{"id":431,"date":"2026-05-09T17:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T17:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/?p=431"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:43:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:43:58","slug":"research-for-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/2026\/05\/09\/research-for-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"Research for Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are many elements to writing a basic narrative, and twice as more to write a compelling one. I find a lot of advice to be a reflection on past good narratives, but difficult to apply like tool. More like something to be aware of. The biggest piece of advice was to have every line mean something. Each line should reveal personality, their needs or dynamics to other characters. And all of it should progress the story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">See how I applied these tips to my <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/2026\/05\/09\/narrative\/\">Narrative<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hooks, problems and flaws<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A story needs a hook, which is the biggest problem typically introduced immediately. For a game is especially important, because it defines the point in playing it. In Alan Wake, your wife goes missing and you discover writing of which you didn&#8217;t write. For Yume Nikki, you enter your dreams to travel through a set of doors and discover what each world has to offer behind them. This makes the player intuitively understand the objective (to find the wife and who wrote the passage or to explore the dream world and understand why it exists). Usually, each step you take progressing the story happens because of the massive problem the hook introduced. <em>The hook is the root of any narrative.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Character Problems <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are ways to make people sympathise with what a character is going through. Typically, a problem consists of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Their beliefs don&#8217;t conform with reality \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Our character Sierra, thinks that her gear makes up for her lack of survival skills<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tyler believes that he can hike and work things out independently<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their understanding is limited (and will find out how by solving the problem)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sierra will find out that she didn&#8217;t need her carbon fiber camping stick to survive<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tyler will find out that his friends were critical to his survival<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Character problems are shown through dialogue subtext rather than explicitely being told. Subtext is what is told between the lines. If Sierra says: &#8220;These rags don&#8217;t have insulation-tech 3000&#8230; useless!&#8221; after giving her a blanket, you can tell she prioritises her gear more than necessary, subtly hinting at her problem. If Tyler sneaks away from Sierra and Marcus sleeping, to finally experience the wilderness, you can tell through his actions he would rather be alone, which is also a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Keeping immersion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A big reason why people don&#8217;t like exposition is because it feels like you&#8217;re spoon-feeding the audience rather than letting the characters naturally interact with eachother. There are clever-er ways of doing exposition such as having the character introduce themselves to a therapist, sharing their name, problems and flaws. Talking to a therapist creates a natural situation where plenty of information is shared &#8211; good for the audience. Lots of times you will find your characters in a place where you wouldn&#8217;t natually share your thoughts and intentuons. For example, in a cafe. In any case, you would still keep immersion using character to character interaction, saturating it with subtext . Things characters do or don&#8217;t say, pauses they take, how they react or what they interact with can reflect what they&#8217;re thinking, whilst keeping the immersion intact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Showcasing a character whilst <em>keeping the interaction in their world<\/em> introduces a lot of subtle ways they can portray themselves. Sometimes, it may not feel relevant at all. In reservoir dogs, Mr.Pink controversially says: &#8220;I don&#8217;t tip&#8221;. It doesn&#8217;t initially seem valuable in a bank heist movie, but it shows how he&#8217;s a character that doesn&#8217;t adhere to societal expectations, hinting on how he behaves to the smallest degree. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"557\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-10-161752-1024x557.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-10-161752-1024x557.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-10-161752-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-10-161752-768x418.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-10-161752-1536x836.png 1536w, https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-10-161752-192x104.png 192w, https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-10-161752.png 1584w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Mr.Pink being an outlaw. <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/M4sTSIYzDIk\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/M4sTSIYzDIk\">Peacock + Youtube auto generated subtitles<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Character &#8220;revalation&#8221;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A character needs to ground their perspective with reality. This is how a story moves foward. Because if the character can&#8217;t change their mind the problem will persist. Sometimes character resolves are dramatic For example, in &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oYs2wMuxkiQ\">The pursuit of Happyness<\/a>&#8216; the father watches his son play basketball and then discourages him. This is because he was projecting is emotions about his job problems to his son. But only until he realises that does he have a revalation and instantly changes his advice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Additional tips<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Take away something that the character cherishes <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you erase the names of your characters in your script, you should still know who is talking.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Listen to how other people talk, you can even try recording their conversation, them cutting themselves off and more. What are natural parts of dialouge? what is<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Let your characters live in their world.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Characters can glow with dialogue or actions that are expressive but exactly what the character would do\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Like Marcus expressing his love for foraging by hugging a rare mushroom he was given.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Like Tyler responding to Sierras panic with no empathy: &#8220;ok&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IYnIFWcpliM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Ultimate Guide To Writing A GREAT STORY For Your Game &#8211; YouTube<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XgPGL6bFYr8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to Write Dialogue That Doesn&#8217;t Suck &#8211; YouTube<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=thUhPT2CC4A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Write better dialogue in 8 minutes. &#8211; YouTube<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are many elements to writing a basic narrative, and twice as more to write a compelling one. I find a lot of advice to be a reflection on past good narratives, but difficult to apply like tool. More like something to be aware of. The biggest piece of advice was to have every line &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/2026\/05\/09\/research-for-narrative\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Research for Narrative<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,42],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sem2","tag-research","tag-sem2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":732,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/am3n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}