Narrative in the video game
“The Hobbit”
Supervisor: Lars Konzack
Project unity: Aesthetic, Narrative and Production
Student: Madina K.Yunusova Søgaard, 8. semester
Information Technology, Multimedia
Institute of Communication / IT-Vest
Aalborg University – 2004
Contents:
Introduction and problem formulation
3
1. Presentation of the video game “The Hobbit”
1.1 Rules, tactics and rewards
1.2 Control elements and object interaction
1.3 Music and graphics
5
5
6
7
2. Video games
2.1 Similarities and differences between the traditional and video games
2.2 Interactivity in the video games
2.3 Genres of the games
2.4 Genres of the video games
8
8
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13
3. Narrative
3.1 A role of the cutscenes in the adventure video games
3.2 Pacing of a video game
3.3 Narrative structure and Archetypes in the adventure stories
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4. Art of fantasy in fairy-stories
4.1 Literary Art or Play of Mind
4.2 Fantasy and Drama
4.3 Fantasy and Game
4.4.Eucatastrophe
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5. Analysis of the video game “The Hobbit”
5.1 Genre
5.2 Interactivity
5.3 Storyline
5.4 Narrative structure and Archetypes
5.5 Pacing of the game
5.6 Computer Art
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6. Conclusion
33
Bibliography
35
Appendix
36
2
Introduction and problem formulation
One of the most representative and distinctive works of the fantastic literature of
the twentieth century was written by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, a Professor of
linguistics at Oxford University. His fantasy novels has been criticized for its lack
of characterization and the variations in its style, but in 1998 it was voted the best
book of the 20th century in a British national poll1. His Middle-earth became a
cultural phenomenon and made him an author of the century of fantasy genre. His
fantasy novel “The Hobbit; or, There and back again” has stayed in print for more
than sixty years, selling over forty million copies, “The Lord of the Rings” for
nearly fifty years, selling over hundred and fifty million separate sales2.
Nowadays Tolkien’s works provided much of the inspiration for the adventure
video games. Being fascinated and impressed by Tolkien’s masterpieces, I have
chosen to write this project about the video game “The Hobbit”, which is based
on his fantasy novel and is an Xbox release from Vivendi Universal and Sierra
Entertainment.
There are many ways to analyze the video games and there is not only one field of
the video game research. Approaches and studies from computer science to
sociology and education explode the field in almost a dozen directions. The
“Curriculum Framework” proposed by the International Game Developer’s
Association (IGDA) lists nine core topics that should be offered in game
programs at universities:
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




Game criticism, Analysis and History
Games and Society
Game Systems and Game Design
Technical Skills, Programming and Algorithms
Visual Design
Audio Design
Interactive Storytelling, Writing and Scripting
Business of Gaming
People and Process Management3
Besides, all these topics together include over 200 subfields and disciplines. Thus,
the phenomenon of video game has numerous methodologies to explore it, which
depends on the focus of the investigation. According to analysis of a media
researcher Lars Konzack, there are at least seven discourses of the computer
games identified by him as:
Technology, Market, Concerns, Learning, Gender, Narratology, and Ludology4.
1
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002
Shippey, 2000, p. 8
3
Espen, 2003, p.1
4
Konzack, 2003, p.1
2
3
While the first five discourses can easily be concerned in a combination, the last
two often exclude each other. The main question of the researches of the narrative
discourse is How does the computer game function as narrative? The main
question of the ludologists is How does the computer game function as the game
and play?5 The ludologists claim that that narrative cannot coexist with the truly
nature of a play, while the narratologists convince that the genre of the game
defines its narrative structure. For, instance, a media researcher Henry Jenkins
points out:
When game designers draw story elements from existing film or literary genres,
they are most apt to tap those genres – fantasy, adventure, science fiction, horror,
war – which are most invested in world-making and spatial storytelling. Games in
turn, may more fully realize the spatiality of these stories, giving much more
immersive and compelling representation of their narrative worlds6.
Due to the field of my studies, I will focus my analysis of the video game on the
narrative discourse. The aim of this work is to answer the questions:
What is the genre of the video game “The Hobbit”; what are the similarities
and differences of narrative in this game in comparison to the novel “The
Hobbit; or, There and back again”; how does the narrative structure of the
game change due to the medium it is represented through?
The project has the following structure:
In the first chapter of the following work, I would like to introduce the video
game “The Hobbit”.
In the second chapter of my paper, I will introduce the theoretical view on the
traditional and video games. The work of Lars Konzack “Softwaregenres” is a
point of departure for my understanding of the video games and their genre
classification.
The work of Christopher Vogler “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for
Storytellers and Screenwriters” is a theoretical basis for my understanding of the
narrative structure and archetypes. His twelve stages pattern will be described in
chapter three.
In the forth chapter of my project, I will discuss the essay of John Ronald Reuel
Tolkien “On fairy-stories”. Fantasy genre and characteristics of fairy-stories are
the main issues of this essay.
Chapter five is devoted to the analysis of the video game “The Hobbit”, which is
based on the theory presented above.
Finally, the conclusion is introduced in chapter six, in which I answer the
questions aroused in the problem formulation of this paper.
I have chosen to write this project in English, as I have a bachelor degree in
English philology and would like to use the qualifications from my previous
education.
5
6
Konzack, 2003, p.2
Jenkins, 2002, p.2
4
Chapter 1: Presentation of the video game “The Hobbit”
In this part of my paper, I would like to introduce the video game “The Hobbit”
and describe some of its characteristics such as the rules, tactics, and rewards of
the game; control elements and object interaction; music and graphics.
1.1 Rules, tactics and rewards
Based on the Tolkien’s fantasy novel “The Hobbit or There and Back again” this
video game is an Xbox release from Vivendi Universal and Sierra Entertainment.
Before the game starts, there is an introduction to the story by means of the
cutscenes from the coming adventure. Afterwards, there is a short demo of some
quests a user will experience playing the game, such as meeting with the trolls,
combat with the goblins and giant spiders, quests and puzzles in the cave of trolls.
A player can also skip the introduction and demo starting the game by pressing
the button “Start” on the joystick. A player has a role of Bilbo, which is the only
playable personage in the game.
Screenshot 1: Bilbo Baggins in Hobbiton (playground)
There are eleven levels in the game and each level starts with the motionless,
white-black cutscenes in the form of pages from the novel to transfer elements
from the storyline. Besides, the narrator tells the events they represent.
Screenshot 2: Bilbo, Gandalf and Thorin (cutscene in the form of the page from the novel)
5
There are also cinematic cutscenes, and finally, the third type of the cutscenes is
animation, drawn as the environments of the playground. After the cutscenes
introducing the story event from the novel, the game continues with a task for
Bilbo to fulfill. It can be, for instance, the dwarves demanding him to get the
supplies for the journey or Gandalf asking Bilbo to find the key to a secret door in
a cave. On his way to fulfilling tasks, Bilbo meets different puzzles and quests,
which are necessary to solve in order to continue the game. Most of the puzzles in
this game are straightforward, and some quests involve fighting. The game
presents a linear story progression where a player is expected to pass through
most of the major story plot points and is not able to bypass the events.
There are 1000 Silver Pennies to collect on Bilbo’s journey at each level. At the
end of the level, a player can buy using that money the necessary equipment in
Inventory. There are Health Bubbles, Antidote Portions and other necessities to
make his journey safer. Every time Bilbo confronts the fiends and beats them, he
is granted by Courage Points. Bilbo starts his adventure with a sack of throwing
rocks and a walking stick to defend him. As the game progresses, he will pick up
an Elven sword and learn some new attacks.
Screenshot 3: Bilbo fights with a goblin using an Elven sword (playground )
About halfway through the game, Bilbo will gain the fabled Ring, which he can
use to turn himself invisible for short periods.
1.2 Control elements and object interaction
Characters and objects in the game that Bilbo can interact with have an interaction
icon over them. To have Bilbo respond to an interaction icon, a player should
press the X button once the icon appears. Certain characters and objects require
the use of items from Bilbo’s personal inventory. If this is a case, the Inventory
screen appears after a player press the X button. Bilbo picks up Throwing Stones,
Silver Pennies, Courage Points, and other items simply by running over them.
The game has very simple control elements, allowing player to jump easily into
the adventure without a lot of fumbling. The camera can be rotated 360 degrees
around Bilbo and from ground level to almost overhead and a player gains a
perspective close to first person. As a player progresses through a game and
6
reaches specific waypoints, the game can be saved. Waypoints are marked by
pedestals with fire located around the different stages in every level.
Screenshot 4: Bilbo in the mines near the saving pedestal (playground)
Saving a game keeps track of all inventory items, character conditions, map
status, Courage Points collected, and Bilbo’s current location. It is very easy to
die quickly in this game, whether it is from accidentally falling off a ledge or
fighting a small group of enemies at once. Therefore, it is very helpful to save a
game during the play. It prevents jumping back a quest or more.
