Week 4: Challenge Activity!

In week 4, we have been tasked to explore Narrative design, how stories can be told through video games and the techniques that can be used. As narrative can have a large impact on all aspects of a video game, it's important to prepare to formulate a narrative design document early on.

Before starting the challenge, I studied this week's reading materials and lectures and looked through a variety of other suggested sources. As discussed in a previous blog post, storytelling is not one of my stronger skills, but I wanted to have reasonable narrative and feel that it is important for the type of game I'm making for the player to have some kind of connection with their avatar.

One of the most interesting pieces of advice I found from my research was from Plants Vs. Zombies creator, George Fan. As part of GDC 2013's Microtalks session, George explained that it'd helpful to do the following when choosing a theme for a game:

1. Are you into the theme? Make sure you choose something you're into, as you are going to be spending a lot of time working it and a lack of enthusiasm will show in the final product.

2. Does your theme support the game mechanics? You need to use both to influence the design of each other to create a perfect harmony.

3. Does your theme communicate the goal? A well themed goal has the benefit of being more immersive for the player and making them more motivated to play and progress.

4. Does your theme have both familiarity and novelty? You need to have a good balance of both the familiar and new and should be able to describe this in few words. * This seems like this could apply to gameplay, as well as narrative aspects

With that in mind, here is my design document. It is important to look at this as more of a starting outline, that is very likely to change over time to make sure it works more tightly with both the art design and gameplay.

A Scarecrow's life

1. Setting

The game is set in a classic fantasy medieval (mostly human populated) kingdom, with craggy mountains, deep woods, farmland, villages, graveyards, caves and a castle with a thriving populace of farmers, townsfolk, loyal knights and benevolent royalty.

2. Characters

The main hero, is an unnamed scarecrow(mistakenly) brought to life as a last ditch attempt to save the kingdom from..

A dejected former Royal Wizard - once a member of the royal household, cast out from the kingdom by the for some heinous crime and has come back to have their revenge by killing the king, kidnapping the princess and putting a curse on the kingdom.

The princess - captured and imprisoned in the castle dungeons (or lower?) by the Evil Wizard.

A magical talking hedgehog companion - acting as mentor to the scarecrow, offering helpful, but mostly not so helpful advice.

3. Plot

The plot is the established story of an unlikely hero that has been tasked to rescue the princess and save the kingdom from the ancient curse cast on it by the evil villain.

As the king dies from his grievous magical wounds, unable to save himself with what little magical power he has left, he summons a fairy like creature to go to the mountains and bring the "hero in the hills to life" (a statue) with the last of his magical essence. Unfortunately, the fairly like creature is either a little on the simple side or not very diligent and drops the essence onto a scarecrow near the statue instead...

The hero is a scarecrow has been brought to life with the last drops of a magical life essence (some of which is spilled and a nearby hedgehog drinks...) mistakenly given to him instead of statue of a long forgotten hero on the outskirts of the kingdom.

The curse has turned the wildlife into vicious mutants, the local population into mindless golems and turned the fertile land into pestilent wasteland. The scarecrow must learn new abilities to overcome these challenges, defeat the evil wizard and remove the curse.

Luckily, the scarecrow is not alone and has the help of a cantankerous and not so wise old magical talking hedgehog to guide him on his journey.

The Scarecrow starts his journey in the craggy mountains and must work his way through the different lands of the kingdom towards the castle, these lands include;

deep dark woods, cursed farmland, ruined villages, spooky graveyards, mysterious caves and possessed castle and dungeons and the fiery abyss.

4. Mood

Ideally players should feel amused with the character dialogue and cutscenes, both excited and curious to see the story progress and the reveal of new environments and enemies, as well as use the new abilities they gain to help them progress through these environments and defeat those enemies.

Players should also feel a little anxious in certain situations when fighting bosses, or jumping multiple platforms and maybe very anxious when avoiding fiery traps! But should also feel a little exhilarated when beating these.

