Video Games and Stories
Building a better union
An observation by Jonathan Brewer
We play video games and follow
stories for similar reasons
An escape from reality
A chance to connect with new places
and new people
A chance to experience painless thrill
and drama
There is a key difference
When a person
reads a book or
watches a movie,
they are a passive
entity; their actions
have no impact on
what happens in the
story
When a person
plays a game, their
actions are what
make the game
progress. The player
is an active entity.
Are the mediums incompatible?
When a person plays a video game,
they expect everything that happens to
be a reflection of the actions they take.
Having a story that doesn’t reflect the
player’s actions can be frustrating.
Branching the game for every
conceivable decision is impossible.
The key components of a story
The
The
The
The
The
The
setting
characters
event
development
climax
ending
How to familiarize the player with
the setting and characters
Pre-game techniques
Opening scroll
All in the manual
In-game techniques
Information dumping
Diaries
A mix of both
Tutorials
Audio recordings.
Having the PC be amnesiac, or a stranger
in a distant land makes the in-game
process a lot less awkward.
The development can be
linear
Easier to design
Easier to integrate a
story
Less replay value
Less flexibility
The development can be
semi-linear
Harder to design
Harder to make a
plausible story
Gives the player more
freedom, feels less
contrived
Developing with the player
 As video games get more sophisticated, players
expect to play a bigger role in shaping the story.
 Good stories often make observers wish that they
could be a participant, video games can take
advantage of this.
 Taking control away during a crucial moment is a
guaranteed way to ruin any sense of immersion the
player might have been feeling.
Example: Chrono Trigger
Why are my characters just standing around while this happens?
The ending
Above all, the ending should reflect the
time and the effort that the player put
into the game.
Nowadays, players expect more than a
simple “You won!” screen.
Multiple Endings
 Two advantages of having multiple endings are:
Making the player explore the game to its fullest
extent to ensure that their first ending is the best
one.
Extra replay value as the player can explore the
different outcomes of his/her decisions.
 The disadvantages? Anticipating all possible branches
and canonical sequels.
Bad endings
Detailed bad endings can be more powerful
than good endings for multiple reasons:
 Most gamers expect a happy ending when they complete the
game.
 Usually a bad end simply involves your character lying dead,
and your connection with the setting terminated. This can
promote apathy, especially when death occurs often.
 Tragedy is not usually an everyday component of our lives.
 Bad endings give the player a fate to avoid in addition to the
normal goals of the game.
Bad ending: IHNMAIMS
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream
 Adventure game where you
control five humans who are
being kept alive indefinitely
for the amusement of an
insane global computer.
 The good ending results in
you saving the world.
Huzzah.
 The bad ending involves the
human you’re controlling
suffering a fate worse than
death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR8wYSdkx0o
Bad ending: Chrono Trigger
 Popular RPG made on the
SNES.
 Time travel is a central
theme.
 Most of the time, a game
over involves your party
members lying on the ground
dead while sad music is
played.
 If you fail at the final boss,
you get an extra cinematic
that shows just how badly
you failed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OxMNRB89Fo
The conflict between tragedy
and player control
 Stories often add tragedy to engage the player on an
emotional level. Unfortunately, this can be hard to
translate into video games.
 If the tragedy is perceived as avoidable, then the player may
feel like they should have been able to do something.
 If the tragedy is perceived as unavoidable, the player may
simply not care.
 Having a tragic end be the main ending can make the player
feel cheated, unless it’s a setup for a sequel.
 How can we include tragedy in our games and ensure
optimal player engagement as well?
Detailed example: Tsukihime
Bestselling visual
novel released in
2000.
Has 9 endings
overall, with at least
one per heroine.
You cannot reach all
endings initially,
some endings must
be done before
others.
Tsukihime: Basic Info
 You play as Tohno Shiki. You were sent away from the Tohno mansion
long ago by your father, Tohno Makihisa.
 Makihisa has just recently died, and your sister Akiha has summoned
you back to the mansion.
 [Spoilers] You real name is Nanaya Shiki. The real Tohno Shiki (called
SHIKI in game) went insane long ago and is now on the streets killing
people and sucking their blood due to his heritage. You were
hypnotized to forget all of this by Makihisa.
 The first two paths you can take have you team up with vampire
hunters to kill SHIKI.
 The latter three paths remain centered around the Tohno mansion, its
dark past, and the horrible curse the Tohno family suffers from. You
have to deal with SHIKI in these path too.
Tsukihime: Arcueid
True ending: After an intense
battle where both of you were
almost killed, Arcueid informs you
that she no longer has the power
to resist her desire for blood, and
that she must never see you
again.
After seeing her True ending, you
are allowed to go back and make a
choice that leads to her…
Good ending: She gets better! And
you both live happily ever after!
Tsukihime
That girl gave you a
ribbon, and asked
you to return it to her
when you came back
to the mansion ->
We have a match!
Let’s give back
that ribbon!
Oops…
…but there’s no
time for this, we
must go and help
Akiha fight SHIKI!
Tsukihime
Oh dear…
Tsukihime
It gets worse.
Tsukihime
So much worse.
Tsukihime
Then it points out that this is really all your fault.
Tsukihime
After suffering through that ending, you are allowed to make a
choice near the beginning that will let you…
Discover her tragic past early on,
Keep your promise,
And see her true smile.
Evaluation
 Tsukihime makes you go through the more tragic
endings before you can experience the happy ones.
 This “tragedy before triumph” method makes the
happy endings even happier.
 Unfortunately, the effect is diminished by the fact
that you cannot reach the happy endings first, and
thus they don’t feel as genuine.
 Can we combine this technique with the triumphant
nature of reaching a happy ending first?
Sources
 http://news.bigdownload.com/2008/07/02/big-ideasthe-role-of-story-in-video-games/
 http://www.lingualgamers.com/thesis/story_video_ga
mes.html
 http://www.gamestudies.org/0202/smith/
 http://gamestudies.org/0701/articles/simons
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_%28literary_t
echnique%29
 http://www.letsplayarchive.com (images)