Conveying Narrative

          For those of you who want to make games with stories, how do you tell a narrative in a game? Do you tell it like a book with lots of text to read? Or do you show it like a movie in a theater? Or maybe you read off some lines for the player to hear when they pick up an audio recording in game? These methods don’t exactly work as effectively as one may hope. Making players read text takes them out of the game, though they may still be engrossed in the world. Showing a cut scene can work for some cinematic moments, but the player still has to stop to watch it. Audio recordings can fill players in on the story, yet the information can be lost if other sounds are playing, too. All of these methods require the player to stop focusing on the game in order to take in the narrative. Admittedly, the audio recordings may take them out the least, but I still feel like I’m missing out on crucial information if I pick up an audio file in BioShock and some slicers are hitting me. They’re both making noise and I’d rather not read subtitles in the middle of a fight.

          To properly convey narrative in a game, the player must not be pulled out of the gameplay for too long. Let them keep moving around and looking at things, have them find brief scripts of text that can be read in under thirty seconds, ensure any essential audio lore can’t be interrupted by another sound or by music. One of the best ways designers convey narrative is through mechanics and level design. 

          Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons does this exceptionally well. The player must control both brothers to solve puzzles and progress through the game. The narrative is sort of happening in the background, but you also gain an attachment to the brothers themselves as their characters develop. The two need to find a way to cure their father’s illness. Naturally, they go around town looking for assistance when they are instructed that the cure will likely be found outside of town. To leave town, the two brothers must work together to bypass obstacles. The mechanics of puzzle solving are simple enough, but it requires that both siblings operate in tandem to progress. It creates some heartwarming (and gut-wrenching) moments as the game goes on. 

When the player reaches a point near the end, the eldest brother is gone and the game changes mood entirely. How can you play the game (and proceed with the narrative) when your only brother is no longer here? Naturally, you think you can do this last puzzle by yourself. Despite your efforts, it doesn’t work out. And yet, the game never explicitly tells you that you can still use your brother’s controls to solve the puzzle. When you do, the solution is found! It’s a gripping moment when you finally realize what to do and what it means that you can still use your brother to help you despite his absence.

          However, there are games that have are narratively focused and have gameplay built to suit the story. Oxenfree is a good example of how narrative can sometimes take precedence over mechanics. Players can decide what dialogue options they respond to other characters with. Depending on their choices, the story plays out differently. The only mechanics the game has is walking/running, dialogue choices, and tuning a radio. The radio is interesting, but it isn’t the most awesome thing in the world. It helps convey the backstory of the world and also helps in progressing through the game. Oxenfree relies on these mechanics to make their story more engaging because playing with that radio makes you feel more involved. Dialogue choices alone could maybe make the game playable, but the radio is what really sells the narrative. Without that mechanic, this game might as well be a “visual novel”.

          When it comes to conveying narrative, focus on using gameplay and design to tell the story. If an important detail needs to be in the player’s mind, let them know by having them see or hear the crucial information. If presented well, they won’t forget. You can use text, but don’t flood them with an encyclopedia of your game world’s lore and history. They can still find that stuff and read it on their own time, but don’t make them feel like they have to read it right this minute. Cutscenes work for cinematic moments, but the player can’t do anything until the mini movie ends or is skipped. If it’s too long, they will likely want to skip the story altogether just to get back to playing again. And audio recordings work fine, just don’t have them play in areas where there’s going to be a lot of noise. Even if the background sound has a lower volume, it’s still additional noise to filter out. Build your game out before you incorporate a narrative. Or if you have an incredibly good narrative, find mechanics and systems that fit that kind of story. If you only want to tell stories, why not write a book?

January Analysis: Journey

Going to try something similar to the analysis I did back in October of last year. As cool as it was to look into those games, I think I need more than a month to really look at some of the larger games. I'll be posting these at the end of each month with April being the last.

          If you’ve never played a video game before, I recommend the first one you pick up is Journey. It’s an easy and approachable game suitable for beginners, yet still has some challenge to veteran players. But above all, it represents what games should be.

