NARRATIVE WRITING

REFERENCE PICTURES

This is the start to my narrative story. My initial idea is an mysterious object follows the player around, if touched it will make the player become ill and potentially kill the player after a certain amount of moves.

MYTHICAL TREE REFERENCES (SECONDARY SOURCE)

My initial idea was to have a mythical style tree be one of the main things behind the narrative. An initial thought was to have this as the main source to the start of the narrative. This would initially allow the mysterious object appear to it maximum point of what the true form and meaning really is.

DUNGY TUNNELS (SECONDARY SOURCES)

For this reference imaging, I thought that I could make this part as the beginning towards trying to escape the object as it tries to latch itself onto the player. This means that the player could run into many dangers which could result in the player to be killed by whatever the danger is, or the object catching up to the player.

ABANDONED ASYLUM HALLWAYS (SECONDARY SOURCE)

Here is the final area to the narrative. It is a very interesting area to cover as to how the player could end up in that particular spot. I decided to make it as an abandoned mental asylum. An idea to how the player could end up in there would be that they could have made their way up a chute and ended in the toiletry area.

MIND MAP – MYTHICAL TREES

Mythical trees is an interesting one to do as when you think of mythical trees containing strong power and history. At the same time, you immediately think old and eary.

Possible objects/contents to add in:- Small chambers- Small creatures- Birds - Dark shadow figures

With these ideas, I could be able to attempt to make a very creepy styled tree that could be able to allow the theme of horror to be able to be emphasised into the game.

MIND MAP – DUNGY TUNNELS

The best thing about doing a dungy tunnel is that I could be able to emphasise the fact that there would be eary instincts and atmospheric changes. This means that I could make it seem more spookier and scarier than it already is.

Possible objects/contents to add in:- Cob webs- Spiders- Dark figures- Satanic rituals

With these ideas, I would be able to make the theme of horror seem to stand out more than it already is. It suggests that the player would feel a dark horrible entity overwhelming the way that the player feels.

MIND MAP – ABANDONED ASYLUM

What comes to mind about an abandoned asylum is an old creepy hospital that had been through multiple changes such healing the wounded soldiers of the wars or a place for medical examinations on unstable human beings.

Possible objects/contents of the place:- Beds- Satanic rituals- Psychiatric ward- Human disposal units- Chambers

This would allow the player to get an emphasis on the way that the player could get a chance to feel the horrors of the unforsaken death that willows the hallways.

DEVELOPMENT DRAWINGS

DETAILED DRAWINGS

FINAL DESIGNS

These are my final designs for the character. I kept them nice and simple in the theme of adventurous and survival. I decided that a female would have been a lot better to do as you don’t see that many females in games now-a-days.

VISUALS

The way that I went forward to create the 6 visuals, I thought that it was best to re-use the images from the comic strip. These are the 4 of the 6 due to the fact that I decided to leave the others as a surprise as you go through the game. I Thought that this would have been better to do as it gave the gamer a chance to know if they are going on the right tracks. At the same time, this allowed the player to read through what they could have picked if they were to go along the wrong path. I decided to go along with the Limbo style game image quality as it keeps alongside the horror aspect. It may be a very low detail image sequence, but I think that it fit the game very well.

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ANIMATION DOCUMENTATION

It was easy to create animations in Photoshop due to the fact that it was mainly based around cells. This meant that you could be able to work on a section one by one that formed the rest of the animation. I didn’t put any special effects into it as I thought that it was not necessary. I used After Effects but, due to the fact of it being too complicated to get my head round it within a short space of time, I stuck to Photoshop. These are the basic steps that I did to complete it. Simple, move the item around and work on layers.

BASIC OF THE GAME

In the start of the game, a player is confronted by a mysterious orb floating at shoulder height. You are given 2 options on what to do, 1 path takes you to a safe way while the other after time will end up killing you. This means that the player starts of with a life or death choice without them knowing and putting forward logical thinking. This is like most games that make the player decide what they would want to do just through one click.