1.3 Music, Sound and Graphics
The musical score really embraces the mood of the game. It is vivid and cheerful
when Bilbo succeeds and it shifts to a fuller, more dangerous-sounding
instrumentation when Bilbo is engaged in a combat. The visual events have a
synchronous acoustic feedback. For instance, we can see Bilbo running over the
water and simultaneously hear the characteristic sound of it. The voices of the
characters sound clear and their speech is understandable. Graphically, there are
generally light and bright, saturated color palette, which gives the world of
Middle-earth certain vibrancy. The exaggerated character designs and detailed
environmental textures all give the game a feel of an illustrated fantasy book for
children.
Screenshot 5: Bilbo at his hole (cinematic cutscene)
7
Chapter 2: Video games
As the purpose of this paper is to analyze a video game, it is necessary to define
what are the video games and what characteristics they have. With the point of
departure in Roger Cailois’s definitions of the games, the similarities and
differences of the traditional and video games will be discussed in the first section
of this chapter. In the second section, I will introduce the interactivity continuum
by Robert S. Tannenbaum. The third section of this chapter will be devoted to
genre classification of the games and the theory of telic and paratelic states of
mind by Michael Apter. Finally, I will present the complete genre tree of the
video games by Lars Konzack.
2.1 Similarities and differences between the traditional and video games
What do the video games have in common with the traditional games, which do
not need the use of the computer or PlayStation? A game theoretic Roger Caillois
gives six logical characteristics of a game, in which the last two must exclude
each other:
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Free: in which playing is not obligatory; if it were, it would at once lose
its attractive and joyous quality as diversion;
Separate: circumscribed within limits of space and time, defined and fixed
in advance;
Uncertain: the course of which cannot be determined, nor the result
attained beforehand, and some latitude for innovations being left to the
players initiative;
Unproductive: creating neither goods, nor wealth, nor new elements of
any kind; and except for the exchange of property among the players,
ending in a situation identical to that prevailing at the beginning of the
game;
Governed by the rules: under conventions that suspend ordinary laws, and
for the moment establish new legislation, which alone counts;
Make-believe: accompanied by a special awareness of a second reality of
a free unreality against real life7.
In general, his statements are also valid for the video games, but have some
overlaps, for example:
Free: the video game is certainly free because we usually play it for our pleasure.
People spend a lot of money buying the video and computer games. Besides, the
users may also buy the necessary equipment to play games.
Separate: definitely, the video games have limits in the space; the imaginary
world exists only on the screen. However, the game can be played at any time and
as long as it takes to go on to the next level. There is no limit of time; a player
usually gets endless number of retrials if something goes wrong.
7
Adapted from Konzack, 1999, p. 53-54
8
Unproductive: the mastery of playing and figuring out the puzzles of the video
game is individual. There are games, which are difficult to play without a
walkthrough proving that not all players are similarly smart or quick to progress
in the video game. Going easily through the levels is some kind of ability, mastery
or intuition and that can be count for immaterial goods.
Governed by the rules: every video game has the rules that drive the play to
achieve the goal. Actually, this condition is impossible to break as the video game
is programmed, and there is no other way to play a game than it is “offered” by
the software.
Make-believe: this is a condition, which makes the video games special, in
particularly in comparison to the traditional games. Playing a video game is not
just a player’s imagination, it is a construction of the whole production, in which a
fantastic world is created by the means of multimedia.
Uncertain: in the video games there is left no more freedom of actions and
innovations than is programmed. The video games are produced, manufactured
and “packaged”, whereas playing traditional games can be situationally dependant
and negotiated. The video games present the pre-written universes and this is the
main difference between the traditional and video games.
As the comparison above demonstrated, the traditional and video games have
common and peculiar characteristics. Apparently, there is a certain lack of
freedom of action in the video games due to the media it is represented through.
Interactivity is processing naturally in the traditional games, because it is an
interpersonal communication. However, in the video games interactivity depends
on a developer’s creativeness. It is generally agreed that the more interactivity, the
more effective and interesting the video game is.
2.2 Interactivity in the video games
According to a multimedia theorist Robert S. Tannenbaum, interactivity can be
thought of as a continuum, ranging from not interactive to highly interactive. In
his scheme, he places multimedia production just before face-to-face
communication:
Not interactive
Examples: Broadcast TV Cable TV Video
games
Highly interactive
Multimedia
productions
Face-to-face
communications
Figure 1: The interactivity continuum
From Tannenbaum, 1999, p.287
On this scheme, we can see that the video games entail more interactivity than
cable television, but less than multimedia productions. He describes this situation:
In addition to the possibility of physical control of activity analogous to a video
game, in multimedia productions a user is normally afforded the opportunity to
9
interact logically with the program. Logical interactions take the form of
responses to situations created by production, answers to questions posed by the
software, and directives issued by the user8.
However, it seems strange that Tannenbaum makes a difference between the
video games and multimedia productions, as if the video games are not a part of
multimedia. In his own definition, he describes:
Multimedia is an interactive computer mediated presentation that includes at
least two of the following elements: text, sound, still graphics images, motion
graphics, and animation9.
The video game, which is presented with the help of PlayStation, X-Box or PC,
includes all those elements, which Tannenbaum mentioned. The difference
between the computer or video game can be defined only by the input and output
devices to play the game. The data of information on CD-Rom is digital in both
cases and could be counted for computer mediated presentation. That is why I
will take as a point of departure the definition of multimedia by Professor Jens F.
Jensen, who describes multimedia as:
… medier, der samtidig gør brug af flere forskellige udtrykssystemer - såsom:
tekst, levende billeder, stillbilleder, animation, grafik og lyd (tale, musik,
lydeffekter) – og hvor disse udtrykssystemer er integreret i og styret af en digital
computer eller et digitalt miljø10.
As regarding to logical interaction, which Tannenbaum finds only in other
multimedia production than the video games, it can be argued, that it also takes
place in the video games. A player of the video game has a control of the activity
on the screen by using some form of input device such as a keyboard or a
joystick. However, playing the game is not just a matter of control; the game will
not simply go on to the next level if a player has not accomplished all the quests
at the previous level. This can be also counted for the logical interactions, which
take the form of responses to situations created by production. Probably,
Tannenbaum means in his description the e-learning multimedia products, in
which the user “rules” the session and due to his response makes a lesson going
his individual way. In this case then, the difference is between a linear or nonlinear structure of narrative, not the level of interactivity. We can agree, that in
general, the video games are rather linear, ploughing forward in a rigid sequence
from start to finish, thus severely limiting the interactivity.
2.3 Genres of the games
Why do we play games and what is the use of it? Usually we play games when we
want and have time for this, it can also be a way to get out of stress or boredom. A
psychologist Michael J. Apter proposed a theory about telic and paratelic states of
mind, which helps us to understand the nature of a play:
8
9
Tannenbaum, 1999, p. 288
Ibid, 290
Jensen, 1998, p. 22
10
10
What is the playful/serious distinction does seem to be to do with is whether what
one is doing links up with the rest of one’s life and has implications beyond the
present moment. In play, we seem to create a small and manageable private
world, which we may share with others; and this world is one in which the outside
world of real problems cannot properly impinge. …In play you feel basically
secure and unthreatened, with nothing you have to do, you are in playful state of
mind. What you do is freely chosen and engaged for its own sake and the
immediate pleasures, which you hope it will bring. But if the chosen activity
suddenly becomes felt to be an obligation – then the possibility of fun is gone. The
serious state of mind refers to telic, meaning a goal or purpose, and the playful
state as paratelic, meaning alongside11.
When we are in our play world, we feel that we are ultimately in charge of things
and at any time of our choosing we can turn off the TV or a PlayStation. What we
do is freely chosen rather than an obligation. Besides this, Apter notes another
important characteristic of the play – a preference, which the individual has in this
frame of mind for high arousal experiences being emotionally intrigued. Feeling
excited, fascinated or passionately involved in what one is doing are sure signs
that play is being enjoyed; whereas feeling bored and uninvolved is an equally
sure sign that something has gone wrong and that gears of play have not been
engaged. In the telic state, we see the situation is inverted. Here high arousal is
experienced as unpleasant. According to Apter, we enjoy unpleasant emotions as
anger, horror, disgust and so on, only when they are presented in a fictional form
and have a “protective frame” which stands between the play and us. Although
this frame is psychological, interestingly it often has a perceptible physical
representation, such as TV-box, computer monitor or the stadium. In this case,
one can enjoy the arousal without the distress, which the hero is supposed to be
feeling. According to Apter, the other typical characteristics of the paratelic state
would include:
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Its emphasis on immediate gratification wherever possible
A preference for spontaneity and freedom of actions
A willingness to experiment and “mess around”
A disposition to fantasize and indulge in pretence and make-believe
A prolongation of the activity wherever possible12
According to Apter, playing a game in a telic state of mind is wrong, because then
we are doing it seriously and that is an opposition to the nature of a play.
However, if we will imagine some of Apter’s statements in the practice, it will
make playing a game rather impossible. For example, a soccer player who prefers
to use his hands, not his feet playing the ball, will receive a penalty from a
referee. Moreover, there is no doubt that in the case of the prolongation of his free
actions the soccer player will be expelled from the playing team. As regarding to
the video game, it will be simply impossible to experiment or mess around,
because the joystick can produce only standard actions. Apter ignores the fact that
11
12
Apter, 1982, p. 14
Ibid, p. 17
11
some games have rules, which must be followed to keep a game playing. An
explanation to this contradiction may be found in the genre classification of
games and the conflicts, which drive them.