          When you start out, there isn’t much direction at first. You are told what controls you can use to move around and how you can operate the camera to change your view of the surrounding landscape. As you pan your camera, you see a mountain in the distance with a light beacon shining brightly. That’s your goal. As you walk, you may notice a couple of grave markers. These are the people who journeyed before you… and failed. It warns you that your task will not be easy. 

          Eventually you find some scarf scraps. The game prompts you to “Call” them. When you use Call, the scraps light up and you acquire your first bit of scarf. You now have a new ability: float. When you use the scarf, you soar into the air and fall down gently. As you acquire glowing runes, you earn more length to your scarf allowing you to fly even longer. This is an essential element to the game as it teaches players about the importance of collecting these runes (they’re optional and not necessary to complete the game). Without this, what incentive does one have to find more runes and add more to their scarf?

          The game encourages exploration, but not too far. To keep the player on the main course, any time they venture beyond the boundaries of the level, a powerful gust of wind blows them back. It’s much better than an invisible wall that doesn’t make much sense. It feels more natural like destiny is guiding you towards your goal. This way, the player has a clear understanding of where they can go and where they cannot.

          Each level introduces some new mechanic of the game that’s easy to understand and intuitive to learn. You aren’t given a ton of button commands to work with, just the float and Call mechanics. Even if you lack a long scarf, the game accommodates by giving the player several methods of floating such as banners. Banners are long tapestries that glow when the player approaches them and act as a means of infinite float. Players can effectively ride them so long as they are touching the banners. Some banners help give you height and others work as bridges. The way you glide and slide among them gives the game this magical feel to it.

          You see several structures in the world hinting at a past civilization. Players can climb some of them, but those who have been good at finding runes will have enough power to float to the top. It’s set up so that those who have been going forward can still accomplish a goal, but for those who have been exploring and collecting can have a shortcut. It’s a rewarding experience being able to bypass physical limitations such as climbing.

          Players will notice that the world is relatively empty. There’s nobody else walking with you and there’s no sign of life anywhere, until you find the scarf dragons. They are these creatures made up of scarves that can fly around and make their own Call noises. It’s possible to call one to you and hitch a ride. They become your allies in this desolate world and then you have a sort of sub-goal to strive for on your way to the main goal: free their friends. The soundtrack also starts to become more noticeable at this time. Before then, music didn’t play. Now that there’s life, music becomes more prominent.

          This game is excellent at creating moments. One of the best parts is after freeing many of the scarf dragons, you come across a section that’s just sliding on sand. Earlier in the game, players notice that they can slide down steep dunes. Briefly entertaining, but not enough to work with. It’s as if the developers read the player’s mind and thought “We can make this moment even better. Let’s dedicate an entire section to sliding on sand.” This moment exists as a way to bring joy to the player and remind them that it’s a game. It’s ok to have fun. In this section, you race through the sand by sliding and weaving your way through ruins and structures whilst keeping up with your newfound allies. There’s a sense of exhilaration and competition, even though nothing happens if you win or lose. It’s also a great opportunity to see the environment at sunset. The whole world is beautiful and stunningly gorgeous. Yet, it all changes when you reach the end. The lighting shifts dramatically from a hot red to a cool blue. The music stops and the area you’re in is unfamiliar. You’ve never been in a place like this before. What lies ahead?

          As you trek on ahead you notice some lights. They seem hopeful in this dark place, but some part of you wants to avoid them. Why? You find out why soon enough when a metal dragon appears and screams through the empty halls. Those things look dangerous. Let’s avoid them, shall we? To further drive home the point that you shouldn’t mess with these, a few scarf dragons are hanging out on a rock bathed in light. You want to greet them, but a metal dragon comes in and devours them whole. Now you KNOW not to be seen by these dragons. This is all done in game, by the way. No cutscene to show you anything. As a player, you notice it because the level is designed so that you have to look towards the event. There’s no way you can miss it (unless you turn your camera, but you still understand what to avoid).

