لطفا منتظر باشید ...
Crafting Game Narratives
How do you create the details of a narrative that will let you achieve the fictional world and story events that you want your players to experience? There is no single magic formula, and as storytellers in every medium know, the devil is in the details. Because our focus is game design, this book does not include sections on the visual aesthetics of character design, tips for writing in-game dialogue, or other specifics of how to construct narrative descriptors. However, we can offer some general ways of thinking about the craft of game narratives. By paying careful attention to the details of your game representations, and how they bridge the formal game system and the player experience, you will be able to generate meaningful narrative play.
Consider the following text from the Wipeout XL game manual: Future world... A ball bounces. A pin drops. A man falls. Gravity is the glue which binds us to our planet. We are about to apply the solvent which will free our species for-ever.—Pierre Belmondo, Director of European AG [anti-gravity] Research, Nevada, April 2035
Although Wipeout XL's introductory narrative is extremely abstract, it communicates a sense of what it is going to feel like within this future world. The sparseness of the description, the metaphors of gravity's glue and the solvent used to "free our species forever," work to create an emotional story context. The formal qualities of the narrative description establish a particular mood and setting. If the text had been written in Middle English, the narrative context of the world would feel quite different. How something is said is just as important as what is said when you are creating narrative contexts. This text, situated within the future-stylish, techno visual context of the Wipeout XL game graphics, acquires yet more narrative meaning, even as it imbues the rest of the game with meanings of its own. Consider the design of objects or settings. The visual and audio aesthetics of Silent Hill creates a distinctly creepy and unsettling atmosphere. The home movie-style opening sequence, set to discordant music, establishes a mood of underlying horror that is supported by the limited use of light throughout the game. Even in daylight it is foggy and difficult to see very far. When it is dark, a player's field of vision is limited to the tight radius of a single flashlight. Light operates as a narrative element, creating a dense mood and a framework for cautious interaction. Audio is also significant in creating the distinctive narrative experience of Silent Hill. Background noises such as the haunting sobs of a child in the deserted school create a larger narrative setting and work to gradually unnerve the player. The unsettling, distinctive sounds of approaching enemies, which range from flapping winged beasts to harmless ghost babies to shuffling homicidal nurses, foreshadow their likely appearance and attack. The game uses cinematic storytelling techniques to good effect, by intrinsically linking them to the game system and player interaction: the enemies are revealed first in sound, then in visuals, then through combat interaction. Gratuitous "spooky" sound effects can quickly wear thin, but when those effects signify future game events, the player will sit up and take notice. Narrative descriptors in games include everything from the written introduction to the opening cinematic, from the design of light and sound to the style of the game interface. These narrative elements not only pertain to plot, character, and setting, but also give players information about the types of interaction that are appropriate and how they are to behave. Together, these elements form an interlocking, complex narrative system, from which the player's narrative experience emerges. How does this experience become meaningful play? Through design choices that create discernable and integrated relationships among the parts of the system. In all of the successful examples of narrative play discussed so far, the core design values of integration and discernability still hold true. For example, the approaching enemy sound effects in Silent Hill become meaningful because they are integrated into the game system, warning the player about impending known (or unknown) monsters in a way that is consistently clear and discernable.