Roger Caillois has defined four genres of the games, such as agôn, alea, mimicry
and ilinx13 (the words are a mixture of English, Greek and Latin). He gives the
following characteristics to each genre:
Agôn14 (competition): the games of this genre are built up on a competition. There
is always a winner and a loser in such a game and it is important that the players
know the rules of the game and follow them; each of the players must show the
best results they can work out. Sport games are the examples of this genre,
however, it is not only a physical competition, it can also be mental, as playing
chess, for example.
Alea15 (chance): the games of this genre do not demand any outstanding abilities
of a player. Although it is also a matter of winning or loosing as in agôn, the
players have no control on the result of the game. Here only luck gives a player an
advantage or privilege to win. Roulette or lotteries, games of casino are the
examples of this genre.
Mimicry16 (simulation): this is the genre of the games, which are based on makebelieve. The playing person supposes to assume a new image and hide for the
sake of the game his own personality. The role, which a player takes on and keeps
as a mask reminds an actor playing in the theatre. However, for example, at the
masquerade ball a player does not need or suppose to be a professional actor.
Ilinx17 (vertigo): this is the genre of the risky games, which aim are to get a
physical condition of ecstasy by the dangerous means. The adrenalin choc can be
gained by climbing the highest mountains or by driving in Formula 1 (although
this game includes also agôn elements). Players of such games enjoy the risk of
being in danger. By the way, Apter points out the pathology of play, when the
absurd risk is taken or the danger is underestimated.
In addition to genre classification, games can be also differentiated by conflicts
that drive them. Game theorist Johan Huizinga assumes:
Den fælles leg har I sine grundlæggende træk antitetisk karakter18.
He means that in a game there are always opponents sides that compete with each
other. The competition between players is obvious in the agôn genre. A player
who is better, smarter, quicker or stronger will win over the weaker player. In this
situation, the conflict is obvious - a player must prove who is the best. In alea
13
Adapted from Konzack, 1999, p. 62
Konzack, 1999, p. 63
15
Ibid, p. 63
16
Ibid, p. 64
17
Ibid, p. 64
18
Adapted from Konzack, 1999, p. 64
14
12
genre there is the same idea of winning and loosing. Thus, both genres have the
same conflict and are based on a competition and that gave a reason to Huizinga
to gather them under an overgenre called agonal19. However, the competition is
not the aim in mimicry or ilinx. There are no opponents in this genre, the process
itself, not the result at the end of the game, brings to a player joy and satisfaction.
For instance, when a man takes a role of a king at the masquerade ball and put the
fake crown on his head, the participants of this game know that it is only a part of
his costume, not a real status of a player. Nevertheless, the performer of a king
role does not loose because of that, neither wins. That is what Apter called to play
a game in a paratelic state of mind. The state, in which a player enjoys playing for
its own sake and not the result it brings. Summarizing the genre characteristics of
the games, it is obvious now that Apter did not take into consideration all of them,
noticing only those of mimicry and ilinx genres.
2.4 Genres of the video games
In his work “Softwaregenres”, a media theorist Lars Konzack has researched and
analyzed a number of different computer games. On the base of it, he has
summarized the genres, which were developed for the last thirty years, and made
a complete genre tree of the computer games:
Figure 2: The complete genre tree of the computer games
From Konzack, 1999, p.134
Lars Konzack defines genres of the computer games on the base of their structure
and uses Caillois’s genre classification of the games:
Arcade20: the games of this genre are based on the competition to win or to loose.
Thus, it is agonal and has a transient structure which is “too late versus too
quick”. Timing is the main theme of this kind of video games. Lars Konzack
gives an example of the computer game Tetris, in which all must fall into place
perfectly in time.
19
20
Konzack, 1999, p.67
Ibid, p. 127
13
Strategy21: this is also a game of agonal genre. However, its structure is not
always transient. Space is the main interest in this type of games, in which a
player must develop the virtual space, expand and take charge of it. Contraction
versus expansion is the conflict of these games. A player must think over and
have an intuition in order to expand and achieve the goal. As an example,
Civilization II can be given in this case. Arcade and strategy have a common
subgenre Simulation that has two more subgenres Sport and War games. In
simulation genre the aim of the games is to simulate reality as close as possible
and give a chance to a player to experience virtual reality as a real one.
Card- and board games22: these games are also agonal. Originally, the games of
this genre were played without using a computer and have been developed into
the computer games imitating human interaction. A player has an option today to
play a traditional game like chess having a competition with a computer, not a
human.
Edutainment23: this genre combines the elements of education and entertainment
and is agonal. Usually computer games of this genre are concerned with nature
and geography. It gives a chance to a user to play but and learn during the game.
A computer game Europe is an example of it, in which a player must answer the
questions regarding geography of Europe.
Adventure24: this is a genre based on mimicry, it combines fiction and interaction,
making the adventure game an interactive fiction. Usually, a player may know the
story from a book or a movie the game is based on. However, this is not enough,
because every story has its own structure and a player must find out whether it is
science fiction, fairy-tale or other subgenre of epic. “Sam & Max” can be an
example of this genre. Role-playing is a subgenre of adventure and is based on a
combination of epic and drama, using the elements of mimicry. This type of a
video game is also based on the story, which may be known from literature or
cinema. In the story-based video games, a player imitates usually the role of the
main character. The experience of a story changes from being a passive reader of
a book to an active participant of the video game. Although the structure of the
story in the video game is programmed, it is a player who develops and improves
the story making actions and solving the conflict of the story. The camera close to
the first person helps a player to immerse into the imaginary world of the video
game fiction and become a part of the story.
21
Konzack, 1999, p.128
Ibid, p. 128
23
Ibid, p. 129
24
Ibid, p. 130
22
14
Chapter 3: Narrative
In this part of my work, I will present different aspects of narrative in the video
games. I will start it with the description of the role of the cutscenes in the
adventure games. For this purpose, I used the article of a media researcher Rune
Klevjer, in which he has argued that cutscenes provide dramatic narration in the
adventure video games. In the next section of this chapter, I will introduce the
chart of a level designer Troy Dunniway, which he offers to use in order to
control a pacing of the video games. In the third section of this part, I will
introduce the narrative structure and Archetypes by a story analyst Christopher
Vogler. He has given a pattern of the narrative structure, which is according to
Vogler valid for all adventure stories. As the video game “The Hobbit” is based
on the adventure story, I would like to apply his pattern to this video game in my
analysis.
3.1 A role of the cutscenes in the adventure video games
Genre classifications of the video games have demonstrated that video games in
adventure genre include narrative elements. When a video game is based on the
existing story, one of the efficient tools to convey the story is a cutscene.
However, the cutscenes do not depend on the user to perform and that made a
basis for the ludologists to claim that narrative cannot coexist with the truly nature
of a play. They mean that in the narrative discourse the user is only a reader, not a
co-constructer of the story, not a player. However, the cutscenes are the necessary
parts of the story-based video games and serve functions that cannot be fulfilled
by other means. According to a media researcher Rune Klevjer, if the creators of
product succeed, the visual interpretation of narrative is more interesting than
verbal. He also argues that:
Any game event is also a representational event, a part of typical and familiar
symbolic action, in which cutscenes often play a crucial part. A cutscene does not
cut off gameplay. It is an integral part of the configurative experience. Even if the
player is denied any active input, this does not mean the ergodic experience and
effort is paused.”25
As an example, Klevjer gives an arcade game James Bond in Agent Under Fire, in
which numerous but short cutscenes provide regular moments of release from
intense action. They create a characteristic rhythm, in which the regular
interruption/release is always expected. According to Klevjer, another function of
cutscenes is building up suspense and creating a situation to drop a player directly
into fast and demanding action game play. Cutscenes can also function as a
reward by entertainment, which adds extra motivation and satisfaction to the
game. He assumes that chasing new cutscenes can be more fun than chasing
bigger guns.
25
Klevjer, 2003, p. 2
15
3.2 Pacing of a video game
In his article “Using the Hero’s Journey in Games”, a level designer Troy
Dunniway also admits the advantage of using the cutscenes in the adventure and
role-playing games. He points out that it is much easier to introduce the necessary
back-story for the coming adventure to a player with the help of the cutscenes.
