Welcome! This course is an introduction to the primary concepts of gaming, and an exploration of how these basic concepts affect the way gamers interact with our games. In this course you will understand what defines a “game” and the mechanics and rules behind different types of games. Through four linked assignments you'll learn ways to create and describe a game concept, and specifically what makes a compelling game. This course focuses on the conceptual underpinnings of games, and all assignments can be completed with a pencil and paper – no previous programming knowledge is required.
Story Purpose
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From the course by California Institute of the Arts
Introduction to Game Design
1371 ratings
California Institute of the Arts
1371 ratings
Course 1 of 5 in the Specialization Game Design: Art and Concepts
From the lesson
Week 3: Tell a Story
How does narrative drive a player to start playing your game? Or to finish it? This week we'll look at some of the ways you can make your game more compelling with story, and discuss some of the ways story can drive gameplay forward, or enable a player to make their own way through it.
Meet the Instructors
Fran KrauseFaculty, Character Animation
School of Film/Video
Now that we know what a story is, let's talk about why we need one in our games.
After all, there are a lot of games that seem to have very minimal stories and
they're quite successful, like Tetris.
And a lot of games that have a ton of story and don't do so well.
The weird thing about video games is almost none of it is real.
Mario, is not alive somewhere hanging out between games.
Sonic, isn't alive somewhere running really fast.
It's all made up.
Kind of makes you feel sad.
But we can have strong emotional connections with characters
because of the stories that we have with them.
They've taken us on adventures and we've helped them through some hard times and
some tough levels.
Story is powerful that way.
Let's talk about The Purpose of Story, what it can do for your games, and
how it can make your game better.
[SOUND] Communication.
A story helps you communicate your game to your self and to other people.
At some point someone is going to ask you about your game.
What's it about?
Or late at night after a lot of brainstorming,
you might be asking yourself the same question.
What's my game about?
Usually your story is gonna be the answer to that question.
It's people's introduction to your game.
It's the way to think about your game during production.
It's very, very important that your game can be communicated clearly.
A long time ago, I was trying to develop a show for Cartoon Network and
I was trying to describe it to a Cartoon Network executive named Linda Simensky.
And I couldn't explain it clearly, and she said, friend, you have to realize that at
some point the success of your cartoon is going to rely on whether or
not one five year old can explain it to another five year old at recess.
I'm not saying your audience is a bunch of five year olds, but rather,
when you're talking about your game, a clear explanation is really important.
And it helps open up your game to a wide audience.
[SOUND] Inspiration.
Without a story or some context for your game,
it can be very hard to get it started.
That's because without someplace to start, your possibilities are limitless.
That may sound like a good thing, but it can also give you a directionless feeling.
If you need to design a character or a level and your game could be anywhere
in any time period, there is no place for you to start.
However, if you make a clear decision, maybe your game is about, let's say,
a spy in 1930s Moscow, you have a much easier task ahead of you.
First off, it narrows down your possible decisions tremendously.
You can narrow your focus to a specific time period, a specific location,
in a specific profession.
You won't be distracted by all the other possibilities out there.
You can concentrate on some specific choices.
Ironically, while finding these story elements helps narrow your focus,
it also opens up a ton of material you can potentially use to get ideas for
your project.
You can dig into some old books about your setting,
you can read about spies from that time period, or from that location.
You can look into history books of possible conflicts, and
you can check out historical pictures for inspiring imagery.
All these things can help make your game a richer and more involving experience for
your player, and for yourself.
[SOUND] Emotion.
What do you want your audience to feel while they're playing your game?
Happy? Sad?
Excited?
Confused?
Now we could try to impart these emotions without a story.
We could try to make an audience happy by showing them some happy colors and
playing some happy music.
But it'll be really difficult.
What if they didn't like the colors we like?
What if they didn't like the music we like?
Will be really hard to get a specific emotion from someone
without some kind of story?
Story allows us to show specific things to bring more specific emotions.
In games, we have a huge advantage over other media, we have empathy.
Since a player usually sees themselves as the main character of a game,
if things happen to that character,
the player often feels like these things are happening directly to them.
To see how much we get inside our games,
you only have to watch someone play a car-racing game.
See how much they lean into the corners,
even though it has absolutely no effect on the game whatsoever?
It's because they feel like they're in that little car or on the screen.
If you crash that car, or if you suddenly have the power to fly in that car,
you are putting emotions directly into your players, and
you're connecting them closely to your game.
[SOUND] Surprise.
When someone plays a game they're usually looking for a combination of two elements.
Things that are expected and things that are surprises.
People play Super Mario Brothers partly because they like stomping on mushrooms.
And they know that they can stomp a lot of mushrooms in that game.
However, players are also looking for surprises.
Things that they aren't expecting.
Surprises get your audience thinking and
thinking keeps them more involved in your game.
Imagine your story is about a zombie invasion and
your players have seen a bunch of zombies.
After a few levels,
they may encounter something that at first appears to be a zombie, but is actually
just a clumsy person with valuable information about the following level.
It's a surprise that's set up by the previous story.
With a story, you can set up expectations and create history, and you can break with
that history to create a twist that can give your characters a surprise and
keep them interested in the game.
[SOUND] Motivation.
What's the goal of your game?
The story can help explain the purpose of your game to the player.
And it can help lead them through to the thrilling conclusion.
Of course, a player can just be playing for a maximum score or
something that's really not connected to the story but
it can be much more interesting and inspiring to give them a story.
And a reason to struggle their way through a game.
The character might be trying to rescue someone,
like in Super Mario Brothers or Limbo.
They're two very different games with the same basic plot.
The player might be motivated to find some lost treasure or
ride a horrible injustice.
The added benefit is that all these challenges and
motivations can help inspire you to create a more interesting game.
And they can give you ideas about the path of your game.
And they can inspire more levels and challenges along the way.
Specificity, story and context help to make your game feel specific.
Pick a game like Flappy Bird it's pretty simple.
Now imagine if instead of guiding a little bird between a series of columns you were
guiding a square through a series of rectangles it would be the same basic game
play and would just be as challenging.
But it would also feel kind of generic.
Take a moment to browse through a few online game stores.
There are a lot of games that feel like clones, lots of Tetris, Pong and
Breakout style games.
Often, what makes them feel generic, is their lack of story.
Maybe they're using imagery that doesn't really have any story or
context or maybe is because they're using imagery so generic that it doesn't help
them set their game apart from any of the other games out there.
With a little story and the context to let your players know where they are,
you can make your game less generic feeling.
It can become a specific unique game.
So in conclusion, story is not absolutely necessary to make a game.
There are games that barely have any story.
You can make a game with no story just as you could make a game with no color,
no sound, or no main character or representational imagery at all.
You can make a very simple game.
But each time you decide to leave out an element of gaming you have
less tools in your toolkit and less ways to get your players interested and
excited about your game.
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