5. Narrative Structure

The player enters the story after the King has been killed, the princess has been captured and the Kingdom cursed and at the point where the scarecrow and hedgehog have just been given life and sentience - maybe there's a conversation with the fairy like creature and they're set on their task.

The gameplay will begin with a story led tutorial level, where the player learns the controls and mechanics.

As the players progress through the levels, they will uncover more about the world, it's characters and the ongoing plot via post level cut scenes.

6. Storytelling Techniques

The story is told via illustrative cut scenes, in-game dialogue, environmental storytelling and level design. Storytelling and exposition will also be set within or around larger pockets of gameplay.

These will be skippable/forwardable to avoid cutscene fatigue.

7. Interactivity

Players are along for the ride, with maybe the potential of deciding on which levels to move onto after completing one (but having to complete them all, before the last level).

The scarecrow's character will become more defined and rounded through the in-game discussions and monologues (hopefully) developing a player bond , as well as through progression of gameplay mechanics and abilities.

8. Theme

I guess the overall theme is about discovering hidden depths, not 'judging a book by it's cover' and about discovering unlikely friendships. Good prevailing over evil would also tie into the exiting plot too.

Now, using at Harmon's Story Circle as a formula, I could further develop the game narrative making these changes:

1. Establishing initial protagonists (The Princess and King), via a cut scene.

2. We've seen the world through their eyes and we now see it change, as the Evil Wizard curses the land

3. The Evil Wizard arrives at the castle, kills the King, captures the Princess. The King uses the last of his power to get help and the Scarecrow is brought to life and becomes the new protagonist!

4. The scarecrow is tasked with helping to save the kingdom and must adapt to his new life with the help of his Hedgehog companion. The journey to the castle is a long one, with plenty of dangers to overcome and the Scarecrow must learn new skills to if they are to triumph.

5. They arrive at a village and are able find out a way to reverse the curse and turn the townsfolk back. Buoyed by their finding, they hurry on towards the castle.

6. However, they are met on they by the wizard (who has found out about their quest) and burn the Scarecrow. The Hedgehog sacrifices himself in an attempt to save his friend. The Scarecrow is left in a smouldering heap presumed dealt with.

7. The scarecrow, is then rescued by the villagers he saved and is given magical armour (or a new stuffing?) and is now equipped for the final challenge.

8. The scarecrow is now able to ignore fire and face this Wizard, rescue the Princess and remove the curse.

Whilst I believe that this does enhance and tighten the overall narrative, I think some parts may be too 'deep' and not 'light' enough for both the overall feel and gameplay I'm trying to achieve at this time. At this stage, it feels like this could be too much 'plot' and could be more streamlined. I feel this is something that I'll need to keep revisiting upon and finetuning along with other aspects of the development.

References:

GDC (2015). How to Choose a Theme for Your Game. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_sear6P058&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 24 Feb. 2021].

Schoder, W. (2016). Every Story is the Same. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuD2Aa0zFiA&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 22 Feb. 2021].

‌The Ultimate Resource for Video Game Design. (2017). The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Storytelling. [online] Available at: https://www.gamedesigning.org/learn/storytelling/. [Accessed 22 Feb. 2021].

Harmon, D. (2019). Story Structure 101: Super Basic Shit. [online] Available at: https://channel101.fandom.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit.

The Ultimate Resource for Video Game Design. (2017). The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Storytelling. [online] Available at: https://www.gamedesigning.org/learn/storytelling/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2021].

Bullen, E. (2020). The Ultimate Guide to Narrative Design - Nicely Said. [online] Available at: https://www.nicelysaid.net/what-is-narrative-design/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2021].

Thompson, A. (2020). Importance Of Storytelling in Games | Sliced Bread Animation. [online] Available at: https://sbanimation.com/the-importance-of-video-game-narrative/. [Accessed 22 Feb. 2021].