His other point is the pacing of a game. Dunniway suggests that games that only
have nonstop action are fun for a while, but often get boring because of lack of
intrigue, suspense and drama. People loose interest and their brain become
overstimulated after too much nonstop action. For this reason, there is a need of
developing some kind of plan to keep the players interested and cutscenes help to
maintain it. This kind of plan can be thought as a structure of the game, where
there is a balance between story line and problem solving. One of the most
important things Dunniway uses in terms of structure is an estimation of the
length of different elements and mechanics in the video game. Adventure games
need a system of progression with a clear goal, a reward structure, and the regular
introduction of new elements in the game such as levels, enemies, weapons or
skills. For this purpose, Dunniway uses a chart that helps to determine the desired
amount of game play:
Event:
Time:
Total time of game play
25 hours
Length of non-interactive elements in the game
(cutscenes)
1 hour
Number of levels
25
Length of levels
1 hour
Amount of time spent fighting in level
20 minutes
Amount of time spent exploring in level
10 minutes
Amount of time spent problem solving in level
10 minutes
Amount of time spent traveling in level
10 minutes
Amount of time waiting for something to happen
Hopefully none
Amount of time spend “doing other stuff” in level
10 minutes
Number of main characters
5
Number of secondary characters
75
Number of enemies in typical level
75
Figure 3: A chart of calculating a length of the game
From Dunniway, 2000, p.6
Planning the length of the game makes possible to use harmoniously noninteractive cutscenes and interactive elements in order to develop a story-game. If
watching the cutscenes takes more time than, for instance, exploring or traveling
in a level, it is not fun to play such a game. Less interactivity of the video game
means less entertainment for a player, while ability to “mess around” arise
motivation and stimuli to play. However, not only the cutscenes provide dramatic
16
narration in a video game. The actions performed by a player become meaningful
within the genre-based universe as a whole. Fictional world of a video game is a
playground for a player to experience a story. In order to integrate a story into an
adventure game Dunniway uses the twelve-act story structure. It is adapted from
Christopher Vogler, a story analyst who has given a narrative structure, which he
proposed as a general pattern for the stories in adventure genre.
3.3 Narrative structure and Archetypes in the adventure stories
According to Christopher Vogler, all adventure stories consist of a few common
structural elements found universally in myths, fairy-tales, dreams and movies. In
his work “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and
Screenwriters”, he explains:
Over the years, I began to notice some common elements in adventure stories and
myths, certain intriguingly familiar characters, props, locations, and situations. I
became vaguely aware there was a pattern or a template of some sort guiding the
design of stories26.
However, Vogler’s idea of a common narrative structure was not all original, as a
narrative theorist Vladimir Propp in his work “Morphology of Russian Folktale”,
has expressed it before. According to Propp, it was a mistake to categorize all
folktales, and indeed narratives, by their content because the task was far too
large. He endeavored to show how folktales are linked by a common structure,
and this structure can be applied to any old or, theoretically, new folktale.
Vladimir Propp was also not interested on the psychological motivation of
individual characters but on their function in the narrative. He conceptualized
these functions in two ways: the actions of the characters in the story and the
consequences of these actions for the story. Although it is not necessary for a tale
to include all the functions, but ones they appear it is always in the given order.
While Propp suggested that there are 31 functions in folktales27, Vogler has made
a “modernization” and described the twelve stages of the hero’s journey in
adventure stories:
1. Heroes are introduced in the ORDINARY WORLD, where
2. they receive the CALL TO ADVENTURE.
3. They are RELUCTANT at first or REFUSE THE CALL, but
4. are encouraged by a MENTOR to
5. CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD and enter Special World, where
6. they encounter TESTS, ALLIES and ENEMIES.
7. They APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE, crossing a second threshold
8. where they endure the ORDEAL.
9. They take possession of their REWARD and
10. are pursued on THE ROAD BACK to the Ordinary World.
11. They cross the third threshold, experience a RESSURECTION, and are
transformed by the experience.
26
27
Vogler, 1992, p. 3
The table is given in Appendix
17
12. They RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR, a boon or treasure to benefit the
Ordinary World.28
Vogler pointed out that this is just a pattern and not all stories should follow it too
precisely; the stages can be deleted or added to. The needs of the story dictate its
structure, therefore the form of the story follows its function.
In addition, Vogler described the archetypes, which must participate in the story.
The term archetype, was employed first by the Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung,
meaning ancient patterns of personality that are the shared heritage of the human
race. According to Vogler, the concept of archetypes is an indispensable tool for
understanding the purpose or function of characters in a story. He described the
most common and useful archetypes. Here are some of them:
Hero29: the dramatic purpose of the hero is to give the audience a window into the
story. Each person hearing a tale or watching a play or a movie is invited to
identify with the hero, to merge with him and see the world of the story through
his eyes. Another function of the hero is learning or growth. Heroes must
overcome obstacles and achieve goals, but they also gain new knowledge and
wisdom. Another heroic function is acting or doing. The hero is usually the most
active person in the script. His will and desire is what drives most stories forward.
Besides, a hero confronts a death in an adventure. If the hero does not face death,
then there is the threat of death or symbolic death in the form of a high stakes
game or adventure in which the hero may succeed (live) or fail (die).
Mentor30: it is usually an old wise man or woman, whose many services to the
hero include protecting, guiding, testing, training, and providing magical gifts.
Threshold Guardians31: they have a function to block the way and test the hero at
any moment of a story, but they tend to cluster around the doorways, gates and
narrow passages of threshold crossings.
Herald32: the function of this archetype is to make a call for adventure.
Shapeshifter33: the nature of Shapeshifter is to be unstable. Shapeshifters change
appearance and mood, and are difficult to pin down. According to Jung,
Shapeshifter archetype is to express energy of the animus (male element in the
female unconscious) and anima (the corresponding female element in the male
unconscious). The projections of our hidden opposite sides, the images and ideas
about sexuality and relationship form the archetype of the Shapeshifter. The
anima and animus can be positive and negative figures who may be helpful to the
hero or destructive to him.
28
Vogler, 1992, p.30
Ibid, p. 39-48
30
Ibid, p. 51-60
31
Ibid, p. 63-65
32
Ibid, p. 69-72
33
Ibid, p.75-80
29
18
Shadow34: Often a villain, an opponent to a hero is functioning as a shadow.
However, a shadow, according to Jung’s psychoanalysis, is a repressed complexes
of the Ego into the unconscious, which have no opportunity to “express
themselves”. Therefore, a shadow is not necessarily an evil, but a part of the
wholeness of the human psyche. The function of the Shadow is to challenge the
hero in a life-threatening situation. This archetype can be expressed in a single
character, as well as in many characters at different times.
The archetypes can be thought of as masks, worn by the characters temporarily as
they are needed to advance the story, but a character may also enter a story
performing one function and then switch masks to function another.
34
Vogler, 1992, p. 83-87
19
Chapter 4: Art of Fantasy in fairy-stories
This part of my work is devoted to the great master of fantasy genre Professor
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien or being more precisely to his essay “On fairy
stories”. In this essay, he argued that fairy-stories are not just for children and
separated them from nursery-tales. The taste for fairy-tales is a natural one, at any
age. The values of fairy-stories are as of others literature forms of Art. Moreover,
according to Professor Tolkien, fairy-stories offer also peculiar experience of
fantasy, recovery, escape, consolation35, the things which grown up readers need
more than children do. He was not hiding that his interest for fairy-stories was
opened by the First World War, in which he lost most of his friends. The main
theme in his famous fantasy novels is a war theme. Fantasy world of the Middleearth is full of evil creatures and it is the task of good ones to fight against them.
Professor Tolkien, probably, expressed his view on the world in “The Hobbit” by
the words of the chief dwarf Thorin Thrain’s son Oakenshield, who said dying to
Bilbo Baggins:
“…If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would
be merrier world.”36
I was very impressed by the depth of Professor Tolkien’s research on fairy-stories
and the philosophy of life that suddenly came out of this essay. It is amazing that
in a brief essay on fairy-stories he has discussed so many issues at once. The
definition of fairy-tales opened an ocean of the themes, which were worrying the
author. From his essay, a reader can learn about the origin and history of fairystories and myths; love for the beauty of Nature and hate for the ugliness of
modern life with its robot-factories, which produce weapons for new wars; drama
and fantasy; eucatastrophe and sub-creation, Maker and sub-creator and others. In
the following sections of this chapter, I will introduce some issues from Professor
Tolkien’s essay in order to understand the nature of his fantasy novels, which
provided inspiration for the adventure video games.
4.1 Literary Art or Play of Mind
Finding attractive to create a fantasy world, in which the good heroes won over
the evil, Professor Tolkien was very conscious and scrupulous about the rules of
the fairy world. The rules, which he believed were created for many ages ago and
were often broken by the modern writers. He gave his own definition of fairystories starting with the statement that it actually cannot be done:
Faerie cannot be caught in a net of words; for it is one of its qualities to be
indescribable, though not imperceptible. It has many ingredients, but analysis will
not necessarily discover the secret of the whole. …For the moment I will say this:
a”fairy-story” is one which touches on or uses Faerie, whatever its own main
purpose may be: satire, adventure, morality, fantasy. …Faerie itself may perhaps
most nearly be translated by Magic – but it is magic of a peculiar mood and
35
36
Tolkien, 1964, p. 18
Tolkien, 1966, p. 301
20
power, at the furthest pole from the vulgar devices of the laborious, scientific,
magician.37
Besides, according to Professor, the fairies (the inhabitants of Faerie, for instance
elves) exist in their own land independently on humans and human world. Fairies
come first into the picture when men enter for adventure the Perilous Realm of
Faerie. Tolkien was pointing out that the Faerie world is not an illusion or a dream
in the tale:
It is at any rate essential to a genuine fairy-story that is should be presented as
“true”. …since the fairy-story deals with “marvels”, it cannot tolerate any frame
or machinery suggesting that the whole story in which they occur is a figment or
illusion.38
As it was described before (2.3), one of the characteristics of the paratelic state of
mind is a disposition to fantasize and indulge in pretence and make-believe. Thus,
imagining fantasy world is not a dream or hallucination, but a state of mind, in
which a writer/reader/player is accepting the existence of the second reality
against real life. Just like in a play, we seem to create a manageable world in
fantasy, which we may share with others. In this fantasy world, the outside world
of real problems cannot properly impinge. As in a play we feel basically secure
and unthreatened, being in a playful state of mind and knowing that whatever the
adventure can bring this has nothing to do with our reality and counts only for a
play. It is a freely chosen activity and it brings joy to perform it.