          The music picks up again, but it’s much more ominous. You try to stay out of the light from the sun shining through and the light from the glows of the metal dragons. You saw what they did to your friends. After navigating through, you spot a section that seems unavoidable. Two dragons patrol it and you know you will get caught. But it’s a sand slide, so maybe you can move faster than they can. Boldly, you take the chance and are seen immediately by both of them. They get ready to charge and you hope you can make it to the bottom before they reach you. It’s an incredibly tense moment, however it’s set up so you have a close call. You aren’t in any real danger in this part as you will always be fast enough to reach the end. Still, your heart is racing from that moment.

          You’ve earned a rest at this point, so the game shifts to warmer lighting. This puzzle is easy to solve and designed in such a way that if you accidentally fall, you can easily get back to where you were. This huge beacon of light is in the center of this room, but you gradually reveal more light by pulling levers. As more light fills the room, you are given more scarf power to work with. In the light, you can fly forever. As soon as you leave it, your scarf starts to run out again. It’s a nice change of pace from the imminent doom from earlier. I wish more puzzles were like this. Not in the sense of being this easy, but are more forgiving if you fall down to an area that you already finished. You should be able to try again immediately, not redo what you’ve already done. 

          The final stretch is possibly the hardest part of the game. You are so close to your goal of reaching the mountain, but the snow and wind makes it difficult. You move slowly, your runes fade, your friends are frozen and using Call only defrosts them temporarily. You feel truly alone in this world… but you have to keep going on. Despite all odds, your goal is right there. Just a few more steps.

          This section truly tests your determination. Wind pushes you back unless you hide behind rocks, the metal dragons come back and I swear at least one of them is designed to always find you and rip off half of your scarf. There’s no way to replenish your runes, and eventually, your scarf withers away. When you finally get past all of that, you walk towards the light of the mountain. But as you move, you notice you’re moving slower and slower. Just a few more steps and you’re there. But you can’t. Your character falls and lies down in the snow. This is the end of your journey…

          But then the white prophets you had seen before appear. They restore you to life and bring you into Shangri-La (I’m guessing that’s the name of it). This is your reward for all of your hard work. This place is wonderful! You have infinite flight from all of the scarf creatures flying around, the music is wonderfully uplifting, the sky is a beautiful blue and the scenery is phenomenal. And yet, it has to come to an end. When you reach the crevice leading towards the beacon of light, the music becomes considerably more sad. You journey is truly over, but you wanted more. I swear I nearly cried getting to this part.

          So why is Journey such a good game to start off with for a newcomer? First, the simple control scheme makes it approachable. You’d be surprised at how many people can’t operate more than a few buttons at a time. Having to think about only a couple of things takes a load of stress off of a beginner. Second, it doesn’t hold your hand through objectives and arrows pointing in the direction you should go. It asks the player to explore everything on their own. Throwing all of these words and tasks at the player expecting them to understand could come off as confusing and overwhelming. That’s also why there isn’t a HUD. New players may not recognize a Health Bar or a MiniMap. Third, the game teaches players that in order to complete something, you have to push through a lot of adversity. The earlier parts of the game are more focused around puzzle solving, so there isn’t any danger. The inability to finish a puzzle is the implied failure state. Later, players encounter the metal dragons which can really mess you up. Still, you don’t die from them, but they can impede your progress and if you give up, you won’t reach your goal. Finally towards the end you have everything thrown at you, but you’ve come too far to give up now. A new player knows that they shouldn’t quit just yet. Lastly, the game gives you a big reward for finishing it. It’s not some simple “Good job” or a Trophy unlock. It’s the goal you were aiming for since the beginning. A great game will leave the player feeling like they not only finished a game, they straight up conquered it.

          That’s all I can say about Journey. If you haven’t played a video game before, seriously play this one. It’s the perfect example of how a game should be: long enough to engage the player, but doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, has interesting mechanics and variety, instills emotions other than just joy, conveys narrative (if it has any) in a non-intrusive way, and ends with a fantastic payoff.