TYPE OF GRAPHICS IN THE GAME

While coming up with ideas on how to make visuals in the game, I thought that I would make it mainly black and white similar to limbo. I thought that this would be more affective to do due to the fact that it would match the storyline and the way that the atmosphere is all set out. This would give me the chance to be able play about with the different styles that I could be able to add in. At the same time, I would be able to interpret mix media such as taking pictures of forests and play about with them in Photoshop. This would mean messing about with the different characteristic styles and playing with the contrast.

LINEAR

Linear is a bit different compared to the others when making a game that allows the play to have control over the entire story. Advantages of this show that the player can see all content of the game and hold all narrative control. However, on the other hand, disadvantages show things such as the player stops to play if they can’t move on if they can’t get over an obstacle which would lead them wanting to quit the game earlier rather than later. This is crucial for a game as it can lose interest for any individual player.

GAME FOR LINEAR – THE WALKING DEAD

A good game for this would be “The Walking Dead”. A full narrative that allows the player to watch outcomes and move around looking for key items that are required to move on. With the full narrative story line, the player is able to chose what they want to say or do. This is good for a game as it allows the player to be able to play and run the story that they wish to do. It is a very well structured game in my opinion as it puts across both logical and perspective views on what the player is limited to.

Strengths

Puts forward emotional connection towards the player at certain points of the storyline.

Allows the player to think about what they need to do next.

They have control over the storyline as a whole.

Weaknesses

Limited to replay ability.

Player can’t access certain points if they go down one route, this could cause the player to want to quit early.

BRANCHING

The main way that the game should linear is by starting off with a simple string of text that will explain the situation. At the end of the text there would be 2 or more options for the play to interact with and move on to the next stage with possible death at the end of the track. This would mean that the player can branch of into any point that they wish to do. If the player were to die however, they would be able to start all over again and try go a different way round it. There is only 1 way round the game, try and pick the most suitable paths that will not danger the player. This is a good thing to have in the game as it doesn’t frustrate the player as they can start all over again if they would wish to do.

GAME FOR BRANCHING - REIGNS

Reigns is a perfect example for branching. The objective of the game is to chose between 2 options for a solution. This would control whether or not the kingdom would survive or not which, determines whether or not the kingdom would crumble and you would lose thrown and crown. However, once your kingdom fails, you get to start a new chapter from where you last were so its not like you would be wasting your time. At the same time, you start off as a new ruler with new solutions and outcomes. The aim of the actual game is to listen to the kingdoms problems and swipe left or right to either help or worsen the situation. This means that the player can operate a kingdom just by running a simulator with two options.

Strengths

Allows the player to have full control of the storyline.

Have access to replay ability.

Weaknesses

Restricted to 2 options at a time

EMERGENT

Emergent partially comes in with Branching. A game would need to be able to have a unique plot and way round the game at an individual level. The player would have all control over what they decide to do in the game. This on the other hand, means that they would tend to be on edge at every decision and move they make as it could be a possible end to the game. At the end of possible moves, they have replay ability in a sense of what they would like to do for next time. This is good for a game as it allows the player to make their own destiny.

GAME FOR EMERGENT – DARK SOULS

An example that mostly covers this section would be Dark Souls. This is perhaps one of the most difficult and annoying games that has ever been made on the market. This game as most people know, you get to play the game any way that you would ever want to. However, once you die, you have to start all over again from the beginning. Imagine that, one last step of the way after beating bosses before completing the game, you just die and have to go through all of it again. It is a very well made game which, allows you to be able to complete a task in a style that you are more than happy to do it in.

Strengths

The game challenges the player to complete the game without dying.

Keeps the player on edge at all times as they play the game.

Weaknesses

Lack of replay ability (Having to start at the beginning after one mistake).