According to the classification of the game genres (2.3), the description of the
paratelic state of mind was not valid for all types of games, but only for mimicry
and ilinx. Both these genres are based on the satisfaction by the activity, not the
result of it. It is obvious that ilinx is much far away from fantasy than mimicry. In
drama, which is of mimicry genre, the make-believe is a play of an actor who is
performing not only for his own sake, but mostly for the audience. Does drama
belong to fantasy then, and is it possible to imply Faerie world on the stage?
4.2 Fantasy and Drama
Professor Tolkien was very critical on the issue of performing fairy-stories on the
stage of a theatre:
…Drama is naturally hostile to Fantasy. It is a misfortune that Drama, an art
fundamentally distinct from Literature, should so commonly be considered
together with it, or as a branch of it. …Fantastic forms are not to be
counterfeited. Men dressed up as talking animals may achieve mimicry, but they
do not achieve Fantasy.39
According to Professor, performing Fantasy was diminishing the pure Art of
Fantasy. Dramatized fairy-story dissolved and degraded Fantasy because it made
37
38
39
Tolkien, 1964, p. 4
Ibid, p. 5
Ibid, p. 20
21
it visible and audible, as if it was possible in the Primary World. Professor
Tolkien distinguished Secondary World of Fantasy from Primary World of
Reality. The Primary World is a creation of God, a Maker, whereas the Secondary
world of Fantasy is a sub-creation made by a human, a sub-creator. Drama
substitutes magic by visible and audible presentation of imaginary men in a story,
and the characters and scenes are not imagined but beheld in reality. This makes it
different from narrative art of Literature, in which Fantasy is an Imagination.
Professor Tolkien was as well skeptical about visible presentation of the fantastic
image by painting:
…the hand tends to outrun the mind, even to overthrow it. Silliness or morbidity
are frequent results.40
Thus, he criticized the attempts to transfer the imaginary world of narrative from
literature to the visible forms. However, Tolkien has drawn the paintings to his
fantasy novel “The Hobbit”, showing parts of his imaginary Middle-earth.
Probably, Professor Tolkien could not be satisfied by the performance of the
Fantasy world on the stage due to its technical imperfectness. For example,
Bilbo’s invisibility with a Ring on could be not possible to make appropriately in
drama, if only with a comic effect.
4.3 Fantasy and Game
We have already noticed that Fantasy has some characteristics of a game (2.1).
Fantasy is a free choice of a reader to enter the Imaginary World and therefore, it
has a joyous quality. It is separate because there is a clear borderline between the
Primary and Secondary Worlds and men usually are not allowed to stay there for
a long time, at least not longer than it is needed to solve the conflict of the story. It
has also elements of make believe, however, it was argued by Professor Tolkien
that it has nothing in common with mimicry and drama:
What really happens is that the story-maker proves a successful “sub-creator”.
He makes a Secondary World, which your mind can enter. Inside it what he
relates is “true”: it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it,
while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken;
the magic, or rather art failed.41
This statement points out that Fantasy is also governed by rules, which are “rules”
of Magic. For instance, a princess who is enchanted into the frog can be recovered
from this form simply by a kiss of a prince. And no reader of the story would
disbelieve that it will work. According to Professor Tolkien, the truly fairy-tail
must have a Happy Ending, therefore it is not uncertain as a traditional game (the
video games are exception, as they have a pre-written universe), in which the
players cannot determine the result beforehand. The fantasy world of fairy-tails is
unproductive in the sense of material goods, but Happy Ending of fairy-story,
brings joy and relief to a reader.
40
41
Tolkien, 1964, p. 20
Ibid, p. 14
22
4.4 Eucatastrophe
In his essay, Professor Tolkien has pointed out that all complete fairy-stories must
have the Happy Ending. If tragedy is the highest form of drama, the opposite is
true for fairy-stories. Interestingly, Professor has not meant comedy as the
opposite to tragedy. He has called it Eucatastrophe, which by his own definition
is a good catastrophe:
…it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted or recur. ... It is the
mark of a good fairy-story…that however wild its events, however fantastic or
terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the “terms”
comes, a catch of breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to tears, as keen as
that given by any form of literary art, and having a peculiar quality.42
According to him, the eucatastrophic tale is the true form of fairy-tale, and its
highest function. In his essay, Tolkien has called the Birth of Christ the
eucatastrophe of Man’s history and the Resurrection the eucatastrophe of the story
of Incarnation. He has made a parallel between the Christian Story of Creation of
the world and humankind by God and sub-creation of a secondary world by a
writer:
The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind, which embraces all
the essences of fairy-stories. But this story has entered History and the primary
world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation has been raised to the fulfillment
of Creation.43
Therefore, the consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the Happy Ending has the
same meaning in fairy-tales as a Joy that brings the “light at the end of the
tunnels” of our lives:
It denies (…) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting
glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.44
Obviously, Tolkien has meant here a Joy to enter a paradise, which the good part
of humankind will be granted by God at the Day of Justice. To continue the
philosophy of Professor Tolkien it can be suggested that a newborn child is
coming to this Earth as a hero to a secondary world and must go through his
ordeals during his life, coming always back by dying in this world. Therefore, a
death that brings grief and sorrow on this Earth is just a part of a hero’s journey, a
resurrection of his soul before the return.
42
43
44
Tolkien, 1964 p. 28
Ibid, p. 29
Ibid, p.28
23
Chapter 5: Analysis of the video game “The Hobbit”
In this part of my paper, I would like to define the genre of this game and analyze
its narrative structure in comparison to the novel of J.R.R. Tolkien “The Hobbit;
or, There and back again”. In the following sections, I will also discuss a pacing
of the game, interactivity and a role of computer art in the creation of fantasy
world in the video game. As I have played this video game on my own, I will take
my impression and experience of the game as a point of departure. However, I
will try to avoid subjectivity in my definitions of this video game, using the
theory given above.
5.1 Genre
This is an adventure video game as the story of the game is faithful to the existing
fantasy novel in adventure genre. It is also a role-playing video game, as a player
has a role of Bilbo, the main hero of the story and the game. In addition, the game
has the elements of action, as Bilbo starts his adventure with a sack of throwing
rocks and a walking stick to define himself from the evil creatures of Middleearth. As the game progresses, he picks up an Elven sword and learns different
attack tactics during the game, which improve his fighting power. Although
platform jumping and puzzles are the main challenges of the game, there are
enough combat to call it the action adventure game.
5.2 Interactivity
Bilbo must go through many challenges in the game, but platform jumping is the
main one. Falling down from a high platform, mostly because the controls and
camera are not always agreeable, Bilbo dies and it takes some time before the
game starts again. It is pretty frustrating to watch his falling from, for example, a
tree into the deep water and wait for the last bubble on its surface proving that he
is finally dead. The episode of Bilbo’s “last breath” takes always fifteen seconds
and it does not matter whether he has died of an accidental falling from the
platform or been killed in a combat. When Bilbo falls twenty times from the
platform due to a bad coincide of the camera with the controls, the
accompaniment of sad music becomes almost intolerable and the tragic episode
arises no longer sympathy, but irritation.
A combat in the game is quite cut and dried. Bilbo can attack the enemies from a
distance by using his throwing rocks, but he is not effective when he gets close
with his stick or Elven sword. He can lock on to a single enemy easily enough and
it makes one-on-one combat a lot more manageable. However, most of the time
Bilbo fights a small group of enemies at once, usually spiders, and locking on to
one enemy makes it difficult to defend against any of other enemies. He often dies
in such “unfair” combats and it is almost disgusting to see how a “band” of the
spiders is gathering near the body of Bilbo and going to suck his blood. The
designers of the game did not consider the possibility to skip such episodes and a
player has to watch all the same until he finally succeeds in a combat.
The situations when a player cannot find out of the puzzles are also blocking a
game play. I remember a situation in level ten, in which Bilbo had to power four
24
channels carrying water at once. For this purpose, there were mechanisms to
rotate on the top of two platforms. The first platform had a ladder to it and Bilbo
could easily get on the top. The ladder to the second platform was broken. I tried
to get on it by jumping, swimming over the water and climbing on the walls in
three days… I could not get help in the walkthrough either. Finally, I have entered
a web forum of this game and asked experienced players what to do. The answer
was to get out of that location, activate the carts in the other room, then get on it
and drive back to the platform with the broken ladder. Thus, if I was not able to
find out of the puzzle I could not continue a game. The game presents a linear
progression where a player is expected to pass through all the tasks and has no
chance to move on to the next levels avoiding some tasks.
