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[SprouttheGame]

Been struggling with this all through development. I know roughly how I want my story to pan out, and I'm 90% sure I don't want it to use any actual words. Just symbols, sounds, and motion to convey meaning and emotion.

It gets tricky when trying to do something like explain to the character what the main villain of the game is and why he should be headed that way.

To a large extent, I have to rely on the fact that players will just be content with the notion that they should be going right because that's the convention. But I have to continue to establish the game's mystery and hang it over them like a carrot.

My question is, does anyone have any experience with a thing like this OR can anyone point me to games that made an emotional connection without using words?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

first off, wanting to write a story without words is like wanting to write a song without notes. it can be done, and it's interesting when it's done, but it's not somehow superior to stories that use words / songs that use notes (often people who attempt things like this believe it would be superior), all it is is more difficult without any tangible reward for doing it (i would also not attempt it until you've written a lot of stories with words and have the basics down)

that said, as far as examples are concerned, there are some webcomics, and some pieces of animation (including anime shorts) that don't use words. you may try getting ideas for storytelling without words from those

here's one of my favorites:





nightmare from robot carnival (80s anime)

[eigenbom]

Journey's pretty good in that regard. It tells stories through wall paintings and implements character interaction via sounds and symbols.

[SprouttheGame]

Thanks for the replies.

Paul, to relieve your implied concerns, I am not doing this to be arty or because I think it will be a more fulfilling or truer kind of a story or any pretentious reason like that. I look at the game I am making and the story that it is trying to tell and imagine that the only way to accomplish my very weirdly abstract goal is to use very little or almost no dialogue.

Thanks for the video, too. I've watched it once already and taken some notes. I'll give it another couple of goes and then see if I can put the pieces together. I appreciate the help.

I guess Limbo did something like this, though it didn't have much a story at all. They hung the running away figure over the player like a carrot though, quite successfully.

As for Journey, I haven't played it. Though I desperately want to. Once PS3 is old hat I'll have to invest.

[Dayvi]

If your story uses anything complex you have to use words.

Example: My story is full of hamsters and mice. I did not want them to use words, instead squeaking or emoting/symbols. As I was writing the story there were some complex elements, like characters explaining their plan/future actions.

Using symbols for any future or past actions is very difficult. If your story is in-the-moment only, then you might be okay.

For my story I decided to focus on dialect. The hamsters and mice have their own simplified version of English.

[Sved]

Contextual storytelling doesn't always need words. You can have the player overhear an argument between 2 characters, it will situate a relationship & context + some extra info... But you could also make the player step in a room and see one character slap another. It's enough to understand that their relationship has reach a milestone, and will contextualize their action later on.

edit: You could get Shelter, it's now on sales on Groupees: https://groupees.com/bmx

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

if you liked "nightmare", several other robot carnival shorts have no story. here's another good one:





i don't think it's as cool as nightmare, but it definitely does tell a story without words

[Swampyfoot]

To display the story without any dialogue involved is an interesting concept. You'd have to consult an audio-visual guy for stuff like that.
I, myself am involved with audio-visual things, so we could speak in person on the subject in more detail.

[SprouttheGame]

Thanks for the second link Paul. It's nice to see some other stuff, since I've mostly been studying Wall-E and a couple other Disney shorts.

As Swampyfoot said, looks like I'm going to have to get pretty comfortable with audio/visual. Especially sound effects and music seem pretty integral to conveying emotion.

Swampyfoot- what did you mean meet in person? Like, literally?

[mysteriosum]

Gibberish is a good way to convey feelings without real words, if you're into recording voice. The Sims, for example, does this quite well.

[willoneill]

Here's a great game that I just picked up - was also in today's Greenlight batch - that does a lot with very minimal use of words:





Almost like To The Moon with no words whatsoever?

[SprouttheGame]

Wow wasn't a whole lot going on in that trailer. How was the game?

[Runefrog]

I was thinking about your problem with getting the character to always move right. In the Western world it shouldn't be a problem because we automatically assume going in the right direction will lead to progression.

However, if you want the player's attention to be drawn to the right-hand side perhaps have something move in that direction if it's in the context of your game. I guess a basic example would be if your character is chasing a fairy or something and every time you catch up with it the sprite moves off-screen.

I don't know what your game entails but if you're avoiding dialogue are you avoiding sound affects too? Because audio like sighs, whimpers, gasps and cheers can convey a lot. Try to imagine how R2D2 conveys meaning in Star Wars. When he's happy it's all chirpy, quick and high-pitched but when it's bad news he does that downward-spiral whimpering noise.

Games are a visual medium so you could express certain things through the use of colour. Think of it as a mood-ring.

I watched a video of an indie game this morning and the controls were engraved in the floor on the menu screen. It was pleasing to the eye and wasn't too obvious, but it was enough to get playing.

[Muz]

Check out some of Rovio's phone games. Mobile games are good at getting things across without dialogue, because of the limited space. Or rather, they should be good if they're well designed. Angry Birds does story without dialogue. Tiny Thief gives complex levels without saying anything, except for a single icon bubble when people are talking.