design of the times // damion schubert
The Many ForMs oF
GaMe narraTive
Using story as a Design tool
Unlike wha T video GaMe
detractors might tell you, story and
narrative are a huge part of the art
and science of building interactive
entertainment. Nearly all games
have some level of storytelling in
them. What is more fascinating
to me as a designer is how wildly
different the usage of it can be from
genre to genre, and even within that
genre from game to game.
This is, of course, quite different
from most other media—most
fiction, be it murder mysteries,
cop shows, blockbuster movies, or
even Saturday morning cartoons,
are deeply and intuitively narrative
driven (whether it’s of high quality
is another story). Not so with
video games. Nearly every game
leverages narrative in a way, to a
different degree, to different results.
Some games (such as those
from Bio Ware, my studio) make
story central, whereas others use it
as more of a backdrop. Most triple-A
titles opt for a middle path—having
a simple (but sometimes powerful)
story that creates a sense of place
and purpose. These designs never
forget that gameplay is king, and
story should only be pushed far
enough to support those ends.
Story is perhaps the most
flexible tool in the designer’s
toolbox, and as such, use of story
in games can take wildly divergent
approaches. This is one of the
reasons that making rules about
narrative in games can be so
difficult—the approach and focus
given to story is going to wildly
adjust how the designer needs to
approach it. Is the story a backdrop
to the action, or is it core to the
player’s activity? Can the player
adjust the flow of the story, or is he
merely along for the ride? Does your
design require that the player pay
attention to the story, or is story
just there for color? All these things
are central to how the story, and the
player’s interactions with the story,
must be constructed.
narra Tive as Backdrop
» Most games have at least the
minimum level of story, which is
the narrative backdrop. For some
games, especially multiplayer
games, this might be all the story
that a player encounters. The depth
of these backdrops varies from
game to game, and often only serve
to give the game some grounding.
Board games like Dominion
and Settlers of Catan both have
backstories in the rules that are
only a couple of paragraphs long—
these are meant to ground the
player experience, and players will
rarely give them a second thought.
Backdrops can be much deeper
and more involved, though. The
MMO Shadowbane had a backstory
of astonishing depth. Reams and
reams of lore, covering every
available aspect of the fantasy world
were on the web site for players to
discover. Little of it was to be found
in-game, other than the handful
of players who used this lore to
roleplay—most players appreciated
the depth, but were more interested
in the game’s siege mechanics.
Using a backstory-centric approach
to narrative is common in MMOs, as
most MMOs are not well suited to
presenting a sense of change and
history, especially in a world with a
few thousand protagonists all trying
to change it.
narra Tive as plo T
propellan T
» Most games described as having
great stories (such as StarcraFt,
halF-liFe, and uncharted 2) go
beyond a backdrop and instead,
provide a narrative for which the
player is expected to play the role
of the protagonist. These stories
provide a framework for the missions
of the game and an explanation for
why the player is doing what he’s
doing, why he’s visiting the locales
he’s visiting, and an explanation for
why things are getting progressively
harder and more urgent.
In this regard, stories also
provide continual rewards for
the player. Completing a map
in PSychonautS or uncharted 2
gives the player a cutscene that
progresses the narrative, but with
charming characters and witty
dialogue that makes the player
want to progress to the next
cutscene and get the next narrative
Scooby Snack. Stories done in this
manner with this goal can have
well fleshed out characters who
experience growth, use clever
banter, and provide a sense of
mystery and the occasional twist.
Or the narrative can be whittled
down to nothing but the reward,
as it is in rock band: you’ve been
rocking the Casbah, so now you get
a private jet.
The narrative as a propellant
concept is not just for the triple-A
games. diner daSh similarly does
this, and Puzzle QueSt’s narrative
and RPG is a core reason why that
game differentiated itself from other
match- 3 puzzlers. Story is also a
key design focus of the Facebook
game Frontierville, and one of the
reasons the game separated itself
from the pack. Expect story to hit
Facebook game design in a big way
over the next year.
narra Tive To BUild
eMo Tional connec Tion
» baldur’S Gate was released more
than a decade ago, so you can forgive
most players if they forget the
finer details of the story. However,
few players who played baldur’S
Gate would soon forget Minsc and
his space hamster, Boo. In not just
games but TV and movies as well, the
characters navigating the narrative
are at least as important, if not more
important than the twists and turns
of the story itself.
game developer | January 2011 52
