Plot Development (Part Seven)

INDUCING REALITY The Holy Grail of Storytelling

by Ken "frobber" Ramsley

Part 7

CAN A GREAT STORY BE TOLD IN A GAME?

The important thing is never to stop questioning.

Albert Einstein

YES AND NO

This will be the last chapter in this series. I had thought about writing more after this, but the short answer to my big question is both yes and no -- so much so that I don't want to dance around it for more than one chapter. Here I will give you my thoughts, then turn it over to a thread I started a few months ago which makes a lot of points better than I can here.

IN THE BEGINNING

There was a time when games did not tell us stories... or at least not in the way that I have been talking about in this series. Of course there are certain story elements in Pac Man and even Pong. As players of those games, we tried to stay alive and build up points. We identified the adversary -- the ghosts, or the other Pong player, or even the bouncy wall in Pong single-player mode -- but these early games were more about prolonging the experience -- staying alive, or piling up points. And that is not much like a complete story at all.

Simulating real life has gotten us a little closer. SimCity allows us to build a place and see how it might work. SimCopter lets us play out emergencies there. And "The Sims" lets us show up and interact with other real people inside this imagined place. But simulated realism in and of itself is not a story -- only potentially a setting for a story -- because it does not exist to prove a premise or fight for a goal. In fact the whole point of The Sims is even less than that of Pac Man -- to hang around, but not do anything unless you want.

Games like Quake and Unreal have goals, but the "characters" are are a bunch of morons with guns and otherwise no life. Why are we here? Why do we have to fight? Indeed there are antagonists -- people-like 3D graphical "AI" that shoot back at us, and sometimes a big bad guy "boss" who rarely has a reason for being so big and so bad. And that's about it.

Zelda and the worlds of Final Fantasy are magical places. But the conflict is stilted and D&D-like. Jet Force Gemini is a challenge of will against a maze-like opposition. Mario is a fun-loving puppet. And in this way we've had more and better games come our way no doubt. But I did not have much hope for storytelling in games until I started playing Thief.

WHERE WE STAND TODAY

System Shock, Deus Ex, and Thief are probably the closest we have right now to games which are built to be told as much as played. The main characters in these three games all have a problem that they want to solve, and there is something personal about it. The settings are no longer just contrived backdrops for the action. The places themselves speak about the nature of the world they face -- whether it's confined to a creaking space ship, a crumbling set of futuristic cities, or a pseudo-medieval world of magic. And the main characters here are more normal in their abilities. But even these games do not tell us a great story, because the point of all stories in games to date has been to improve the gameplay.

As long as the main point of games is gameplay we will continue to face formidable barriers to storytelling as a principal element of the experience. A story has a fairly fixed structure and path to be followed, whereas a game tends to be open-ended with multiple pathways. When a game gets structured as a story it can feel excessively linear with too few options for the player -- but opened up for gameplay the game can lose its cohesive storyline. Games can be played any way the player chooses, and this means that each player has a unique experience which may be nothing like what was planned by the level mapper. How can I be sure to have a player follow the storyline without over-constraining gameplay? It isn't easy, and the balance has not yet been fully struck in any game that I have played.

But this is not to say that it can't be done or hasn't been done to some lesser extent. Perhaps if we think about this more, and work out some guidelines, then maybe we can do it better and more often.

Here are some ways that games might still play out like games, but do a better job at telling us a story...

SUGGESTIONS FOR HOW TO IMPROVE STORY TELLING IN GAMES

1. Instead of telling one linear story, build several multi-threaded storylines that interact. As the player moves through the game, some story will be told no matter what. As the player interacts with more of these threads the overall experience of the story will be deepened.

2. Realize how a game is still a game, and that it still has to be a game even after a story has been built into it. Just as games have gotten better when we added story elements, I believe that an intensely story-oriented experience will still need to retain strong gaming elements in order to work interactively.

3. Give names to everyone in the place and create a backstory for them. These people (and even the aliens) may not ever get to tell their own stories in detail, but as a mapper, you may begin to see them as three-dimensional characters and as a result have them behave accordingly when they do show up.

