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TIGSource ForumsPlayerGamesStory through gameplay - narrative games
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Tom Rijnbeek
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« on: November 07, 2014, 05:53:08 AM »

It is hard to not notice how far games have come in the last couple of yours. Games have grown from their baby steps to a mature way of telling emotionally engaging stories and provide enjoyable experiences while doing so. I am intrigued by the way games liked To The Moon and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons left a permanent impression on me. I am really not the type of guy that tears up at a book or movie at the first sign of drama, but To The Moon made me cry... twice. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons not so much, but I was definitely touched by it, and even after several times, the story remains something I can't entirely let go.

For those people around here that are interested in narrative design in any way: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a game you should play as research, because it is - according to a large group of people - the only game so far that is able to provoke emotional responses through gameplay. Sure, there are cutscenes, but the only spoken language is some sort of gibberish. The cutscenes are also unable to catch the journey the brothers are making. The fact that the main characters go through several perils to finish their quest only comes forward through playing it yourself. Throughout the game - which is only a mere two to three hours long - you see how the bond between the main characters grows, and you also develop a connection on your own. One could even argue that the control scheme is deliberately chosen to be somewhat uncomfortable, to make you as player go through a struggle in the same way the main characters are.

If you do not have the time (or money) to play the game yourself, I have condensed to story into a video that you can watch

. As I was so intrigued by the way this game affected me, I actually decided to do a research project for my master programme Game and Media Technology about how playing the game adds to the emotional experience. Like I said before: there are games that made me cry, this almost never happens to me for books or movies. Is the story of these games just more engaging, or is it the fact that I am actually playing the story, instead of acting as passive observer? If you have played to game, or if you watch the video I made (and again: I recommend doing at least one of them!), I would appreciate it if you'd spare five minutes of your time to fill in a questionnaire about that experience, so I can compare the different ways of experiencing the same story. Information about this can be found on my website: http://tomrijnbeek.nl/smallproject.

Of course, I am also interested in discussing this topic in detail here, and I will obviously share any results I find through this study, as I find it important to help this medium grow even further, and hopefully contribute to more games like the ones discussed before in the future, by gaining more insight in how one can emotionally immerse your players.
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rj
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« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2014, 08:57:17 PM »

couple of my what
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starsrift
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« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2014, 10:34:47 PM »

Some people were also really affected by The Walking Dead game, and there is hardly any gameplay whatsoever. You'll find that the issue, Tom, is about pacing, and is rather resistant to research-by-survey. It's all about craft. Some movies will emotionally affect folks, some won't. Some will affect different people differently, especially as they view it with a different context of their personal history and how they relate to the movie.
Brothers was particularly well done in that it could affect anyone with a sibling - and more poignantly, also anyone who wanted a sibling but never had one. It is fantastic source material, but the rest of it is craft.

Many games don't have this sort of craft to the story. In fact, you can look at reviews with game writers - Ms. Pratchett had one of the more recent ones, I think - and in your typical AAA or even B studio title, writers are consultants, not architects. Games are principally about gameplay, still, and the intent or value of that is something that can be of wild debate.

couple of my what

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rj
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« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2014, 11:09:22 PM »

what one more time
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Dragonmaw
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« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2014, 11:53:20 PM »

"gameplay"
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Tom Rijnbeek
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« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2014, 05:20:36 AM »

Some people were also really affected by The Walking Dead game, and there is hardly any gameplay whatsoever. You'll find that the issue, Tom, is about pacing, and is rather resistant to research-by-survey. It's all about craft. Some movies will emotionally affect folks, some won't. Some will affect different people differently, especially as they view it with a different context of their personal history and how they relate to the movie.
I definitely agree with this point, pacing is an important part of telling the story. This is something I bumped into fairly soon. The experiences of a few people for both the game and film I made have been compared to make sure that both are roughly equally engaging pacing-wise. Good pacing definitely influences emotionally engaging a player, but I am pretty sure there is more to it than just that. You argue that the immersion comes from craft, I am just curious if it is the game-specific elements (i.e. the interaction) that makes the story as compelling as it is, or the way the story is portrayed.

Brothers was particularly well done in that it could affect anyone with a sibling - and more poignantly, also anyone who wanted a sibling but never had one. It is fantastic source material, but the rest of it is craft.
True, but what I am curious about is if you take this exact story and put it in a movie or a book even, does it keep its power? The only difference between recorded material and the game itself is that you don't play, just watch.

"gameplay"
I chose this game as subject deliberately, as opposed to for example Dear Esther, which doesn't really tell the story through gameplay, you just keep the forward button pressed and the story is thrown at you. I wanted to look at a game where story elements - in this particular case the bond between brothers - comes forward from the puzzles and controls.
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starsrift
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« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2014, 05:44:33 AM »

You argue that the immersion comes from craft, I am just curious if it is the game-specific elements (i.e. the interaction) that makes the story as compelling as it is, or the way the story is portrayed.

Well, I didn't just argue the notion, I gave you an example of your thesis being disproven. I mean, take it or leave it, I'm just some dude on the internet. Smiley

But I think if you want to justify your paper beyond your immediate academic circles for a grade, to anyone in the industry whatsoever, you're going to have to justify not only The Walking Dead but visual novels and other story-driven 'games' that have little to no gameplay. If your goal is only a paper to pad your credentials with, go for it. If you want to be taken seriously, though, this is a question you're going to get nailed on, so think up some bullshit. Smiley

Edit: More interestingly, you can start to ask yourself if, in Brothers, you had any other choices than getting the brothers to cooperate in the methods they did. Is the "gameplay" functionally different from a QTE or any other channelled-path game? Is there choice? Is it actually gameplay? You can go down the rabbit hole for a bit with this one.


what one more time

« Last Edit: November 08, 2014, 06:16:44 AM by starsrift » Logged

"Vigorous writing is concise." - William Strunk, Jr.
As is coding.

I take life with a grain of salt.
And a slice of lime, plus a shot of tequila.
Tom Rijnbeek
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« Reply #7 on: November 09, 2014, 06:29:24 AM »

You definitely make some interesting points. This is not my master thesis luckily, just a small research project. There are definitely a lot of interesting aspects of this subject you can get sidetracked on, but I only have limited time for this project, so that is why I limited it to the comparison at hand. From there, you can go deeper and look into other things, but that is left for somebody else to figure out Wink
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gimymblert
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« Reply #8 on: November 09, 2014, 05:54:07 PM »

It's about behavior, you look at the system behave and you infer meaning

BE don't (just) DO
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