Player can’t access areas without completing tasks (Limited to exploration)

NARRATIVE IDEAS

To start off with ideas, you must think about what type of game you are trying to aim for. The best way to do this is to search online at what popular game genres are trending at the moment in time. This would initially determine what the choice of the game would be and make it unique compared to others on the market. Types of game genres to use would consist through; horror, comedy, RPG, open world and logical solving. These are good choices to use simply because it makes the player be able to stay intrigued in what they do within the game. At the same time, style of gameplay must be taken into consideration as it determines the aesthetic concept towards the game. This would include; cyber punk, steam punk and even black and white concept. These would be good as it can emphasise the style of game and the type of game genre that it would link to.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD GAME?

To determine what makes a good game, you have to go with one or two options. What this means is that you either base it on physics of a game or of whether the story is what makes a game good or not. For example, if a game has terrible graphics and poorly built structures, but has a good story line behind it, could this determine what makes a game better than it looks. Or is it a game that has amazing graphics and physics, but has a terrible story line behind it, does that make a game good or not? Well, it must be met half way with both qualities put together to make the game. What players tend to look for in the gaming industry is a game that has both amazing graphics and physics with a well-structured story line. This is fact as it keeps the player interested in what would happen in the coming story while having an aphetically well visual. At the same time, they wouldn’t feel the need to quit early as they wouldn’t get bored half way through a part of a story.

A good example of a few games put forward would have to be “The Last Of Us” and “Call of Duty: World At War” These two games are very good for their time for when they were published. What are the difference between whether on is good and the other isn’t as good as it seems.

THE LAST OF US

The Last Of Us is a very well built game that has the aesthetic look that most gamers would aim to be able to have for their systems. On the other hand, the story behind it isn’t as good as it seems in my point of view. You get restricted to certain things that you have to do in the game. On the other hand, the game looks and feels quite nice to run depending on what system you use. Finally, a valid point to put across is the fact that the story doesn’t really connect to most gamers. So in all theory, in my opinion the game isn’t a good up to date game to play.

CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR

This game in my opinion is what makes a game good. It covers most of the three key things that make a game good. Despite the fact that the game itself was limited to sources for modelling and texturing etc. It makes up for the story that had been made to go along with the gameplay. The story line had a very well-structured story which connected the player as if they were a part of the war. It fits all types of emotions into the player themselves from emotional to adrenaline, frustration to alert and most of all, keeps the attention of the player at all time. It has a good replay ability system behind them as the player can replay missions in different difficulties. Or play different games modes and styles such as zombies and multiplayer. At the same time as this, they can play competitively against others or play with one another as a team.

CONCLUSION

In my opinion, what makes a game good is the fact that it has plenty of accessibility, well-structured story and allows the play to make their own decision in where they want to go in the game. This is why I think that Call of Duty: World at War is a perfect game to what makes a good game as it covers most aspects to each categories, despite having poor graphics.

Don’t take my word for what makes a game good as everyone has their own opinions on what makes a game good, mine happens to be the better the story, the better the game.

STORY BOARD

The way that I created the storyboard was to put it into a manga book style/comic strip and put a black boarder around it to make the cells stand out more than it already does. I based each one on a different scene from the story which gave off a rough guideline on what the story would tell within the game. The way that the comic strip has been made makes it look a lot better than having a plain white background. I made the comic strip in a black and white method as it follows the guidelines of a similar style towards limbo/a functional horror.

CHARACTERS

Characters are always fun to do. Whether it be from a cartoon aspect or an animated aspect. An idea that I thought I might do would be to base it from a female point of view. At the same time, I thought that I may make the character look as if it were from a medieval style background. This means that I am able to play around with the different styles of character.

NARRATIVE WRITING PLAN

Games genre Basing the game on something seems to be difficult to begin

with as you want to be able to come up with a highly unique game that makes the player interested in playing it longer. This means that you have to think of a genre that allows the player be intrigued in playing it before they play it. My initial genre to pick would be an old horror style game that links in with abandoned asylums, forests and tunnelling systems. I think that this would be good for the game as it gets the players interest on what could hold in the game.

