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Cutscenes
Kane sneering out from the briefing video of Command and Conquer. Lantern light over a wrecked inn in Diablo II. Bahamut blasting your foes to ashes in Final Fantasy VII. There is no doubt that the humble cutscene has left its mark on the memories of most gamers. But how did these beautiful scenes affect the gameplay of the titles they graced?—Hugh Hancock, "Better Game Design Through Cut-Scenes"
The concepts for designing narrative play we have identified so far are relevant for all kinds of games, on and off the computer. However, there are new forms and techniques for the design of narrative play emerging specifically from digital games, and we finish this chapter by investigating a few of them. One narrative design tool many digital games utilize is the cutscene. Although cutscenes are often described as being "out-of-game" narratives that cut into game play, this distinction is only useful if we limit the definition of game play to those moments when players take action within the game world. As we know, all kinds of narrative descriptors, from the graphics on a game box to the text in a game manual, are important in defining a game's fictive world. Rather than focusing on whether cutscenes occur in or out of game play, we want to consider the role of cutscenes in the overall design of narrative play.
Narrative space. Initially, every player goes through a short introductory tutorial. After that, the player is free to create his or her own patterns of movement through the game. As a web-based game, the Drome Racing Challenge consists primarily of HTML web pages, designed in the high-speed future-style of the Drome.The narrative space of the game is a space of information and technology rather than a represented physical space, appropriate for the media-centric fictive world of the game. Patterns of activity. The two core activities of the game are customizing cars and racing them on tracks. Both activities have their own dramatic structures and patterns. Car customization occurs in the "garage," a narrativized pit-stop and auto store where players acquire and manipulate car parts, attaching them to slots in their cars. In the garage, players prepare for a race, tuning and tweaking their cars for particular tracks. A common game play pattern is to run a few races, then head back to the garage to buy a new part, tweak a car, and return to the tracks to test it out. This behavioral loop becomes a narrative pattern, evoking the dedicated lifestyle of a hard-working race driver. The race. In some respects, the race preparation is simply a prelude for the dramatic narrative moments of an actual race. Once a player readies a car and places it on a track, any other player can challenge it. The game program generates a race made up of random hazards and obstacles, takes into account both of the customized cars entered into the race, and generates a series of race events as a result. The program translates this formal information into a 2D cartoon, emergently created by software that uses the race events to structure pacing and shot structure. The animation then plays out as a Speed Racer-style, action-packed sequence of events. Abstract speed lines, informational overlays, and inset views of the drivers are combined with shots of the vehicles racing through the Drome's hazardous environments. The resulting experience references the cartoony, sci-fi style of the overall game space, generating a compelling narrative out of the linkages among descriptor aesthetics, the fictive world frame, and meaningful game outcomes.
Cutscenes take many forms, from text-based descriptions to comic-book style storyboards to real-time 3D cinematics or pre-rendered animated sequences. Sometimes these forms are mixed, as in Max Payne, which combines real-time cinematics with the visual language of a graphic novel to tell its story. Pre-scripted voice-overs or text-based captions are often combined with animated visual sequences; sound usually plays an important role in establishing a mood or atmosphere. In all of these cases, cutscenes are clearly an embedded narrative element—a scripted narrative sequence that is the same every time. As storytelling devices integrated into the formal structure of the game, cutscenes contain narrative descriptors on many levels. More than other game elements, cutscenes closely resemble existing forms of narrative media: they are linear, pre-scripted, non-interactive, and story-driven. Even the term "cutscene" refers to their patently filmic nature. The ubiquity of cutscenes sometimes earns them derision from experienced game players, but in fact, cutscenes contribute to narrative play in a number of important ways. As Hugh Hancock writes in "Better Game Design Through Cut-Scenes:" The cutscene is there to make a game's world more real—not just by telling a story, but also by reacting to the player, by showing him the effects of his actions upon that world and thus making both the world more real and his actions more important. The cutscene fills the role of both prequel and epilogue: showing the player what the world is like before he enters it, what needs he has to fill, what he has to work with and what he has to face, and afterwards showing what the effects of his actions upon the world were, whether good, bad or both. [13]
Although we might quibble with Hancock's use of the term "real," we agree with the spirit of his statement. Cutscenes are a way of leading players through the narrative space of a game, highlighting key moments and punctuating important events and outcomes. As a kind of narrative in miniature, cutscenes help fill out the larger narrative frame of the game, playing a crucial role in establishing the fictive world of a game's story. They can introduce story, setting, and character, particularly in the early sections of a game when players are still becoming familiar with the game world. The cutscenes in GTA III help establish the pulp gangster setting of the game. Because this is a narrative genre that often appears in filmic form, the highly cinematic cutscenes do a more efficient job of setting up these narrative conventions than the moments of game action. Cutscenes may "cut" into player interaction, but they directly support narrative play on many levels. Cutscenes can foreshadow events to come, operate as flashbacks, or create transitions between settings. They can show players how to interact with objects and give players information about resources in the game. Consider the following uses of cutscenes, some of which come from Hancock's essay: Surveillance or Planning Tool
Cutscenes can provide players with access to information unavailable to them during game play. As a surveillance tool, cutscenes might allow players a glimpse of another part of the game space, or provide information on the current whereabouts of a character or treasure they are seeking. As a planning tool, cutscenes can provide players with information about an event or obstacle they will soon encounter, or elaborate on the outcome of an action.
