This week looks at Game’s writing and narrative, and things to consider when you are designing narrative. Narrative is obviously one of the most important aspects of games, it gives context to the game, engages the player, and sometimes it is the main selling point of the game.
There are lots of things to consider when designing a narrative. In terms of structure, we’d want to think about whether it is a linear game or has a branching story. Do we want to have different endings? Same ending but different path? Do we want to encourage replayability or focus on first-time experience? Then, after that, we want to consider how the character being portrayed in the game because a large part of the story is observed through the lens of the main character. Do we want to play as an original character or customise one? An original character with a predefined backstory and characteristics may compel the players to make choices as if they were the character, while a customised character allows them to make choices more freely and gives them more opportunities to express themself.
We also need to consider how the narrative is being presented to the player. The two most common ways are through cutscenes and dialogue with NPCs, but are not limited to that. Narrative can be conveyed through item description, narrative branching does not necessarily have to be made with choices, but also with player interactions as well.
On Thursday, we had a small practice on item description and branching narrative. We were asked to create a horror story, a horror object that holds narrative potential, and then experience with narrative branching to have a deeper understanding of how to evoke emotions through settings and choices. I created my story based on a short horror story, “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.WJacobs:
You discover something under a cloth while cleaning the attic on your own
The notebook made out of human skin
The first page was the instructions to use the note. You can write 3 wishes into the book, and it will grant you those wishes
You can see that countless people have written in the book, their first two wishes are varied. Some wish for riches, some wish for love, others wish for the resurrection of a friend, or the death of an enemy.
But the third wish is always the same - they wish for their own death.
Core emotion: curiosity + maybe a little bit of fear
Choices:
- Write your first wish
- Leave it as it is
- Throw it in the fire
- You think you’re just going to write the first wish and then destroy it.
(Back to the first choice)
Choices: write your first wish
- Wish for exactly your mortgage
- Wish for a lot of money
- You think about how everyone writes all three wishes, so the notebook must have worked on the first wish, making people want to keep writing on it.
- Wish for your sister to be alive again.
Choices: Leave it
- You think about how you are behind on your mortgage. The bank has already sent a letter saying that they are going to seize the property.
- You think about how everyone writes all three wishes, so the notebook must have worked on the first wish, making people want to keep writing on it.
- You think about your late sister who just passed away a while ago
- You think you’re just going to write the first wish and then destroy it.
- (Back to the first choice)
Choices: Throw it in the fire
The game ends but you are left with your problems and unanswered questions
Reflection:
I don’t have a clear idea of what my game’s narrative would look like, but I don’t plan to have a branching narrative in my game. My game would have a linear story with a single ending. Also, I want the player to embody my character instead of creating and customising one. Branching narrative can make the game complicated, and it focuses on the experience that the player creates for themself, while in my game, I want the player to sympathize with the character and enjoy the experience the game is designed for them.
Main project update:
This week, I continue with the animation rigging on my prototype. I used a robot model from Unity Asset Store since my initial story was about a man who lost his limbs in an accident, and now he has a robotic arm and leg replacement, and he needs to get used to it, which will explain the unusual movement the player can do with their limbs in the game. I followed a tutorial from Brackeys about animation rigging (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htl7ysv10Qs) and then created bone structure for the model, and then a target to control that bone
My idea was that the player could use that leg motion to move the character instead of using the traditional WASD keys. This would make the game hard to master and also add a little bit of silliness to it, which really fits the theme of a man who is trying to get used to his robotic limbs. The next step would be adding physics and making the character actually walk with that leg motion
For the hand, I made a curl/uncurl animation for each finger. There are two options to do this: I could make it the same way I did with the leg, which is to add the bone for each knuckle and then control it, or I could simply create an animation for each finger and then use the animator to control it. I decided to go with the second option because I thought controlling each finger the same way as the leg would be too much of a challenge, so for the finger player would just need to press a button to curl/uncurl it.
Similar to the leg, I would need to add physics so the player could hold an item with their hand, then I will start designing some basic level for the game.
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