The
Importance of Story
The
first secret is "story." When I say story I am not talking
about a linear "once upon a time" type story. I am talking
about an all encompassing notion, a "big picture" idea of
the world that is being creating. A set of rules that will guide, the
design and the project team to a common goal. It is this first step
that will insure the created world will be seamless. If you are creating
a game or attraction based on, let's say "pirates", you'll
need to play your audiences expectation like a violin. You want to pamper
them by fulfilling every possible expectation of what it must be like
to be a pirate. Every texture you use, every sound you play, every turn
in the road should reinforce the concept of "pirates!" If
you successfully establish a strong enough "story" early on
in your design process, you will have little trouble keeping your team
focused. If you break any of the rules, more often than not your team
will argue, "we can't put that in there, that's not at all 'piratey'!"
Most
important of all is once you have created this story, or the rules by
which your imagined universe exists, you do not break them! These rules
can be broad, but if they are broken your visitors will feel cheated.
They will be slapped in the face with the contradiction and never again
allow themselves to be as lost in your world as they may have been at
the onset.
"Where
Am I?"
In
the telling of your "story," the next most important task
is to answer your audiences first question.... "Where am I?"
No matter how well designed your environments are, if your audience
can not answer this question in the first 15 seconds, you are already
lost. This can be as simple as "Oh, I am in a dark warehouse."
or "Ah, I am in the hold of a ship." Wherever it is, your
first job is to present your audience with the opportunity to answer
this question for themselves.
Your
next question to answer is "What is my relationship to this place?"
No matter how gorgeous your medieval castle, or abandoned space station
might be, if they can't figure out what their role is in this place,
you have missed out on a marvelous opportunity to pull your audience
deeper into your world. This need not be done with lengthy CD liner
notes or costly Intro AVIs. Clues can be left throughout your environment.
Although you may not know who you are, you should be able to begin to
have a notion based on your initial location. Valve's Half Life
does an award winning job of playing with the player's desire for self
identity, but only lets them come to a conclusion through their experience
of the physical space and random encounters with peripheral game characters.
Self
discovery can be even more enjoyable than having the story spelled out
for you in the opening credits. There are lots of ways designers can
place story elements throughout their environments to lead their audience
to conclusions designed into the games plot.
Storytelling
Through Cause and Effect
One
of the most successful methods for pulling your audience into your story
environment is through the use of "cause and effect" vignettes.
These are staged areas that lead the game player to come to their own
conclusions about a previous event or to suggest a potential danger
just up ahead. Some examples of "cause and effect" elements
include, doors that have been broken open, traces of a recent explosion,
a crashed vehicle, a piano dropped from a great height, charred remains
of a fire... etc. These "cause and effect" bits of storytelling
can help the game player better understand where they are and what they
might expect to experience further on. Putting in an element just because
it is "cool" misses a vital opportunity to use that element
to help further your story along.
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Half
Life is
an excellent example of cause and effect elements triggered by
actions of the game player.
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"Cause
and effect" elements can also depict the passage of time. A game
character may return to a place that they had become familiar with earlier
in the game, only to find it completely altered. This may be due to
a cataclysmic event, or the disappearance of elements remembered from
a previous visit. "Cause and effect" elements could also be
triggered directly by the actions of the game player. The best examples
are found in games like Half Life and Duke Nukem 3D. In
the case of Duke Nukem, the game player reaks havoc on his environment,
blasting toilets, setting fire to palm trees, and making Swiss cheese
of many architectural elements. After a lengthy Deathmatch, there is
not doubt as to what has transpired in Duke's futuristic Los Angeles.
Another
example of "cause and effect" is the use of what I call "Following
Saknussemm." Derived from the story Journey to the Center of
the Earth by Jules Verne. In Verne's story the main characters follow
a trail of symbols scratched into subterranean walls by their adventuring
predecessor, a sixteenth century Icelandic scientist, Arne Saknussemm.
In this way, the game player is pulled through the story by following
"bread crumbs" left behind by a fictitious proceeding game
character. Whether you create notes scattered throughout your environments,
or have the game player follow the destructive path of some dangerous
creature, "cause and effect" elements will only heighten the
drama of the story you are trying to tell!
The
Power of Designing the Familiar
Another
powerful trick is to use the familiar in your designs. If your goal
is to create an environment that is totally alien, it pays to periodically
give your audience something familiar to anchor them themselves to.
All too often, game designers will create a level built entirely of
pulsating walls of intestine like material. Although the concept of
such a place may sound "cool," it does more to alienate the
game player than draw them in. If you can periodically give them some
reference point... such as, "Oh, I am in a spaceship" or "Hey,
this must be the engine room" you will be doing them a great favor. Even something like "Wow! These look like alien toilets!?!"
will bring your audience back to relating to the environment, and even
lend a little humor.