Multiple narrative tellings. After a race, the race events are translated into a "race analy-sis."The race analysis is a spreadsheet-style summary of each race event, listing the car and track factors that determined its outcome. The exact same race events that appeared in the animation here become numbers and text, interpreted through a new set of narrative descriptors that emphasize strategic, rather than visual, play.
Drome Racing animation
Say you just completed a mission that used up most of your health resources. A cutscene shows that you are about to encounter a heavily armed opponent. What to do? Perhaps you should to return to the previous level and garner more health. Or maybe it's time to haul out that powerful limited-use weapon that you have been saving for an emergency. Because the cutscene provided you with useful information about the implications of your past actions in relation to an upcoming event, you can plan accordingly. Cutscenes create narrative scenarios that can enrich the decision-making process for players. Game Play Catapult
Although cutscenes are often used informationally to provide players with critical data, they can also work to catapult a player into a new situation. They can add narrative drama by building suspense, or provide narrative movement from one situation to the next. For example, imagine that you are in an adventure game and you have just solved a puzzle that rewarded you with a rope. It is an unusual reward and you are not sure what to do with it, as you are traveling through a desert: not much use for a rope here! The animated cutscene that follows shows a trapdoor at the top of the next sand dune. Just as the cutscene makes a dramatic pan from your casually strolling character to the open trapdoor, the cutscene ends and you find yourself back in active game play, falling through the trapdoor and down an abyss. Thinking quickly you use the rope to lasso a rocky overhang. Safe now, you check your surroundings and realize that you are no longer in the desert, but are hanging high above a river in the middle of a dense forest. In this instance the cutscene not only catapulted the player into the middle of a dramatic game event, but also transported the player to another part of the game world. Cutscenes that drop players directly into the middle of game action allow them to resolve the cutscene's mini-narrative through game play. Using a cutscene in this way enhances suspense and drama by grafting the non-inter-active sequence directly to player action. Scene and Mood Setting
Many digital games consist of a series of linked levels or game spaces. Although these levels or spaces are part of a larger system, they each have their own unique identity. Cutscenes can reinforce the differences between settings and highlight what might be new and unusual about an upcoming level. In Virtua Fighter 4, for example, there are fifteen different fighting arenas. Brief cutscenes used before each bout show off the details of the environment, establishing the setting and creating a sense of place for the upcoming match. Cutscenes can also establish mood, or reinforce the emotional arc of game events. As players move deeper into Silent Hill, the cutscenes become increasingly eerie and disturbing. In Final Fantasy IX, cutscenes reinforce the epic quality of the hero's journey through the use of dramatic animation, sound, and editing. The tongue-in-cheek dialogue of Max Payne's cutscenes lends an ironic edge to the urban noir of the game world. In each example, cut-scenes establish a mood that becomes part of the game's narrative play.