4. Give everyone in the story a good reason for being there. Maybe in the past it was easier that characters were just slaves or soldiers without a choice, but it might be better if they could somehow be in it for themselves, like pirates hoping for their share of the booty.

5. Create obstacles that are consistent with the characters. No more exploding squirrels. No more senseless lava pits. Have the antagonists resist and fight based on who they are and what they think. Avoid building silly traps and other random events intended merely to slow the player down.

6. Give the role-playing main character a rounded life with a richly understood background. Let him have a girlfriend, a flat, money problems, and a family history. Don't just pluck him off the street or from some asteroid mining colony with no memory of who he is or how he got here.

7. Make everything that can happen tie into the story. Perhaps the ship is falling apart because the antagonist is a cheap bastard -- not because the level maker just thought it would be cool. Reeeeaaallly cool elements fit in and are not just plopped at our feet.

8. Let the player find out about his role-playing character as the game progresses, and have the character grow through these discoveries. Don't just automatically "level-up" the character after completing each level.

9. Let the main character take a fall that creates a permanent disability -- Medical help and potions are absurd unless there are at least a few things that can't be cured.

10. AI must become much more intelligent. I know this is the hardest part in building games. But nothing about the story can hold much water if the player is the only one in the game making reasonable decisions (perhaps multiplayer games solve this -- or perhaps make matters worse.). AI should be able to interact, not just react. Otherwise they are merely pop-up opposition.

11. Just as in a movie or a book, the game player should understand the premise early, learn about the main characters in the first act, see increasing conflict and some initial evidence for the premise in the second act, and confront the climactic conclusion and prove the premise only in the end -- just like a real story.

With this I conclude my series, although I do not end the quest to answer my question. So perhaps I will say that when the day comes that a great story is finally told inside a gaming type interactive environment, we will all know that it has happened.

Cheers!

A LOG FROM THE EIDOS THIEF FORUM

frobber

Junior Member

Posts: 10

From:Massachusetts, USA

Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-05-2000 11:03 AM

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Can a great story be told in a game?

That is the question I'm asking myself right now. But I am not sure if this is possible -- or even the main point of gaming right now.

I do see how people are hard wired to experience stories -- and I also see how the story elements of a game are (or can be) very important to the gaming experience for continuity. But I have yet to find a "game" which primarily exists to tell a story -- some are getting closer to this, though (especially Thief).

So to ask my question more precisely...

Can a great story be told as the primary objective of the "gaming" experience, rather than just as a mere sub-text to give the experience some continuity?

I'd like to hear what you have to say because now is the time for this discussion... considering how technology is placing enough tools in our hands to go beyond traditional gaming.

frobber

Peter Smith

Member

Posts: 525

From:San Diego, CA and Los Alamos, NM

Registered: Feb 2000

posted 11-05-2000 11:17 AM

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Hi, frobber.

I think a great story is highly desirable, but I think that there must be other elements in order to call it a game. Otherwise, it is an interactive book, which is a new art form being explored on the net. I think adding the 3-D and adventure elements would make the book even more interesting. It is definitely an idea worth pursuing.

The mission Trail of Blood comes to mind as a possible model. There is a little more story and a little less game to that one, but the element of finding your way through a maze, solving a puzzle, and avoiding AI are still there, so it is still a game. Add a little more story, and you might have it. The better the story, the less you might need in the way of other elements.

sycodrew_3000

Member

Posts: 40

From:Wyoming MI

Registered: May 2000

posted 11-05-2000 11:33 AM

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Yes, great stories can be told like that, but only in a great game.

Story is the biggest thing I look for in a game. But most games these days only need good graphics to be popular, since 60% of gamers are shallow in that way.That's why thief is my favorite game; it has eye candy and gameplay plus a grade A story.

frobber

Junior Member

Posts: 10

From:Massachusetts, USA

Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-05-2000 11:47 AM

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Originally posted by Peter Smith:

I think a great story is highly desirable, but I think that there must be other elements in order to call it a game. Otherwise, it is an interactive book, which is a new art form being explored on the net. I think adding the 3-D and adventure elements would make the book even more interesting. It is definitely an idea worth pursuing.