5.3 Storyline
The game is faithful to the original story of the novel “The Hobbit or There and
Back again”, though it regularly takes liberties in details. Each level starts with
the white-black cutscenes made in the form of pages, while the narrator
introduces a new chapter from the novel. All events in these cutscenes are told in
the past tense. Thus, the hero is constantly taken away from the present time of
game play to the past time of the novel. The image of the Hobbit in the cutscenes
is designed differently from the playground, separating the authentic story of the
novel from the constructions of the producers.
There are eleven levels in the game and they are called exactly as Tolkien’s
chapters in the novel, the only difference is level three, which is called “Trollhole”. Those chapters of the novel (there are nineteen), which are cut in the game
are presented in the cinematic cutscenes. For example, the episodes when Bilbo
and the company were surrounded by the goblins and wild wolves and were
rescued by the eagles or when Bilbo found the Ring and met Gollum were shown
briefly in the cutscenes. The episode when Dragon attacked Lake-Town and Bard
shoot Smaug is also presented in a cutscene. Thus, the producers of the game used
the cutscenes in order to present those events of the story, in which Bilbo has no
active role of a fighter or burglar. Unfortunately, these cutscenes are impossible to
replay. Besides, they are pretty short, as if the level designers were cautious with
the non-interactive parts of the game and did their best to make them as brief as
possible. The game presents a linear story progression where a player is expected
to pass through most of the major story plot points and is not able to bypass the
events.
5.4 Narrative structure and Archetypes
In order to follow the narrative structure of the game we can apply twelve stages
of the pattern Christopher Vogler gives:
1. Ordinary world: Hobbits do not look for the adventure, but sometimes
adventure finds them. It happened that Bilbo Baggins (a Hero), of the Hill in the
Shire, was counting the peaceful days, when his old friend Gandalf the Grey, a
wizard appeared (Level 1). Although different archetypes are presented in the
game, the only playable of them is a Hero. A player, taking a role of a Hobbit,
Bilbo Baggins experiences the whole adventure as an active participant and
25
developer of the events. It depends only on a player’s activity and mastery how
fast the story will go on and how often Bilbo will face the mortal danger of falling
down from the high platforms or being beaten by the enemies. Bilbo has a heroic
function of acting and doing all alone for the most time in the game. The only
time when Bilbo is acting together with the other characters is the Battle of Five
Armies, when he is fighting together with the Wood-elves against the goblins.
2. Call to adventure: Within a short time, Gandalf (functioning as a Herald at this
moment) set in motion the events that would push poor Bilbo on a most exciting
adventure of his life. Thorin, the grandson of the King under the Mountain and
the company of twelve dwarves Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin,
Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur would like to go into the quest after the treasures,
which were stolen from theirs ancestors by the dragon Smaug. The dwarves have
an ancient map, which shows the secret door to the tunnel of the cave where
Smaug keeps their golden treasures. Nevertheless, the dwarves are afraid to go
ahead into this adventure without having a professional thief with them. Besides
this, they are thirteen in their expedition and this is an unfortunate number. As
Bilbo Baggins got a special magic mark of a master burglar on his door, which
Gandalf secretly has made, the dwarves gathered themselves at his hole in order
to discuss and organize the future adventure (Level 1).
3. Refusal of the call: In the beginning, Bilbo tried to reject the proposal to
participate in their risky and dangerous expedition. He even felt down
unconscious, when Gandalf presented him to the dwarves as a professional
burglar. However “the Tookish” part of him (his mother Belladonna Took
probably had been partly fairy) suddenly woke up in him and he agreed to take his
role in this quest. Thus, the adventure begins (Level 1).
4. Meeting with the mentor: Gandalf is acting as a Mentor helping to Bilbo during
the expedition. Despite all difficulties and misfortunes in the beginning, Bilbo
proved a prophet made by Gandalf to the dwarves that there is something special
about this Hobbit. That is a special gift to be lucky. Bilbo’s casual luck in finding
the Ring (Level 5) in the dark cave was the main reason of the fortunate release of
the whole expedition. However, the producers have changed the concept of the
fable Ring. Bilbo can use it to be invisible only for a short period. Besides, there
are some creatures, which can see him even with a Ring on, for example, the
gigantic spider sisters and necromancers.
5. Crossing the first threshold: Once Bilbo has promised to the dwarves to help
them in the quest, he cannot refuse it. Despite all his fears, he meets the dwarves
at the Green Inn Hotel and goes into adventure. Crossing the edge of Mirkwood
and being now without help of Gandalf is the first threshold. There is no way
back, Bilbo has to go through the danger on his own and prove to the dwarves that
he is indeed a professional burglar (Level 1).
6. Tests, enemies and allies. At this point, the producers of the game have made
some changes in the details of the story. The additional enemies provoke Bilbo to
get into a combat more often than in the novel and have a function of the
26
Threshold guardians blocking Bilbo the way and clustering around the doorways
and gates of threshold crossings at every level during the game.
The exaggerated enemies:
Spiders:
Middle-earth, especially Mirkwood, is inhabited in the game with the uncountable
numbers of spiders who attack Bilbo every time he is free from platform jumping.
They are different in colours and sizes and use to poison Bilbo. During the game,
he is going to die a hundred times of their attack. The producers have exaggerated
the importance of the spiders in Middle-earth and put them at every possible
“hole” in the game. Besides, there are added three gigantic spider sisters in the
game story. Spider sisters have caught the dwarves and have been going to have a
dinner of them, when suddenly Bilbo appeared and saved all dwarves from a sad
destiny. The sisters can speak, in comparison to the army of wordless spiders, and
Bilbo must go through a tough combat in order to escape to be eaten by them.
Goblins:
There are also an army of goblins in the game, but in comparison to the spiders,
they are less in number and are easier to deal with in a combat, as they cannot
poison Bilbo. The designers use them more cautious and mostly at the events,
where goblins “suppose” to participate, for instance the Battle of Five Armies.
However, in level eight, the producers use the goblins to involve Bilbo into a
detective story. Some of the goblins stole the Bard’s Black Arrow in Lake-Town
and Bilbo has to find it and retrieve. Moreover, a band of goblins has a deal with
the thieves from the city of Lake-Town to supply them with the guns. Bilbo must
save the city from the betrayers. He uses his Ring to be invisible and follow
thieves to their warehouse and investigate what is going on.
Additional enemies:
Necromancers and White Lord:
Having saved the dwarves from three hungry spider sisters, Bilbo has lost his
company again as they are captured now by the Wood-elves. Before he can get to
their palace, he has to walk through a strange place surrounded by the waterfalls
and occupied by necromancers (level 7). They are much stronger than goblins and
their White Lord is a big challenge to have a combat with. As usual, the enemies
suddenly appear and attack Bilbo, and if not a walkthrough, in which a protective
tactic is described, it would be difficult for me to pass them.
Flowers and mutants:
There are also flowers that can attack Bilbo by a fire shoot. They do not harm him
much, but can prevent a player from a peaceful travelling or exploring an area.
Finally, the funniest representatives of the evil creatures found in the game are the
little mutants living in the water. They seem to be a mixture of a frog with a fish,
but still I am not sure what is their origin. They are not very harmful and Bilbo
easily beats them.
27
Allies:
Eagles:
The eagles will rescue the whole company just in time, when the wargs and
goblins put them in fire. This episode is shown as a cutscene and there is no much
information about the eagles. At the end of the game, it will be only mentioned,
that the eagles came also to help at the Battle of Five Armies.
Men of Lake-Town:
Men of Lake-Town and Bard, who will shoot the Dragon, are quite faithful to the
authentic story. Additional episode is a detective story, which involves Bilbo into
investigation and proves to the men of Lake-Town that little creatures like a
Hobbit can be helpful, despite their size.
Beorn:
We do not meet Beorn in the game until he needs a Bilbo’s help in the Battle of
Five Armies (level 11). At this moment, he has a shape of a bear but still can talk
and understand the human speech. He is functioning as a Shapeshifter, but only
due to the form of his physical shape, there is no doubt that he is an ally of Bilbo
in the game. He laughs at Bilbo, when he is offering his help, but very soon
goblins capture Beorn by means of the enchanting immobilization power. The last
task for Bilbo to fulfill is to rescue Beorn. Bilbo succeeds, proving once again that
the size of the hero has no importance. A little Hobbit is capable to free a giant
Beorn.
