character and a conflict
Reveal the setting for the conflict
Incorporate credible or believable events
Make it easily understood by the target audience
Determine if it can be developed into a coherent story
Include elements that are different from other stories

18. Creative Writing (Continued)
The story may have round characters, flat characters, stock characters, or stereotyped characters
To have a story, there needs to be a conflict
The story also needs to have dramatic tension, climax, and resolution
The player should be able to resolve the primary conflict eventually and end the game

19. Pilot – FLASH TV Show

20. Creative Writing (Continued)
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21. Premise of a story

22. Guidelines for a Good Story

23. Page 94 textbook

24. Main Game Story – Develop End Point

25. Missions lead to battle with Big Boss Conflict is finished – Game Over
Big Boss – Lord Farquhar

26. Define the Characters
Round ??
Flat ??
Stock??

27. Round – Flat – Stock

28. Interactive Story Delivery
A game with a story is classified as an interactive story
The structure of the story within a game can be either linear or nonlinear
Stories with a linear structure follow a single path from beginning to end
Stories with a nonlinear structure have more than one path, and there may be more than one possible ending

29. Interactive Story Delivery (Continued)
The two basic types of nonlinear stories are branching stories and foldback stories
A branching story has several paths that branch from decision points
In a foldback story
The game branches and allows the player to make decisions
All paths lead, or fold, back to the same end point

30. Design for the Story The level design will mimic the story design
A linear game has one basic level design
Nonlinear games have three basic level designs
Parallel-branching level design
Hub-and-spoke level design
Sandbox level design

31. Basic Types of Level Design
Page 102 textbook

32. Basic Types of Level Design

33. Linear vs. Open World

34. Design for the Story (Continued)
The story must be properly documented to communicate the design to the team
Storyboard
Game layout chart
World-design document
Environmental-illustrations document
Character-design document

35. Storyboard

36. Story Board
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37. Game layout chart

38. Environmental-illustrations document
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39. Character-design document

40. Design for the Story (Continued)
Level design involves grouping the scenes into levels and setting the game objectives
A graphical user interface (GUI) is how the user will send and receive information with the computer
The heads-up display (HUD) is a means of displaying information to the player during gameplay

41. Essential Elements of a Level
There are five essential elements of a level
Setting
Character motivation and emotional development
Purpose and goal
Dramatic action
Conflict and dramatic tension
The setting is the time and place of the action in the story

42. Essential Elements of a Level (Continued)
The chart below includes thematic elements used to convey a medieval setting.
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43. Essential Elements of a Level (Continued)
Each object that contributes to or conveys a theme is a thematic element
The emotional feeling of the setting is its mood
Each level needs to motivate the main character and foster emotional development
An emotional change can be very simple or complex

44. Essential Elements of a Level (Continued)
For each level, there should be a primary goal as well as smaller goals
The tasks to be completed on each level need to be nontrivial
Each level must have its own dramatic action
Each level must have action, conflict, and dramatic tension
These elements make the game exciting

45. Why is brainstorming ideas an important first step for creative writing?
Which type of game do you enjoy playing more—one with a linear structure or one with a nonlinear structure? Why?