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Agreed. A "game" is like a story and often includes story elements, but it is a different beast than being mainly a story in itself.

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Originally posted by Peter Smith:

The mission Trail of Blood comes to mind as a possible model. There is a little more story and a little less game to that one, but the element of finding your way through a maze, solving a puzzle, and avoiding AI are still there, so it is still a game. Add a little more story, and you might have it. The better the story, the less you might need in the way of other elements.

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TOB feels more like a story because of its inherent linearity -- traditional stories are linear like this. We want to know what is at the end and have very little idea of what this might be -- unlike most Thief missions where we usually have at least some idea of where we're going and why.

I wonder where the boundary is between primarily "story" and primarily "game." And at this point I am inclined to think that it is more of a continuum than any fixed wall. I also get a sense that both "game" and "story" may soon be subsets of something bigger (or at least newer) -- like how the first movies started out looking like filmed stage plays before the medium found its own feet.

Thanks for writing.

ndru

Member

Posts: 175

From:ann arbor,mi,usa

Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-05-2000 11:47 AM

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IMHO a great story can be told within a game. It's really a matter of implementation. Most games at the moment seem to tack the story on, but the story should really come first above all else. That doesn't mean gameplay needs to be sacrificed, it just needs to be built around the story. A good example is Thief-TDP/Gold which has a very cohesive storyline, and leaves little unresolved. Unfortunately Thief2 went the other way, adding the story onto the missions and in my opinion, left a lot unresolved and many parts didn't make much sense.

frobber

Junior Member

Posts: 10

From:Massachusetts, USA

Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-05-2000 12:05 PM

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Originally posted by ndru:

IMHO a great story can be told within a game. It's really a matter of implementation. Most games at the moment seem to tack the story on, but the story should really come first above all else. That doesn't mean gameplay needs to be sacrificed, it just needs to be built around the story. A good example is Thief-TDP/Gold which has a very cohesive storyline, and leaves little unresolved. Unfortunately Thief2 went the other way, adding the story onto the missions and in my opinion, left a lot unresolved and many parts didn't make much sense.

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Yes. This sounds right. As games have gotten bigger, story elements were added to bring about continuity. 50 levels of Donkey Kong was just about the limit of the no-story approach.

Developers of Thief (and some other games to be fair) realized at some point that story elements not only helped hold the thing together, but also made for a more overall satisfying experience -- so in this sense, rather than painting on the story after the house is built, it's function has grown to where the story acts like a foundation.

But the experience is still mainly gaming.

ndru

Member

Posts: 175

From:ann arbor,mi,usa

Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-05-2000 01:18 PM

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Also, stories in gaming are just beginning to be implemented (there are exceptions of course). Technology has pretty much kept gaming going for a while now, but I think most gamers are realizing that tech alone isn't cutting it anymore. I think to progress, game design needs the work of writers, as well as coders, designers and artists. As I understand it, game plots are currently created by people with other primary skills.

frobber

Junior Member

Posts: 10

From:Massachusetts, USA

Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-05-2000 01:43 PM

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Originally posted by ndru:

Also, stories in gaming are just beginning to be implemented (there are exceptions of course). Technology has pretty much kept gaming going for a while now, but I think most gamers are realizing that tech alone isn't cutting it anymore. I think to progress, game design needs the work of writers, as well as coders, designers and artists. As I understand it, game plots are currently created by people with other primary skills.

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Does this mean that "games" can not get much better until story writing becomes more central to the design process?

Clearly, if telling a story gets to be much more central, then adding full-time writers to the team (as you point out) makes a lot of sense.

We are all good at something and weaker at others, and even if someone could write, program, level-edit, and do all of the artwork and audio -- nobody has the time to do it all. So specialized "gaming-writers" (for lack of a better term) would make sense.

ndru

Member

Posts: 175

From:ann arbor,mi,usa

Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-05-2000 02:52 PM

Yes, that's something I think would really advance gaming. Movies have screenwriters, why can't games have gamewriters? Of course, close teamwork is necessary to bring all the aspects together. Regardless of their intentions, a level designer will put more effort into level design, the same for artists and musicians simply because it's their specialty. With writers working alongside however, the story will gain importance in the process.

frobber

Junior Member

Posts: 10

From:Massachusetts, USA

Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-05-2000 05:52 PM

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Originally posted by ndru:

Yes, that's something I think would really advance gaming. Movies have screenwriters, why can't games have gamewriters? Of course, close teamwork is necessary to bring all the aspects together. Regardless of their intentions, a level designer will put more effort into level design, the same for artists and musicians simply because it's their specialty. With writers working alongside however, the story will gain importance in the process.