Additional allies:
Lianna:
She is a Wood-elf and their best representative in the game. Bilbo meets her
suddenly at level two in a cave of trolls, where she lays wounded and asks him to
get her a health elixir. When Bilbo helps this beautiful elf girl, she leaves him
without any explanation. Later at level seven, when Bilbo must get the dwarves
out of the prison of the Wood-elves, Lianna comes into a picture again advising
Bilbo what to do. Her appearance at level seven raises a question how and why
did Lianna get into the cave of trolls, which lays five levels away from the palace
of the Wood-elves? The next time Lianna enters the game is the Battle of Five
Armies. Acting like a Terminator, she is able to beat several goblins at once (level
11). This time her presence is quite understandable, for she is fighting together
with other Wood-elves against the goblins. The Wood-elves act as the
Shapeshifters in the story; they were hostile to the company in the beginning, but
became their allies at the end of the story. In comparison to them, Lianna is
always devoted to Bilbo being grateful for his help. She is a positive Anima in the
game, attracting the male players by her pretty image and a need for the Bilbo’s
help in the beginning and helping him later in the game. For female auditory, she
must be also attractive by her abilities to be a powerful warrior and express her
strength.
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Corwin:
This is a man from Lake-Town. Bilbo meets him on his way to find the dwarves
who are captured by the spiders (level 6). Corwin (functioning at this moment as a
Mentor) directs him where to find oil to burn the spider net. The music is sad
when Corwin tells to Bilbo a terrifying story of the gigantic spiders, which killed
his companions. However, the later events will show that those horrible creatures
were three spider sisters. Then, it is interesting to know why would those men fail
in their battle, if Bilbo alone could manage a combat with the sisters? The
explanation is Elven sword, which Bilbo has gained in the Troll-cave (level 3).
Using it, Bilbo is able to win any combat. The second time Bilbo meets Corwin is
the Battle of Five Armies, in which he saves Corwin from the attack of goblins
(level 11).
7. Approach to Inmost Cave: This is the moment when Bilbo is inside the
Dragon’s cave (Level 9). Dragon Smaug is functioning as a Shadow. However,
his destruction brings only a temporarily joy to the story, there is still a Supreme
Ordeal to win the Happy Ending.
8. Reward: each level of the game brings some rewards to Bilbo. Playing
successively, a player is constantly rewarded by gaining the Health Bubbles,
Courage Points, new attack tactics, the narrative cutscenes. However, a special
reward for Bilbo to gain in the game is Arkenstone, a precious treasury of the
dwarves. In the novel, Bilbo has occasionally found it, at the first time he came
into the inmost cave. The producers of the game have devoted the whole level ten
to this treasure. Bilbo must manage many different tasks in order to open the door
to the room where Arkenstone is hidden. For me this level was the most
exhausting experience of the problem solving in a whole game. When finally
Bilbo gets the stone, the level is finished and the last level starts with the
cinematic cutscenes presenting the events from the moment when dragon Smaug
left the cave to the Battle of Five Armies. Thus, finding of Arkenstone rewards a
player by the cutscenes from the novel and put him directly to a Supreme Ordeal.
9. Supreme Ordeal: The last level of the game is a long supreme ordeal for Bilbo.
After the cutscenes from the novel, he thrown directly into the Battle of Five
Armies and must prove that he is indeed a Hero. He has the following tasks at this
level:
- Deliver a message to Bard
- Save the dwarves
- Save Corwin
- Find Lianna
- Destroy the wall
- Find Beorn
- Help Beorn
- Drop the bridge
- Free Beorn
There is no place for travelling or exploring at this level, for everything is devoted
to the last big mission for Bilbo to fulfil – to save Beorn. Beorn is a key personage
29
to win the battle, but he is captured by the immobilization power, which Bilbo
must destroy. After freeing Beorn the game ends.
The stages of Resurrection (when dying Thorin asks Bilbo to forgive him and the
dwarves reward a Hobbit with gold), The Road Back and Return with elixir are not
included in the game play, and only told in the cutscenes after the last level.
Moreover, one of the most important moments of the story, a Supreme Ordeal is
different in the game from the story. In the story of Tolkien, Bilbo risks his
reputation and friendship with the dwarves and hand over Arkenstone to men of
Lake-Town in order to keep the peace between the opposite sides of the conflict.
However, in the game, Bilbo’s Supreme Ordeal is a task to free Beorn in a short and
limited time. A player must hurry up on his way to interactive icons and make no
single mistake in jumping the platforms. If Bilbo falls down, he looses the given
time and Beorn dies.
5.5 Pacing of the game
The chart of Troy Dunniway can be useful to follow how much narrative is
included in the structure of the game. In the following chart, I will introduce the
results of my playing of this game:
Event:
Time:
Total time of game play
October–November
Length of cutscenes
Number of levels
Story-telling: 10 minutes
Character interaction: 20
minutes
11
Length of level
From 1 to 10 hours
Amount of time spent fighting in level
From 10 minutes to 3 hour
Amount of time spent exploring in level
15 minutes
Amount of time spent problem solving in level
(including jumping the platforms and puzzles)
From 10 minutes to 10 hour
Amount of time spent travelling in level
10 minutes
Amount of time waiting for something to happen
0
Amount of time spend “doing other stuff”
Number of main characters
f.ex. watching Bilbo falling
- up to 1 hour
1
Number of secondary characters
18
Number of enemies in typical level
unlimited number of the
spiders
Figure 4: Pacing of the game “The Hobbit”
As it is seen from this chart, the narrative non-interactive cutscenes take very
short time in comparison to different interactive elements of the game. The length
of the levels is varying from one to ten hours and that all depends on amount of
time spent in fighting, problem solving or travelling. The number of tasks differs
from level to level and that can also influence on the length of the level.
30
To compare the tasks at the levels I will give the examples of level six and eight
of the game:
Level 6: Flies and Spiders
Level 8: A warm welcome
1.Find the dwarves- 2 minutes
1. Talk to the Master of Lake-Town – 30 seconds
(cutscene)
2. Stake out the wine ware-house – 2 minutes
2. Rescue the dwarves- 1hour
3. Escape the spider lair- 15
minutes
3. Follow the thief – 1 minute
4. Burn away the thick web:
a. Find oil – 3 hours
b. Use oil on campfire – 5
seconds
4. Inspect Rennar’s warehouse – 25 minutes
5.Find memento for Corwin –
2 minutes
5. Tell Bard about the weapons – 30 seconds (cutscene)
6. Talk to Bard – 30 seconds (cutscene)
7. Explore the cider house - 1 minute
8. Find Rennar - 30 seconds
9. Inspect Rennar’s warehouse - 25 minutes
10. Tell Bard about the weapons - 30 seconds (cutscene)
11. Find the black arrow - 2 minutes
12. Talk to Malloc – 30 seconds (cutscene)
13. Bring Malloc his Dagger – 5 minutes
14. Find thieves hideout – 20 minutes
15.Find a yellow bottle in the cider house – 1 minute
16. Find a blue bottle in the cider house – 1 minute
17. Find a red bottle in Rand’s house – 10 minutes
18. Find a green bottle in Eliks’ house - 10 minutes
19. Find a violet bottle in Orlan’s house – 3 minutes
20. Retrieve the black arrow – 25 minutes
21. Return the black arrow - 1 minute
The length of the level:
The length of the level:
4 hours and 20 minutes
2 hours and 20 minutes
Figure 5: A comparison of the tasks in the different levels of the game
As we can see from this chart, the different degree of difficulty at problem solving
is another reason, which influences on the length of the level. Although there are
many tasks at level eight, they are not difficult and therefore it takes not a long
time to fulfill them. Whereas in level six there are only five tasks, but one of them
is difficult to find out and it takes much longer time to finish this level. There is a
linear progression of the order of the tasks at each level. A player is not able to
bypass some events and is expected to do it in the right order. The story and the
actions of a player/main character are pre-written and cannot be changed or
fulfilled in a different order, than posed by the software.
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5.6 Computer Art
As it was described before in this paper (4.3), Professor Tolkien has had the
reasons to be critical about the presentation of the fairy-stories in drama or
paintings. However, due to computer art, game design is achieving a high level
and quality of the transferring the fantasy world from the mental imagination onto
the screens of the computers. In computer design, there are no technical limits in
the implementation of the fantasy world as it is in drama or in paintings. By the
means of multimedia, the producers of the game were able to create a vibrant
world of Middle-earth and maintain its magic characteristics. Bilbo’s invisibility,
for instance, is designed with a great effect, however, the concept of the Ring is
changed and some evil creatures can feel the presence of the Hobbit even when he
is invisible.
However, the designers have not considered the importance of the images for the
immersion and drawn them differently in the cutscenes than in the playground.
When the cutscenes made in the form of cinematic show the events of the
adventure, they remind the images and environment of the game, and there is no
another narrator than a perception of a player watching it. These cutscenes show
the events in a present time and thus, there is no a contradiction between a game
play experience and the cinematic, which follows the game. However, the
motionless white-black cutscenes at the beginning of each level, drawn as pages
from the novel and commented by the narrator, disturb the balance and divide the
story into the authentic and “fake”. The mystery of fantasy world is disappearing
every time a player sees the images of the story looking differently than those
from the playground.
In addition, the producers of the game have changed the image of the main hero.
Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit of fifty years old in the novel of Tolkien. However, in
the game he is a kid, a teenager of ten or twelve years old. The producers of the
game adapted the story to “7+” auditory, making it an entertainment mostly for
the children. In comparison to other characters, a Hobbit is not only little in his
size but also his age. In the game, he looks as a grandson to Gandalf or the
dwarves and it seems not very realistic that a boy of ten years old must face so
many dangers in order to help the company to get the golden treasures. Platform
jumping is more appropriate to his age than fighting to death with his enemies.
