Games Stories

Reading 1

The first reading I read was called "Into the Woods: A Practical Guide to the Hero's Journey" by Bob Bates. This article was all about answering the question of "what practical use is the Hero's Journey to us as story tellers and game writers?". The article mentioned that the hero's journey is important because myths are important. The article talked about how tribes that encouraged people to act for the good of the tribe, rather than for the good of the individual, were the tribes that survived the longest. These tribes encouraged there tribe members to do so through myths, parables and stories but not just any old story. They would tell a parable like the good Samaritan for example which teaches people to look out for someone else. This was effective because it created a role model figure for their behaviour.

The article quoted James Frey who said "When a human encounters some version of a myth, he responds at a very deep level, subconsciously, and he is powerfully drawn to it as by magic. The force of myth is irresistible. Mythic forms and mythic structures are the foundation on which all good stories are built; these forms and structures are the key a good storyteller can use to create powerful fiction." I found this quote very eye opening. I remembered when I was younger and hearing the story about how Jesus turned water into wine. I could really feel that strong level of response Frey talks about. I think for my young brain in particular the myth was irresistible. I can now see the importance of these myths when it comes storytelling in games.

Reading 2

The second reading I read was called "What Every Game Developer Needs to Know about Story". This article talked about how a "story is a universal human experience". The article states that for games "to rise to the level of universal cultural experiences, the way movies have," they have to "figure out the same story problems movies did in the last century." The article also talked about how important the use of conflict is and how it has to be a factor that is "planned from the beginning of the development process." The article mentioned that there is a "good reason for game developers to know about classical story structure" and that is because its simple and it works. The article then talks about the various different stages involved in a three act classical story structure which I found was a very informative read. This gave me a really great insight of a potential way to structure a storyline if I was ever making a game that is easy and effective.

The article also talked about important points surrounding characters in games. The article talks about how people often mistake a character for who he is based on superficial stuff like what a character might eat or wear. The article says although they are important features to, what makes a character who they are depends on the way they react to things withing a game. This could be something like a character deciding to risk their own life to save someone else or alternatively deciding to save there self instead of putting there self at risk. The article says that a character can only be truly defined based on decisions similar to the one mentioned above. I found this informative as I think I could easily get caught up on superficial features and forget how important incorporating these choices actually are when it comes to truly defining who a character is.

Three Items of Interest

I read the article "Games AS art: The Aesthetics of Play" by Celia Pearce. The article talked about how a game can be viewed as an art medium. The article talked about a man called Marcel Duchamp who gave up his art career to become a professional chess player. His art consisted of a "series of studies and paintings" which attempted "to depict the inner processes of the opponents in a chess game". I found it interesting when the article posed the question to me about "Was he really an artist or was he what today would be called a gamer?. This really got me thinking about if there is truly a differentiation between games and art.

I read the article "Playtest Notes on Initiative: Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943" by Byron Collins. The article talked about how small changes made during the development phase of the game Spearpoint completely changed the dynamic of the game and the way it was played. I thought the advice given by Byron was very informative which was that if you are going to make changes to your game, that you should "change only one rule at a time". This will make it easier to understand the effects of the one change you made instead of trying to understand the effects of multiple changes at the same time which will cause confusion. This was great advice to learn in case I ever want to make changes to a game of mine in the future.

I read the article "STORYTELLING IN GAME DESIGN – HOW TO CREATE A GREAT STORY" by Pulse College. This article talked about various different ways to create a great story within a game. I was fascinated by a part of the article that said "Keep cut scenes of the main playing character to a minimum". The article says this is because gamers in recent times want to spend most of their time "interacting with their character and the world around them". I found this informative as I would have thought having more cut scenes would have been a good thing but this piece of advice has changed my thinking on things. I can use this new knowledge in future if I ever am creating a game.

"A Famous Scottish Myth, The Loch Ness Monster"
Created by: Yi Pan
Source: creativecommons
Changes were not made to this image.
License