Task 1 Understanding Storytelling - Game Designer Article

Forms of Storytelling

Cave Painting: 

Cave painting could be the earliest form of storytelling that we know. By using drawing caveman told stories about hunting. This was before any language no matter if it was written or spoken. 
As mentioned, the majority were about hunting and they may be declared as Hunting Magic, meant to increase the number of animals. Other interpretation of the Cave paintings explain how a shaman would retreat into the darkness of the caves, enter into a trance state, and then paint images of their visions, perhaps with some notion of drawing power out of the cave walls themselves.

Fable:

Fables are succinct fictional stories in prose or verse, they usually feature animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature that are given human qualities (Such as the ability to speak human language). The use of fables usually leads to a particular moral lesson.


A game example that relates to Fables is Dante's Inferno, it is based on The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, the game includes a lot of references, the levels are perfect and characters are spot on. But the overall plot and Dante itself do not really match. 
Although there are some flaws the game is a good representation and a good example to have as a reference for the future.

Myth: 

Myths are traditional stories, the events are ostensibly historical but often supernatural. They specially focus on the early history of people or the explanation of a natural or social phenomenon. 
The mythology that we know is the study of those Myths, an example could be Greek Mythology:

Persephone and Hades

Orpheus and Eurydice

Theseus and the Minotaur

A specific book about Myths and Mythology itself is The Odyssey.

Good of War involves a lot of myths and to be fair, they are not really close but not to far. How the game represents certain characters is way off the myths but some others are pretty well done and it gives a good understanding. 

Game Genres 


These are the most known and main Genres: 

Action
Action games can be described as games that emphasize physical challenges that require eye-hand coordination and motor skill to overcome. 

They will center around the player, who will have most of the control over the action. There are many Sub-genres in within Action Genre:

Platform Games

Features two/three-dimensional graphics where the player controls a character jumping or climbing between solid platforms at different positions on the screen.

Shooter Games

Often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many sub-genres that have the commonality of focusing on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon.

Fighting Games and Beat 'em ups 

Fighting:
A gamer battles against another character controlled by another gamer or the game's artificial intelligence (AI). Fighting games often feature special moves that are triggered through rapid sequences of button presses or associated mouse or joystick movements.

Beat 'em up (Brawler):
Features hand-to-hand combat between the protagonist and an improbably large number of opponents.

Stealth Games

Tasks the player with using stealth to avoid or overcome antagonists. Games in the genre typically allow the player to remain undetected by hiding, using disguises or avoiding noise. 
Stealth mechanics can be used in certain games but those games may not be focused on stealth, this can lead to confusion when categorizing a game.

Survival Games

Generally start the player with minimal resources in a hostile, open-world environment, and require them to collect resources, craft tools, weapons, and shelter, and survive as long as possible. 

Adventure

They normally require the player to solve various puzzles by interacting with people or the environment, most often in a non-confrontational way. It is considered a "purist" genre and tends to exclude anything which includes action elements beyond a mini game. 

There are some Sub-genres in within Adventure Games: 

Text Adventures

Allowed the player to use a keyboard to enter commands such as "get rope" or "go west" while the computer describes what is happening. A great deal of programming went into parsing the player's text input.

Graphic Adventures

Adventure games began to supplement and later on replace textual descriptions with visuals (for example, a picture of the current location). Early graphic adventure games used text-parsers to input commands. Use of mice led to the "point-and-click" genre which is categorized inside graphic adventures. The player can click on an icon and then use instead of writing a command. 

Visual Novels

Is a game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art. As the name might suggest, they resemble mixed-media novels or tableau vivant stage plays. Many visual novels track statistics that the player must build in order to advance the plot, and permit a variety of endings, allowing more dynamic reactions to the player's actions than a typical linear adventure plot. 

Action-Adventure 

Combine elements of their two component genres, typically featuring long-term obstacles that must be overcome using a tool or item as leverage (which is collected earlier), as well as many smaller obstacles almost constantly in the way, that require elements of action games to overcome. Action-adventure games tend to focus on exploration and usually involve item gathering, simple puzzle solving, and combat. "Action-adventure" has become a label which is sometimes attached to games which do not fit neatly into another well known genre.

Survival Horror and Metroidvania are sub-genres of Action-Adventure games. 


Role-Playing 

A role-playing game (RPG) is a genre of video game where the gamer controls a fictional character (or characters) that undertakes a quest in an imaginary world. Defining RPGs is very challenging due to the range of hybrid genres that have RPG elements. As mentioned, a wide range of hybrid genres coexist together: 

Action RPG 

Incorporates elements from action games or action-adventure games. 