Choice and Consequence
Cutscenes give game designers the power to dramatically reveal the outcomes of player choices, outcomes that can affect not only the player's character, but often the game world as well. Cutscenes can show a player's character achieving a goal, such as winning a race and receiving a gold medal, or saving a planet and being surrounded by throngs of cheering civilians. Cutscenes can also show failure outcomes, when goals are not achieved or poor choices are made: a protracted grisly death sequence, a scene of swarming enemies ravaging the game world, or a shot of the bad guy riding off with both the treasure and the girl. Representing the consequences of player actions in story form enriches the narrative play of the game and often makes the game world feel more alive. Rhythm and Pacing
In James Bond 007 In Agent Under Fire, short cutscenes provide regular moments of release from intense action, allowing a player to catch his or her breath or contemplate upcoming choices. The rhythm created by the cutscenes is a way of controlling the game's overall pacing. Once the pattern has been established, players learn to expect breaks in game action, which can heighten the pace or slow it down. At the conclusion of a big battle, for instance, the pace of the game can be reduced by inserting a slow-motion cutscene of the falling enemy, or it can be sped up by immediately catapulting the player into the middle of another battle. Variation and control of cutscene pacing contributes to narrative play by emphasizing specific moments in a game. A long, slow cutscene that follows a player's solution to a particularly difficult puzzle can signify the importance of the event in the overall game experience. Player Reward
In Games as the Play of Pleasure, we explored games as a series of punishments and rewards. Cutscenes are often used for both of these purposes: as a visceral punishment for failure as well as a tangible reward for achieving a game goal. As Hancock notes, "the Final Fantasy series' game play is often driven by this imperative, whether trying to advance through the game to see the next cut-scene in the story, or trying to find the magical 'summon' spells within the game, which a lot of people have noted are primarily worth finding in order to enjoy the spectacular animations which accompany them."[14] The gorgeous cinematic cutscenes in Warcraft III were designed, in part, to reward players for their investment in many hours of game play. Although using cutscenes as rewards might seem like a straightforward design idea, the experience of receiving such a gift during game play can be tremendously satisfying and motivating.
Within communities of game developers and game players, debate rages about the value of cutscenes. Hardcore gamers have a reputation for ignoring game guides, opening cinematics, and in-game cutscenes, preferring to dive right into the action. If one purpose of these elements is to provide information about the game world and setting, what happens when players skip over this information? If these dedicated gamers have no problem stepping into the narrative space of game play despite their avoidance of cutscenes, does this mean that the information and experiences they provide is superfluous? Many long-time gamers make the argument that narrative descriptors found in cutscenes and game manuals do not affect game play. This argument is both true and false. It is true that these forms of narrative description are not necessary for their play of the game. Remember that a chief function of these framing devices is to establish the game's fictive world. As hardcore gamers, these impatient players have experienced enough games to have internalized the common uses of game setting and story. Their long experience with the codes and conventions of games—with stories, settings, events, and characters—has replaced the need for an external description of these worlds. Players who lack this experience, on the other hand, have much to gain from the information provided in backstories and opening cinematics. Even expert players in one genre of game will find narrative descriptors useful when playing a game from another genre for the first time. In a complex role-playing game, for example, the explication of the story in the game guide creates a context for the interactions to come. A player quickly learns the premise and goal of the game, the kinds of actions she can take in the game world, the characters she will meet along the way, and above all, why she is in the game world in the first place. This kind of information might not be self-evident to a gamer that plays mostly simulation games. The lesson? Design for both types of players. Never assume that your players will carefully examine every framing narrative descriptor: be sure to make your story come alive in the actual play of the game. On the other hand, when appropriate you should feel free to embellish your core game events with opening cutscenes and other preliminary narratives that extend your fictive world for players that want a richer story experience. If you manage to hook players with your game play, they may go back and actually watch the introductory cinematic they skipped earlier to make sure they didn't miss anything important.
There are plenty of other ways to employ cutscenes in the design of narrative play, whether by mixing and matching the uses listed here or by finding completely different methods that are better suited for your own game. However, it is worth noting that games certainly do not have to include cutscenes. Narrative play arises from the complex interaction between numerous elements of a game system. Cutscenes represent just one of these possible elements, albeit one that is highly narrative in its own right. [13]lbid. p.199.[14]Hugh Hancock,"Better Game Design Through Cut-Scenes." Gamasutra.com Ibid.
