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[Miko Galvez]

How would you incorporate Logbooks in video games? I mean logbooks that give a little bit of backstory to the environment/world, hero/villain/characters, event, etc. Not sure if it's the right term please correct me if I'm wrong.

I've recollected some information I've gathered from playing a lot of video games and I noticed these are the kinds of logbooks used in most games

1) Actual Readings (most common)
Having in-game books/journals/entries etc by characters in the game allow the both the player AND the controllable character to learn about the past and help explain the current situation by giving some backstory. This allows the player freewill whether they WANT to read stuff or not as they are not forced to do so. (Although having puzzles involving having to know something from reading it somewhere in-game may be quite fun)

2) Flashbacks
Movies normally have flashbacks that may possibly explain finally the situation (normally a big revelation part of the movie is a flashback by one of the deeper/mysterious characters) but how do you do this in-game? Do you actually use cutscenes? How do you allow players to be able to play in the flashback?

Normally, in games with playable flashbacks, you control the player right? But it almost always has nothing to do with the present other than telling you something that you didn't know about the past. Are there games where what you do in the flashback part of the game affect the present?

Does having a flashback segment need to have more of it (not just one flashback stage of the game but actually having it become part of a gimmick of the game or is it good as a stage of its own only)

My question is, how would you create a logbook interestingly in-game? Because I was thinking of placing a flashback stage in a game I want to make, but would that have to require the game to actually have multiple flashback stages to become consistent?

Alternatively, I plan to just have a monitor in some part of the background showing something about the past (you can just walk past it if you choose not to watch) because I wanted to have a game with absolutely no cutscenes (i'm thinking it's a good idea if implemented well, being able to control EVERY action of the character allows the player to connect with the game through the character he's playing and feeling the consequences and benefits of his actions directly)

[C.D Buckmaster]

If you decide to do either of these approaches, make sure that you inject some personality into them, nothing is more boring than a game just vomiting exposition at you.

[Miko Galvez]

If you decide to do either of these approaches, make sure that you inject some personality into them, nothing is more boring than a game just vomiting exposition at you.

My idea of inserting a flashback is kind of similar to how Braid showed that Tim was actually the villain (a part of the game that tells you something about the story without having to read something, but you experienced it directly

[Player 3]

Or like in Cave Story with the story of Ballos, with text randomly appearing like a calm voice-over in action scenes.

[C.D Buckmaster]

I agree that Braid's use of flashback was very well done, especially how it used the game's main mechanic not only in a interesting way, but also as a metaphor.

The audiobooks in Bioshock were also quite well done, not in their implementation (finding and picking up pieces of information is okay,  but no very unique), but in that they gave the player insight into the history of Rapture and its downfall without sounding like a history textbook.

[MadWatch]

The audiobooks in Bioshock were also quite well done, not in their implementation (finding and picking up pieces of information is okay,  but no very unique), but in that they gave the player insight into the history of Rapture and its downfall without sounding like a history textbook.

Agree. Portal (both) also did a very good job it.

I too want to make a game that tells a story without any cutscene and I plan to use the same technique.

[Miko Galvez]

I agree that Braid's use of flashback was very well done, especially how it used the game's main mechanic not only in a interesting way, but also as a metaphor.

The audiobooks in Bioshock were also quite well done, not in their implementation (finding and picking up pieces of information is okay,  but no very unique), but in that they gave the player insight into the history of Rapture and its downfall without sounding like a history textbook.

So my question is, would a flashback stage be good or do you have to be consistent with it like a gimmick (multiple flashbacks so you don't feel like the important flashback stage just came up without informing you about being able to play flashbacks)

[C.D Buckmaster]

I could see a stand alone flashback working, as long as it makes sense in context and is well done.

[moi]

that has been done to death in older FPSes (see Unreal for example), actually, their overusage is one of the reason FPS devellopers started overusing cinematic sequences.

[iammonshushu]

I think the idea of journals you find is something that is really poorly done in a lot of games. Farcry 2 had the Jackal tapes but it was pretty much chance to find them and so unrewarding to return them. Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim had the books, which I thought were really cool, but most of them weren't involved in the game or if they were it was a in a really transparent way.

I would love to see a game that used books or journals as a way of solving puzzles or finding and completing quests, but unless you are planning something pretty slow and ponderous, flashbacks are definitely the way to go. The flashback in Uncharted 3 is a good example of one way to do it that doesn't take the player out of the game or bore them to tears.

[Evan Balster]

Honestly I really like the books in Morrowind/Oblivion.  Generally speaking there's no obligation whatsoever to read them, and they give the developers a place to do their worldbuilding without forcing it on the player.

Honestly I wouldn't mind a game that put most of its story into optional trinkets like that, found through elective exploration and investigation; I'd go after them willfully and maybe I'd be more invested as a result.