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I like how you put this.

The next thing to wonder, then, is how can this idea of a full-time writer work?

These days the developers usually create some high-concept scenario, break the project down into levels or missions, then hand off these assignments to a bunch of sleep-starved level-editing designers who build the "game" --while programmers repair and expand the engine, and other folks keep adding library items like AI, cut scenes, and texture maps.

Team meetings happen once in a while no doubt where the producer tries to get everybody back in sync -- especially after something can't be built on time. But I sense that for the most part there is no script per se like for a movie -- just a loose vision and storyline that evolves within the boundaries of the what is possible as time runs out and the deadline looms.

Of course, movie-making is hardly any orchestrated thing of beauty either. But I do know that the better films happen when at least one person --the writer and especially the director-- establish the big picture from the start and keep it queued up all the time during development.

Given how writers have been doing this big-picture role for several thousand years -- perhaps it does make sense (as you say) to put them in charge of creating the story in a separate (and lead) role -- rather than part-time while doing almost everything else.

Now this brings me back to my main question...

Even if we could begin to see full-time writers working on gaming projects, is it actually possible to tell a great story within an interactive role-playing format? Or does the non-linear nature of gaming itself prevent this medium from ever outgrowing its roots to tell a great story?

I believe that it can be possible -- but I don't quite see how at this point... (if I had the answer, I wouldn't have started this thread )

ndru

Member

Posts: 175

From:ann arbor,mi,usa

Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-05-2000 07:27 PM

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The multiple level nature of games is the key, I believe. The story itself will generally need to be linear and the core elements must be delivered within the game levels. The levels themselves don't need to be linear, they could contain multiple paths or methods to the same end. As long as the primary goal of the levels is to tell the story. The trick is tying the story elements to the level objectives. Each level is essentially a chapter of the story. Also the levels progression in difficulty can be a strong tool in building tension for the climax of the story.

Time Pilot

Member

Posts: 257

From:Austin, TX

Registered: Mar 2000

posted 11-05-2000 07:45 PM

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Interesting topic!

Actually, full-time writers are already being used in game development, at least for some games. Warren Spector had three full-time writers for Deus Ex. One of them, Sheldon Pacotti, has a web page, www.sheldonpacotti.com. To get an idea of how much writing was involved, take a look at the script. I'd like to see more of them in games; it can only be a good thing.

As far as telling great stories as the primary objective of a game, that's being done today also. If you don't know, one of my favorite genres is interactive fiction (text adventures). There is a thriving internet culture of IF authors; people who create new works of IF. One of the new trends in these games is puzzleless IF. In these games, there are no puzzles or obstacles to hinder the player; the story is all. The best game of this type (in my opinion), is Photopia. I highly recommend you check it out. Admittedly, these are written by one person as a hobby, and don't have the graphics or length of commercial games.

frobber

Junior Member

Posts: 10

From:Massachusetts, USA

Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-05-2000 10:13 PM

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Glad to hear that somebody is writing scripts for games! I actually bought Deus Ex a couple of months back before I got so busy in my work -- but it's next on my list.

Regarding chapters and gaming levels...

Sounds like as long as the basic story structure can be preserved in some way, then it doesn't matter what the media is. But many games are so terribly non-linear and jammed full of side-quests, puzzles, and traps --Zelda and Final Fantasy VIII come to mind-- that there's no way they can possibly follow any sort of predetermined intensity curve (which has to be there in some degree if the thing is going to be experienced as a story at all).

As an experiment, my one and only Thief FM specifically dispenses with all of the side-quests and puzzles, and instead seeks to find out if all of this is really needed. Some people seem to like how it keeps rolling along. Others miss the puzzles and traps. So I think it will be a while before most players will buy into an interactive immersion-type gaming experience without at least some of the old gaming cliches.