MMORPG 

Feature the usual RPG objectives of completing quests and strengthening one's player character, but involve up to hundreds of players interacting with each other on the same persistent world in real-time.

Roguelike 

Is a two-dimensional dungeon crawl with a high degree of randomness and an emphasis on statistical character development. 

Tactical RPG

Refers to games which incorporate gameplay from strategy games as an alternative to traditional RPG systems.

Sandbox RPG 

Allow the player a large amount of freedom and usually contain a somewhat more open free-roaming. 

Strategy 

Focus on gameplay requiring careful and skillful thinking and planning in order to achieve victory and the action scales from world domination to squad-based tactics. Strategy video games generally take one of four archetypal forms, depending on whether the game is turn-based or real-time and whether the game's focus is upon strategy or tactics. Some sub-genres of Strategy: 

4X Game 

Refers to a genre of strategy video game with four primary goals: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. A 4X game can be turn-based or real-time. 

Artillery Game

The generic name for early two or three-player (usually turn-based) computer games involving tanks fighting each other in combat or similar derivative games.

RTS 

Usually applied only to certain computer strategy games, (however, this genre is probably the most well known of strategy games and is what most websites mean when they say "strategy games") indicates that the action in the game is continuous, and players will have to make their decisions and actions within the backdrop of a constantly changing game state. 

RTT

A subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics. 

Sports/Racing 

Sports are video games that simulate sports. This opposing team(s) can be controlled by other real life people or artificial intelligence.

Racing 

One competes against time or opponent using some means of transportation. Most popular subgenre is racing simulators.

Approaches to Storytelling 

Approaches Location: How the story is developed in a place that matches the game. Design the story for existing behaviors.

Layer the experience:
For persistent stories, requiring someone to go to a particular location is immediately going to reduce the number of people taking part. Firstly, the location may not be convenient and secondly most people can’t be bothered to try something new. The key, therefore, if it’s at all possible, is to make the story location-aware rather than location-dependent. This means allowing anyone to access the story online (from the comfort and security of their home or office) and using real-world locations as added-value.
Conditions:
Conditions could refer to the overall conditions of the story, the one that characters are experiencing or the ones that the players experience due to the game itself. Action: The actions that the player chooses may lead to changes in the story but not the end of it. Actions that player chooses may lead to different endings. Actions can be shown like this, it can also be seen in the actions of the writer and how they can affect the outcome story and ending. Symbolism:
Symbolism can be used to tell the story, this will be the substitute to words and normal storytelling. They can be put together and create a story that is developed normally but leads to certain use of symbolism. 
Three-act structure (Beginning, Middle, End):

Beginning: Mainly used for exposition, it will establish main characters and how their relationships with the world they live in. It also will add some back story and will probably shows confrontations between antagonist and protagonist.

Middle: Typically depicts the protagonist's attempt to resolve the problem initiated by the first turning point, only to find him- or herself in ever worsening situations. Part of the reason protagonists seem unable to resolve their problems is because they do not yet have the skills to deal with the forces of antagonism that confront them.

End: This is when the resolution of the story and the subplots of the story.

Hero’s journey (12 steps):

The Hero's Journey Outline The Hero’s Journey is a pattern of narrative. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization. Stages:  Its stages are: 1. THE ORDINARY WORLD.  The hero, uneasy, uncomfortable or unaware, is introduced sympathetically so the audience can identify with the situation or dilemma.  The hero is shown against a background of environment, heredity, and personal history.  Some kind of polarity in the hero’s life is pulling in different directions and causing stress. 2. THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.  Something shakes up the situation, either from external pressures or from something rising up from deep within, so the hero must face the beginnings of change.  3. REFUSAL OF THE CALL.  The hero feels the fear of the unknown and tries to turn away from the adventure, however briefly.  Alternately, another character may express the uncertainty and danger ahead. 4. MEETING WITH THE MENTOR.  The hero comes across a seasoned traveler of the worlds who gives him or her training, equipment, or advice that will help on the journey.  Or the hero reaches within to a source of courage and wisdom. 5. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.  At the end of Act One, the hero commits to leaving the Ordinary World and entering a new region or condition with unfamiliar rules and values.  6. TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES.  The hero is tested and sorts out allegiances in the Special World. 7. APPROACH.  The hero and newfound allies prepare for the major challenge in the Special world. 8. THE ORDEAL.  Near the middle of the story, the hero enters a central space in the Special World and confronts death or faces his or her greatest fear.  Out of the moment of death comes a new life.  9. THE REWARD.  The hero takes possession of the treasure won by facing death.  There may be celebration, but there is also danger of losing the treasure again. 10.THE ROAD BACK.  About three-fourths of the way through the story, the hero is driven to complete the adventure, leaving the Special World to be sure the treasure is brought home.  Often a chase scene signals the urgency and danger of the mission. 11.THE RESURRECTION.  At the climax, the hero is severely tested once more on the threshold of home.  He or she is purified by a last sacrifice, another moment of death and rebirth, but on a higher and more complete level.  By the hero’s action, the polarities that were in conflict at the beginning are finally resolved. 12.RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR.  The hero returns home or continues the journey, bearing some element of the treasure that has the power to transform the world as the hero has been transformed.