The exaggerated character designs and detailed environmental textures all give
the game a feel of an illustrated fantasy book for children. However, the fantasy
novel of Tolkien was definitely devoted for the grown auditory. Therefore, the
marketing concept of the game has a contradiction to the idea of the novel it is
based on.
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Chapter 6: Conclusion
The aim of this project was to define what is the genre of the video game “The
Hobbit”; what are the similarities and differences of narrative in this game in
comparison to fantasy novel of J.R.R. Tolkien “A Hobbit; or, There and back
again”; how does the narrative structure of the game change due to the medium it
is represented through. The analysis above (chapter 5) has demonstrated that the
storyline in the game is faithful to the original story of the novel, though it
regularly takes liberties in details. In the video game “The Hobbit”, a player has
an opportunity to join the quest after the golden treasures and explore the world of
Middle-earth playing a role of the main hero Bilbo Baggins. Therefore, the genre
of this game can be defined as an action adventure. The events of the story, in
which Bilbo has no active role of a fighter or burglar, are presented as cinematic
or motionless white-black cutscenes and take only ten minutes for the whole
game. Each level starts with the white-black cutscenes made in the form of pages,
while the narrator introduces a new chapter from the novel. The image of the
Hobbit in the cutscenes is drawn differently from the playground, separating the
Hobbit of the novel from the construction of the producers.
Storytelling through the interactive video medium could not avoid some changes
in the narrative structure. Following Vogler’s pattern of the narrative structure, it
can be concluded that the order of stages in the game is changed at the end, for the
needs of the action adventure dictate its structure. The stages of Resurrection, the
Road Back and Return with Elixir are not included in the game play and are told
by means of the cutscenes. Moreover, one of the most important moments of the
story, a Supreme Ordeal is different in the game from the story. In the story of
Tolkien, it is Bilbo’s initiative to negotiate with the men of Lake-Town and hand
over Arkenstone to them in order to escape a war. He risks his reputation and
friendship with the dwarves in order to keep the peace between the opposite sides
of the conflict. This is the bravest action of Bilbo in the story. But in the video
game, bravery of that kind is not playable and the producers made the Supreme
Ordeal by putting Bilbo into the extreme situation of freeing Beorn in a short and
limited time. A player must hurry up on his way to interactive icons and make no
single mistake in jumping the platforms. If Bilbo falls down, he looses the given
time and Beorn dies.
The concept of the fable Ring is also changed in the game. It is useful only for the
short periods and some creatures of Middle-earth can see Bilbo even with the
Ring on. Due to the interactive video medium the story is represented through,
Elven sword becomes more important tool in the game story than the fable Ring,
which is a key tool in the novel.
Game design of the production team is an imitation of sub-creation of the author
and is only one of the possible images of his fantasy world. The exaggerated
character designs and detailed environmental textures all give the game a feel of
an illustrated fantasy book for children. Bilbo Baggins is fifty years old in the
novel. However, the producers of the game found more appropriate to make him a
ten-twelve years old teenager to go through platform jumping, travelling,
33
exploring and fighting. Thus, the producers have made the game mostly for the
children, whereas Professor Tolkien has devoted his novel to the grown auditory.
Besides, there are added new characters of enemies (three spider sisters,
necromancer, White Lord, shooting flowers and mutants) and allies (Lianna and
Corwin) of Bilbo in the game. The functions of the enemies are to provoke Bilbo
into the combats more often than in the novel. In particular, spiders have been
used at the different locations in the game, whereas in the novel they were
inhabitants only of Mirkwood. Although, fighting finds often a place in the game,
the most important interactive elements are platform jumping and problem
solving. Often, a lack of coincidence of camera with the controls brings Bilbo to
failure and he dies. However, it is only a game and in the next few seconds, he is
alive again giving a player the uncountable number of chances to succeed.
Feelings of frustration and failure in difficult puzzles and a joy, which a player
feels after successive solutions, are important to ensure the emotional engagement
of a player. However, there is a limit of a player’s patience and in the case of
many hours failure, a player can simply give up to continue to play.
The game environments reinforce a player for improving responses with the
additional points and movement on to the next levels. However, a player is not
only motivated to get to the end of the game by gaining more Courage Points or
Health Bubbles. Going through the adventure in the first place experience
stimulates the curiosity and desire to succeed. A player has an opportunity to join
the Hero’s journey for self-actualization and learn to succeed through failures and
frustrations. Playing a role of Bilbo Baggins, a positive character of Tolkien’s
novel, a player experiences his bravery, courage and devotion to his company. In
addition, during the game Bilbo is encouraged by Gandalf, the dwarves, men of
Lake-Town, the Wood-elves, Lianna, Corwin and Beorn, which all keep saying
how much they are impressed by the great deeds of a little Hobbit. The fact that
many lives are “dependant” on Bilbo’s activity is also motivating in the game.
Knowing the story of a Hobbit and its Happy Ending there was no doubt that the
game will have a joyous end. Despite his size and inexperience, a little Hobbit has
rescued a giant Beorn, found Arkenstone, won over the enemies and fulfilled
other heroic deeds, being committed and devoted to his journey. However, a
player has to succeed in order to get to the Happy Ending. A joy, which a player
feels at the winning of the last battle in the game, is not only a joy of sympathy
with the hero of the story, but of a personal achievement. A player earns the
Happy Ending playing the game to the end and has a chance to experience
fantasy, recovery, escape and consolation. For in the fantasy world of the video
game, the outside world of real problems cannot properly impinge. A player feels
secure and unthreatened playing the game and knows that whatever failure the
adventure can bring there is always a chance to start it again.
34
Bibliography
Literature:
Apter Michael J., “The experience of motivation: the theory of psychological
reversals”, London: Academic Press 1982
Jensen Jens F., ”Multimedier, Hypermedier, Interaktive Medier”, Forfatterne og
Aalborg Universitetsforlag 1998
Konzack Lars, “Softwaregenres”, Aarhus University Press 1999
Lacey Nick, “Narrative and genre: key concepts in media studies”, Basingstoke:
Macmillan 2000
Shippey Timothy, “J.R.R. Tolkien: the author of the century”, London: Harper
Collins Publishers 2000
Tannenbaum Robert S., “Theoretical Foundation of Multimedia”, New York:
Computer Science Press 1998
Tolkien John Ronald Reuel, “The Hobbit; or, There and back again”, London:
Allen & Unwin 1966
Vogler Christopher, “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and
Screenwriters”, Michael Wiese Productions 1992
Webarticles:
Aarseth Espen,
“Playing Research: Methodological approaches to game analysis”, 2003
www.spilforskning.dk
Dunniway Troy, “Using the Hero’s Journey in Games”, 2000
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20001127.htm/dunniway_01.htm
Jenkins Henry, “Game Design as Narrative Architecture”, 2002
http://www.mit.edu/21fms/www/faculty/henry3/game&narrative.html
Klevjer Rune, “In Defense of Cutscenes”, University of Bergen
http://www.uib.no/people/smkrk/docs/klevjerpaper.htm
Konzack Lars, ”Computerspilforskningens diskurser”, 2003
http://www.spilforskning.dk/gameapproaches/GmaeAppoaches3.pdf
Tolkien John Ronald Reuel, “On fairy stories”,
http://larsen-family.us/~1066/onfairystories.html
35
Appendix
The table of 31 functions in folktales by Vladimir Prop45
Initial situation
1. absentation
2. interdiction
3. violation
4. reconnaissance
5. delivery
6. trickery
7. complicity
8. villainy
lack
9. mediation
10. counteraction
11. departure
12. 1st donor function
13. hero’s reaction
14. receipt of agent
15. spatial change
16. struggle
17. branding
18. victory
19. liquidation
20. return
21. pursuit, chase
22. rescue
23. unrecognized
arrival
24. unfounded claims
25. difficult task
26. solution
27. recognition
28. exposure
29. transfiguration
30. punishment
31. wedding
45
Members of the family are introduced; hero is introduced.
One of the members of the family absence him- or herself.
Interdiction addressed to hero (can be reversed).
Interdiction is violated.
Villain makes attempt to get information.
Villain gets information about victim.
Villain tries to deceive victim.
Victim is deceived.
Villain causes harm to a member of the family; or
Member of the family lacks something, desires something.
Misfortune made known; hero is dispatched.
Hero (seeker) agrees to counteraction.
Hero leaves home.
Hero tested, receives magical agent or helper.
Hero reacts to agent or donor.
Hero acquires use of magical agent.
Hero led to object of search.
Hero and villain join in direct combat.
Hero is branded.
Villain is defeated.
Initial misfortune or lack is liquidated.
Hero returns.
Hero is pursued.
Hero is rescued from pursuit.
Hero, unrecognized, arrives home or elsewhere.
False hero presents unfounded claims.
Difficult task is proposed to hero.
Task is resolved.
Hero is recognized.
False hero or villain is exposed.
Hero is given new appearance.
Villain is punished.
Hero is married, ascends the throne.
Adapted from Lacey, 2000, p. 47
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37