NARRATIVE WRITING PLAN - BEGINNING

To start off the story, the player will have a character that sees a mysterious object in the distance. The player has one of few options:

Approach it and try and grab it.

OR

Walk away from the area.

With these options, the player would be able to choose the fate that would soon follow their destiny. Once the player chooses what direction that they would want to head upon, the player would have to navigate themselves around any obstacles/solutions. In reality, this means that the player would be able to branch off into multiple paths that would determine whether or not that they would be killed or lead to safety. After doing so, they would potentially have options such as hide or try and run away from the mysterious object.

Possible twists

Possible twists that the player would confront could be:

Become ill after getting in contact with the object meaning that they would have to get something to make themselves feel better/cure them.

The object could kill them straight which, would make the player have to start all over again as they would be dead.

Player’s character falls and gets injured which would mean that they would either have to fight from where they are in the condition that they are left in or hide.

NARRATIVE WRITING PLAN – MIDDLE

This section would be that the player would have to try and get through solutions by attempting to choose what they believe is the correct outcome. However, this initially links in with the fact that they could possibly lead to the end of the game as they would possibly end up dying.

A few options would be as followed:

- ”You fall and trip over your own 2 left feet. The mysterious object is getting ever so close…

Get up and run as fast as you can… Try and get as far as you can…

Or

Try and find a hiding spot… Maybe it won’t see us…”

With these options, one option could lead to being killed by the object such as the top one. That would be because the player isn’t fit enough to run away and survive. Whereas the second option of hiding would allow the player to be able get a chance of surviving due to the fact that they would be trying to be able to get out of site at what the object really could be.

Possible twists

The player would be able to grab the object in a safe way to inspect it.

The player may become ill if they don’t handle the object safely.

Could be killed from natural causes or be killed by the object itself.

Gets to find the secret forgotten asylum and tunnelling system.

Be able explore new unseen places such as buildings etc.

NARRATIVE WRITING PLAN - END

At the end, the player may be able to trap the mysterious object and be able to keep it trapped within the location for a good long time. This suggests that the player would be able to get it under control and be able to walk away through the old gungy hallways etc. I like this idea as it allows the player to come up with a safe way of being able to get rid of the object. This could initially mean that they could still be killed if the container isn’t strong enough to hold in the container.

What could it be trapped in?

A small container

Chest

Box

Old medical cupboard

Glass jar

Possible endings

The player could use a strong enough container which, allows the player to walk away.

Player could walk up to the roof of the building after becoming safe and sit there a while.

Player can go to the top of the asylum to find out that the object escaped and pushes them off the top.

Possible deaths within the game

Illnesses

Exhaustion

Murdered

Falling off a building

STORY MAPPING

This seemed to be useful to be used for making the story as I used it as a guideline for the main plot. I was able to put more depth into the main story which, gave me more ideas to play with.

TWINE STORY SCREENSHOTS

TWINE’S CODE

The code for Twine is a lot simpler than expected. The basics of the code are the sections that you want to move onto a new slide are mentioned in “[[ ]]” but, at the same time, you put the key name of the section after a “|” is mentioned within the line. The screenshot shows an easier explanation at what is needed to be done for the code. However, you do not need any bracket etc. for the description text due to the fact that it is outlining the situation.

REFERENCE GAME

Reference point of view

For the game, I may reference it similar to the game, slender. The way that slender works is that you have to pick up pieces of paper before being captured. Despite the game not involving picking up papers, instead it allows the player to try and escape from the situations that they are left in. This means that the player would be lead to try and trap the object in some form of container.

CHARACTER BIO

This character is unique compared to any other known. A mysterious female believed to be in her mid 20's who finds the possible within "impossible". She is known as Cortana Bullens, a well known adventure survivalist who travels the world for a living to tell people her many stories that she had encountered on her journeys. She says "Everyday is a new adventure, everyday is a new chance to make a difference to you life and everyday is a new day to try something new. The only way that you would ever experience life is to go way beyond comfort" Not only is she a traveller, Cortana is also an inspirationalist who spreads words of wisdom to people who are in a time of need, tired or weak. A happy life is a best way to live, but also the impact of adrenaline shows the feeling of what life is really about.