Episodic: Episodic is when the story takes part through episodes. Multiple episodes are usually grouped together into a series through a unifying story arc. Episodes may not always contain the same characters, but each episode draws from a broader group of characters, or cast, all of whom exist in the same story world.

Representation within Video-games

Emotions within Video-Games:

Emotions can be split up in Game, Narrative, Artifact and Ecological.

Game emotions and narrative emotions are pretty self-explanatory: game emotions mainly relate to how you perform in the challenge that the game poses and narrative emotions relate to characters, story and setting and are very similar, if not the same, to the types of emotion you can experience in other forms of media such as movies or books.

Artifact emotions relate to responses triggered by how a certain game is made - they can be appreciation or frustration towards an art style, a repetitive sound, an elegant or cluttered interface and so on. They aren’t triggered by what’s happening in the game world, but by the actual work of art that the game is and how it represents its content. These usually are emotions of evaluation targeted towards the creators of the artifact.

Ecological emotions are related to the responses we get from game elements as if we were interacting with them in the real world. While there is a risk of confusing them with narrative emotions, the difference is that ecological emotions refer to how a game character could create feelings of attraction towards her because of how she looks, as if she was real, while the narrative emotions towards her are more likely to be targeted to how her character was written, what she does, how she interacts with her medium and so on. Another example is feeling genuine fear emotions because of a monster in a game, even though there is no logical reason to be afraid of it - even to the extent that it can’t even affect your game character, this emotion might still be triggered. A third example would be how we tend to sometimes flinch when someone in the game gets hit, it doesn’t matter if it is our avatar or not.

While game emotions are specific to games, my opinion is that the other 3 types of emotions can be found in other media as well, narrative ones being evidently found in movies and books, artifact emotions can be found in mostly anything and ecological emotions primarily in movies and maybe also in very descriptive books.

One thing of note is that the same stimuli can generate more type of emotions depending on how we perceive it: we can get artifact emotions from focusing on how that stimuli was created; ecological emotions because of what the stimuli represents and how it would make us feel if it was in the real surrounding world; narrative emotions if we can have any kind of a story hint from it, which is very easy, we have a natural recognised tendency to see stories even in places where there is no intent for it; game emotions if our actions had an influence in creating the stimuli and it affects our status, performance or progress.

Bloodborne:

Game events can trigger game emotions for an observer player.

Gameplay can trigger game emotions for an actor player.

Narrative situations can trigger narrative emotions for the observer player.

Roleplay can trigger narrative emotions for the actor player.

A sensory environment can trigger ecological emotions for an observer player.

Proprioception - that’s a mouthful - can trigger ecological emotions for the actor player.

Design can trigger artifact emotions in an observer player.

Artistry can trigger artifact emotions in an actor player. 

Emotional Story 

Interactivity Story 

"Interactive stories" are conventional stories with some small interactive elements added. They have a defined storyline through which the user progresses, ultimately reaching a single predefined endstate. Some games have different endstates that change depending the interactions and choices.

One of the best games that implies Interactive Stories is The Walking Dead, this just shows how a game has to be done when talking about Interactive Stories 

Another good examples could be Fable or The Witcher, you choose what to say and do and it gives freedom, this is a good example of choices and what will happen depending on them.

Another different type of Interactive Story is Dante’s Inferno, being good or bad changes the path that you follow, this only happens with abilities. Killing or exorcising an enemy does give you different EXP, this leads to different branches of abilities and different abilities in general.

Writing Strategies 

This are tools that the write use to make the work easier.

Some writing strategies could be: 

Pre-writing:
Prewriting usually begins with motivation and audience awareness: what is the student or writer trying to communicate, why is it important to communicate it well and who is the audience for this communication. 
Rewriting is the first stage of the writing process, one important task in prewriting is choosing a topic and then narrowing it to a length that can be covered in the space allowed. 

Brainstorms: 
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members.

Research:
Research is one of the main strategies, it mainly consists in the gathering of information about certain topic, this will help to the overall story and following strategies such as brainstorms.  

Storyboard: 
A sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a film or television production.
When writing a video-game, storyboards can be really helpful. The sequence of drawings can lead to an important cut-scene for example. This will help while developing the story around that arc.