Buglesoft

Member

Posts: 840

From:Broomfield, CO

Registered: Apr 2000

posted 11-06-2000 06:54 AM

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I must be a contrarian. I don't think a great story can be told in a great game. I hope I am wrong. I have seen some games come through that I consider "great", like Thief, but have yet to find a really good story in any game.

I am not saying that some games have a very solid story line, and keep the player guessing about what comes next. I haven't seen the stories get beyond that. I would love to see the combination, but will gladly settle for great games with solid stories (Thief, Deus Ex, et al).

I think this is a good topic and enjoy reading others thoughts.

frobber

Junior Member

Posts: 10

From:Massachusetts, USA

Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-06-2000 08:32 AM

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Originally posted by Buglesoft:

I must be a contrarian. I don't think a great story can be told in a great game. I hope I am wrong. I have seen some games come through that I consider "great", like Thief, but have yet to find a really good story in any game.

I am not saying that some games have a very solid story line, and keep the player guessing about what comes next. I haven't seen the stories get beyond that. I would love to see the combination, but will gladly settle for great games with solid stories (Thief, Deus Ex, et al).

---

At this point I tend to agree with you. In fact, as I think about this, there really are two parts to my question...

Is story telling possible as the primary aspect of gaming-like interactive medium? -- and if so what needs to be done to make this happen?

Indeed (as you point out), great games are being built these days because they are bringing story telling elements into the fray -- but they are still games and nobody is calling them "stories" yet.

Perhaps "The Sims" is what I am talking about -- but something much stronger, with a dramatic thread and goal. I think we'll recognize it when we finally see it.

ivwildbil

Member

Posts: 361

From:Redwood City, CA

Registered: Aug 2000

posted 11-06-2000 02:20 PM

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I agree that there no GREAT stories being told by games. But can you really expect a GREAT story from a game. I mean what are we talking about here. The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Homer, War and Peace? I think the Thief story is good, it could be improved, but it is pretty good for a video game.

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And Remember Life is Short so Play Hard

frobber

Junior Member

Posts: 10

From:Massachusetts, USA

Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-06-2000 05:06 PM

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Originally posted by ivwildbil:

I agree that there no GREAT stories being told by games. But can you really expect a GREAT story from a game. I mean what are we talking about here. The Hobbit, The Lord of the Ring, Homer, War and Peace? I think the Thief story is good, it could be improved, but it is pretty good for a video game.

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Yes, your point is well-taken. Asking games to be the vehicle for an outstanding story telling experience may be asking way too much. I know how hard I tried to do this in my own Thief FM, and how it was nearly impossible to ensure that anyone would experience it as anything other than a backdrop. So perhaps games are not the way to go if story telling is the main objective -- certainly not "games" as we have them now at least.

But trying to tell a great story using game-like immersion has its appeal -- given how some of the most dramatic moments I've ever felt in a fictional setting have happened in games. But it sounds like what I am after will require a new art form.

And this leads to another question -- will the present-day way of gaming die out ...like Pong and Pac Man... to be replaced by something able to tell great stories? or will the present day model diverge into various separate-yet-well-accepted art forms ...games staying games ...and new types of story telling media arising which borrow heavily from games at first until this new media finds its own legs -- like how movies originally borrowed from the theater?

One thing I do know about artists -- they will use whatever media they can get their hands on. So as soon as it becomes possible to tell a great story in a game-like immersive way, it will begin to happen.

Munin the Raven

Member

Posts: 1727

From:Connecticut, United States

Registered: Oct 1999

posted 11-06-2000 07:07 PM

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Frobber, I also think it's important to bring up the relationship between games and their stories. The future of gaming really does depend on how this is developed.

Interestingly enough, from what I understand, the three chapters of Thief were written before the game was developed (but while the engine was being toyed with and after the initial project idea). Later, the whole concept of being a thief was introduced (the story was originally called "Dark Camelot", then "The Dark Project", and Finally "Thief: The Dark Project"). As Thief II was being developed, however, the designers came up with good mission ideas and then "twisted" them into the story. Compare the two games with this in mind and its glaringly obvious that the first title was much more story-bond (and gripping, in my opinion).