VARIABLES

While making the narrative, I based my coding around one variable. I focused this on an "if" statement due to the fact that it would determine the outcome of what the player would chose for a solution to a problem. This meant that if the player was ill and they had to chose how to cure the illness, then the "if" statement would be use to interoperate what the players health would be. For example, this would work by: "if" the player picks option 1 then the player loses 5 health. "if" player picks option 2 then the player loses 15 health. This would act as a ticking time bomb for the health of what the player would be on.

ACTIVE FORMAT HEADING

Actor

This area lists the speaker of when they are meant to speak there part. The area of this must be as terse as possible. However, it mustn't be abbreviate to the point of it being incomprehensible. A last name would be suffice if one is available to be used. Its best to maintain consistency throughout the document so it makes sense for anyone that uses it. If a character is referred as Jack in problem 1, it is best to not start referring them as Jack Allsager or Mr. Allsager in problem 3. In a way you want to be meticulous in the way that you search for typos within its field. If a name is misspelled, you would try to select all of Jack's lines. It won't filter "Jacck" in the search which, will also include any dialogue attached to that particular typo and won't appear in the filtered search.

Cue

This field you would only include text that would be actually spoken. You keep the parenthetical notations out of this specific field, if its possible. You would tend to save them for the context field. This would be when the actor wants or needs to see raw text, not text accompanied by "(Angrily)" or "(Yelping)"

ACTIVE FORMAT HEADING

Context

In this area, the context must indicate the line to the person reading the dialogue. It is usually best to keep it as terse as possible; chances include, the reader has knowledge to the basic setup (enemies start to invade a specific area) . This means that the situation immediately preceding or prompting that the dialogue is the issue at hand. This is what you must convey within this field. Also including that A.I. responses may also work in this column. As an example, if a game plays a death scream as the "player_dead" A.I. state is invoked, then it may be best to put "player_dead" in this column, which would include a note invited to the actor who would initially be doing the screaming. Or, split it up into two columns: One as the actors and one for the developers who would be integrating the assets into the game. (E.g.; programmers, scripters etc.)

Inflection

This field targets the emotional state towards the actor. The main primary use of this field is to keep the volume level as consistent as possible across the various of cues. Voice actors would usually read over 200 lines within a single session which, cam take a toll on the vocal chords. The best thing to do to get the most out of voice overs, also if you want to do voice actors a favour by making their jobs easier, you are able to group cues together by volume. As an example, you could start with whispers which, would then allowthe actor to deliver all conversational tones. Later they would be able to proceed to any yelling or death screams. Usually it is best to keep an aim on the number of individual inflections. You don't really need to be creative repetition. Repetition is good as its easier to use the Sort function (Data-->Sort) as it would lump all of the "whispered" cues together then t this point with adjectives; "emotional" is good, you wouldn't have to describe the next cue as "sad" or "distort" in order to avoid "normal" cues following with "emotional" cues. From an actors point of view, they would be trying to figure out the developers intentions. Unless the developer were going to be direct the voice acting themselves. It would be best to the voice actor a specific emotional state for the infliction. Any other additional material would be added into the context field.

ACTIVE FORMAT HEADING

Location

This field would indicate where in the game that the dialogue would be taking place. In theory, this would be varying dependant on the type of game that you would be working on. As an example, in a wide open world like GTA, you may indicate a type of environment (indoor parking lot). To a more structured game such as a mission-based shooter, you could indicate it as follow through the jungle, River Stream.

Area

Within this area of field, it is good to enter a number so that it can be added easier, or arranged chronologically without any stress. I tends to make it easier to answer questions if someone were to ask how many voice cues Character X within problem 2. However, it all depends on the type of game that is being created and how rigidly structured the game experience is. It may be the case that the field is superfluous or you could be able to add more fields to the spreadsheet. If the game itself were to be split into multiple areas, levels and sections then additional columns may be necessary.