My First Game Jam

          I attended the 2016 Global Game Jam last year. There was a jam site right on campus and I was encouraged to go regardless of my skill at making games. Seeing most of my classmates there eased my nerves a bit. At least I’m among people I know.

          At 5 p.m. the organizer, Mrs. Lowther, announced that the theme will be shown to us on a video in the Foundation Hall. We all moved to the theater and sat down to watch the short video. It addressed many things from the past year and at the end revealed the theme: ritual. Immediately after the video was over, we went back to the Grand Hall and started coming up with ideas for games relating to the theme.

          We had four ideas in total. Everyone was split into four teams with one artist, one programmer, and one designer. Some teams had more than three members, but nobody was left out. The original idea I had was meant to address obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) as people who suffer from the condition tend to engage in ritualistic behavior. Over the next forty-eight hours, that idea became scaled down incredibly smaller than what I had originally hoped.

          Everyone was working hard on their projects. We sustained ourselves primarily on junk food and snacks. As for sleep, some of us slept under the tables we worked on, others in various corners of the room in sleeping bags. I didn’t bring anything, so I ended up sleeping in an unoccupied corner in the Foundation Hall where we saw the Global Game Jam video. It was very cold in there, so I didn’t sleep too much. The second time I got to sleep I napped in my car. It was much warmer in there, but still didn’t sleep enough.

          During break times where we had to wait on someone else on the team to do something for the game, I would talk with the other jammers. They had cool ideas, but a slew of problems to deal with. I had my own problems, but I wasn’t sure how to address them. Until then, I hung out with a group of jammers who were talking about various things and watching CinemaSins to pass the time when the rest of their team would be back. One of them suggested we play Scenes from a Hat. That was the best part of the whole game jam: playing another game to get our minds off the ones we were working on.

          At the end, everything was to be uploaded to the Global Game Jam site regardless if it worked or not. Fortunately, my team had a working game. The other teams had trouble getting theirs to function properly. They did have some funny glitches that could have been mechanics on their own. After forty-eight hours of planning, executing, stressing, sleeping, procrastinating, panicking, and working… the jam went excellently. I will gladly do it again.

          That’s all that happened from my point of view. My team did a good job and the game worked fine. But that doesn’t mean it will go as smoothly this year. Sometimes you get put with people you don’t get along with. As for any newcomers who plan to attend this year’s Global Game Jam, here’s some advice:

        - Get as much sleep before the jam as possible. I tried to stay awake for forty-eight hours straight. Even with the help of caffeine, I only managed twenty hours. It might vary per person, but eventually you WILL have to sleep. You’ll think better when you’re rested anyways.

  - Use whiteboards. They are essential to planning ideas. Paper works for your own individual ideas, but group plans are best conveyed on the whiteboard where everyone can see the process. 
  - Accept when things don’t go as planned. The idea I had was bigger than the team could manage. It was scaled down considerably, but at least it worked. 
  - Be flexible with roles. Your team may have a dedicated programmer or artist, but you may have to try some things yourself. One of my teammates made most of the art assets, but I had to pitch in and make some while he was away. 
  - Even if you don’t know what to do, do something. You don’t need to have a ton of experience to do a game jam. If you want to record sound and use it as a sound effect, go right ahead. Know how to draw on paper? Your team could try and make a board game. Non-digital games are allowed in the Global Game Jam. You’ll just be posting a picture of what the game looks like and the list of the rules. 
 - Take breaks. Stressing out over your game will only make it harder to build. Come back after talking with other jammers and you might not only help them, but learn something about how to handle your own game. 
 - It’s not a contest. There is no winner, only games. When you look through the website’s games from past jams, you will see a ton of broken messes, but also some impressive works. No one will be perfect at this and you don’t have to be either.

Hopefully this helps those of you who wish to join the 2017 Global Game Jam. Maybe I’ll see you there.