Is it really the story that we're talking about? Or is it the setting/atmosphere? Thief is outstanding because it creates its own fictional world of factions, technology, and magic; anyone could play Thief as their first video game without any previous knowledge of games and feel as if their mind projected it like a book. And this has nothing to do with the actual plot; it's the details, such background sounds, the title screen, the cut scenes and introduction, and the humorous side notes that make the player feel as though they're there. I call this the "immersion factor".

Thief has one of the very best game stories out there. It's linear as a book is, but it lives because of the detail and atmosphere it's presented in.

clayman

Member

Posts: 2546

From:Knoxville, TN

Registered: Jun 1999

posted 11-06-2000 09:15 PM

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frobber -

I have caught up with this topic, reading all the posts this evening. Very thought provoking, and a welcome addition to the discussion mix here on the forum.

I have yet to find a game that has a compelling story. I am an avid and voluminous reader and collector of fiction first editions. I know a good story when I read it. But when I see/hear/experience it via PC ? I am unsure.

I approach a PC game totally different from how I approach a book. For some reason(age/generational maybe) I approach a book with the goal that a great one will immerse me in story and ideas, with a PC game my goal is immersion in activity and deed.

A book happens to me, and a great one rolls over me like a tidal wave. A game is something I control, conquer....and achieve some fantasy-level of "I am King"...for that moment anyway.

I doubt seriously that a game will ever bind me to a story like a good book will. But that just may be the curmudgeon in me talking.

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Clayman

"It's a hell of a thing, killin' a man. You take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have." - William Munny, Unforgiven

ndru

Member

Posts: 175

From:ann arbor,mi,usa

Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-06-2000 09:45 PM

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I guess an important thing to realize is, with books/theatre/movies, the writer/director has control of the story, but with games, the player has the control.

A great game story would have to play up to this aspect... which is something traditional story telling hasn't done, or had a need to so far.

frobber

Junior Member

Posts: 10

From:Massachusetts, USA

Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-07-2000 07:20 AM

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Here are my thoughts on reacting to the previous few postings...

One of the sacred cows of gaming is its non-linearity -- and this is a major barrier to story telling in a game. A great story is like a mighty river that winds through the landscape and delivers the goods in the end. A game is more like a swamp with no current of its own where the player explores until he or she is done. At least that is my experience as very amateur level builder where I preplaced my story elements hoping that the player would find them when paddling here and there.

I believe that setting/atmosphere is the third most important element of a story after premise and character. So certainly attention to detail in this area will allow the gaming experience to feel more like a story -- but it won't turn it into a story in and of itself.

Of course there are ways in which settings can lend depth to characters -- for example, recently-constructed places like Constantine's house or Angelwatch and Soulforge say a whole lot about the power-mad characters who built them. In general, though, settings speak more about the past --or back story-- than about the present day characters. I can walk around the cobbled streets of Boston, but this does not say that I will run into Paul Revere. The "factions, technology, and magic" are probably more important to the story aspects of Thief because of how this speaks somewhat more directly to nature of the characters we will meet.

Certainly, the intro and cut scenes in Thief lend a lot of weight to the story telling experience -- mainly because of how these very traditional and linear aspects are presented as a story. And having these in mind while in the interactive game itself deepens the overall immersion experience.

Yes, the big difference between games and linear stories is control of what happens. A traditional story unfolds as it is delivered to a passive audience. While the gaming experience unfolds as the "audience" actively pursues the action.

In both cases the audience is living for a time through the eyes of the main character(s) -- its just that in one case the character makes his/her own decisions, and in the other, where we make the decisions for him/her. Perhaps the most startling example of this difference is the "Cutty" scene in Break from Cragscleft Prison where suddenly Garrett has a linear conversation with Cutty out of our control -- is this now a game that we are experiencing? or is it now a story?

I agree that Thief 1 was far more coherent and engaging than Thief 2 -- and it is interesting to read about the possible reasons for this. At least in the development offices it seems that there needs to be a story -- even if later it will be played out as a game.