ACTIVE FORMAT HEADING

Effect

This field would indicate any effects that may be needed to be applied to the voice cue. It would include radio futz, echoes, distortion etc. This would be something that can be filtered nearer to the end of the process that would usually be handed to a sound designer or programmer in order to streamline the process towards the people. This could also be used by QA to ensure that all applicable effects have been added within the game. At the same time it is good for actors, due to the fact that there's a difference between shouting across a room to shouting into a phone. Additional contextualization would help during a recording session.

Filename

When you have finally handled how many voice cues that would be used, you would be working with potentially (dozens, hundreds, thousands), you are able to start planning the name convention. If its been prepared already, there could be one in place already. On the other hand, there may be a person responsible for creating one. The best way to process would be to create a convention that; already sorted in a chronological order, allocates the reader where the cue appears within a game and finally, exit the room for additional cues that would inevitably get recorded in pick-up sessions.

The best advantage towards this process would be that it accounts for the nonlinearity that drives the gameplay. Passive format tends to follow like a movie script that is suited to a linear experience such as a cinematic, however it is just not well-suited to in-game dialogue.

ACTIVE FORMAT HEADING

Conclusion

There isn't much to add except the driving principle behind all of the example: communicate, learn, plan, organize and execute. Recognising all of the moving parts, its more likely going to allow you to create the emotional, story-driven experience that most people strive for. To protect the integrity of the story and characters, it's required to anticipate the myriad complications that are approached during development which, you must be flexible towards the creativeness to the solutions of these issues.

SCRIPT TASK

Actor Cue Context Inflection Location Area Effect File Name

Cortana Bullens "Nature must be connected to this object... Perhaps I must have angered it somehow, but why? I mean no harm to it."

“Environment_anger”

Scared,Spooked

Middle of aforest

1 Distorted MO

A script is very useful to have in a film or game as it allows the actor/s to know when a line would have to be read. At the same time, it would show the actor what type of voice they would have to use depending on the mood. Also the atmosphere would have to be taken into consideration as it would affect the way that the actor would have to react to a line. However, this would allow the actor to understand the environment setting a bit better due to the fact that it would give them an idea to what the developer was trying to get at with the scene.

PASSIVE SCRIPT

Cortana looks a little confused, something doesn’t fellright.

CORTANA: "Nature must be connected to this object... Perhaps I must have angered it somehow, but why? I

mean no harm to it."

CORTANA keeps on walking through the forest spooked.

Passive script is basically a simple form of describing what the actor says alongside what the mood that she is set in. This is the best way for an actor to use first hand scripts from the developer themselves.

NARRATIVE REVIEW

Overall with the finished outcome towards the narrative, I have found it to be a very useful tool to go towards my skills in developing a game concept. I added in a horror aspect that allows the player at a younger age to be able to play the game with a lower rating of creepiness. I have kept towards the limbo style black and white theme as I thought that it would be a much useful concept to base it from. At the same time, I had kept it to a minimal standard of detail that went to each narrative section, which in theory allowed me to be able to keep it simple for the player to be able to go along without getting too overwhelmed in text. I also kept a simple image as it also allowed the player not to get side tracked at what the player would be doing.

All of this put together allows the player to be able to complete the narrative in a small and simple logical way. This deems as a useful skill to add into other games as it gives me the opportunity to play around with all of the types of dialogues the players would be able to see, use and consist in the advances that they would make.

My narrative summed up is aimed to get the player to think about what they would need to do both in game and in reality. It allows the player to chose their decisions wisely of what can and can't be dangerous to them. If I were to do this again, I would consider to put more detail into imagery on what the player would be able to see. At the same time, I would consider to play around with the dialogue towards the characters as it would be able to add in emphasis to what the character would become and do. This would make a narrative stand in more and seem interesting to participate in.