Talking on a film has its reasons. Video games have copied many aspects of the cinema and one of them is the story told, but they haven't done it directly but in an unbalanced way. Most games use story as a background setting, others try to get more profit of it but focus the video game basically on a second term, they introduce the conflict in an initial cinematic, and the story is very linear until the final climax. Most of the God of Wars and Super Mario sagas games, to put an example, do it this way. Many games, even those that give a lot of importance to the story, such as role or adventure games, abuse the scheme of the hero that comes over obstacles, becoming repetitive. In other cases they create tension situations without a real impact on the final story, just to keep you hooked. These are known as cliffhangers. They also tend to forget about the travel's importance as a symbolic element which provokes a change to the character. So, the most general trend in video games is adopting only a part of this kind of structure, so that it fits better on what ends up being primordial which is gameplay and hooking the player through the setting. Anyways, there are exceptions which use all the dimensions of the story. Let's now talk on narrative aspects. This is the group of techniques to make narration, and so to tell the story. It is very related to the structure we've seen of the 3 acts, but we must also add more elements. First, as we have already said, cinema influence is huge, up to the point that we can see films mimicked in many video games sequences. Narrative uses as techniques many of the staging elements we mentioned when we talked on setting, kind of characters, lighting, framing, etc. We must add new elements such as editing and rhythm to these ones. Edition involves deciding the order in which action is distributed. That is, which elements come first and which ones come last. Rhythm is linked to edition, but it is mostly about how action is distributed during time. An accelerated rhythm suggests that many things are happening in a short period of time. There are slower rhythms which mean the opposite. In video games the rhythm and the order traditionally have been given by the division of the game levels. Usually something is explained at the beginning of the level, the level is played and at the end of the level something else is told. Obviously there are genres such as adventure in which the story is more present, getting more inside the playable part. This general trend is still majority and can be observed in the cinematics' role, which are usually set at the beginning and at the end of the levels or missions. Finally we must point out that the order and the rhythm are key to create interest in the player and so be able to take profit of the story's motivational capacities. Until now we have said that a story requires a conflict and a structure, and applying it through narrative techniques derived from staging, order and rhythm. But, where do we get the conflict? How do we create characters and settings? Do we always start from zero? The truth is we only need to see most of the commercial films and video games to see that most of the stories have a lot of common elements. There are many studies inside fields such as literature or communication which have tried to analyze common patterns and archetypes which are repeated in most of the stories. The book "The Hero of the Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell is an important research on the topic. "La Semilla Inmortal", by Jordi Balló and Xavier Pérez, is also highly recommendable, as it analyzes the universal arguments that have transcended in the cinematographic format. These universal arguments are stories with a concrete structure and content which have their origins in legends, myths and classic or modern literature. They have transcended on time especially due to their symbolic and representative character, which has given them value and recognition between the audience and the critics. Posterior authors have taken back these arguments, keeping a part of the structure and replacing their settings with different and more contemporary contexts. Let's briefly talk on three universal plot examples, based on the classification made by Balló and Pérez in "La semilla inmortal". The treasure hunt plot places action on a hero who has to pass different tests in aim to get a treasure. On his way, he has to face different enemies and use the help of some friendly characters. The important thing about this plot is understanding that the searched object or treasure has a dual symbolic value, as it represents both good and bad values, positive and negative, usually linked to greed and power and kindness and wisdom. From Indiana Jones to James Bond, many sagas and stories follow this archetype. The same way as in games such as Tomb Raider or Uncharted. The plot of a Messiah or a benevolent intruder tells the story of a chosen one, previously prophesied, which will free an oppressed or threatened community. In this case the hero will pass through many stages which will include a revelation of his prophesied fate, a training by a mentor, a power and miraculous abilities show and domain, and a rising impact on society. Finally the hero fights adverse forces up to the point of sacrificing himself for his citizen partners and dying, to end up resurrecting as a superior and redemptive being, with a clear symbolic intention. We find this argument in films, video games and stories such as Superman, Matrix, Star Wars or Harry Potter. The destroyer or evil intruder plot shows a calm society in which an evil being irrupts to question the established order, especially at a moral level. This being is a menace to the survival of the inhabitants of the community, which react attacking it to kill it. Finally, the community has to get together to chase the evil being until its origin or lair and finally kill it. This plot has a symbolical level using the evil being as a metaphor which unmasks the double morality and the contradictions prevailing in society. It is present in films, stories and video games such as Alien, Dead Space, Dracula, Terminator, etc. Usually, in video games these plots are used in a fragmented way, picking up only some pieces or as another excuse to setting. In example, we decide to make a zombies or a vampires game, although we don't use a part of the symbolic value of the original stories, such as Dracula's original novel. Giving advice or recommendations on how to write a good story is hard, as there isn't a magic formula. To begin, the story needs to have importance, it needs to tell us something, it must give value to the video game. If we use story only to fill out, it will probably look unnatural and we will probably not use all its expressive capacities. The most key point is probably the conflict definition. It must be properly concreted, specifying the main characters, the antagonists and what each of them wants to or has to do. It is also very recommendable clearly following a three-act structure as this way we can clearly see the characters' and plots' evolution. Regarding these, we must emphasize which role takes each of them, one can represent ambition, another kindness, another avarice, etc. The main character is the one with which the player will mostly identify. That's why his evolution must be clear and coherent with the facts, both at a moral and emotional level. A good way to begin building a story's structure is using an universal plot. But if we use them we should use them properly, understanding each one's symbolic value. Otherwise, the result will probably be a mix of concepts hard to fit together. The same way, we must avoid unnaturally extending the story, or giving an unfinished ending which doesn't close the plots and conflicts previously open properly. This can deceive the player, as he doesn't expect the resolution to be easy and wants it to respond to the expectatives created during the video game. Finally, as it's obvious, story must be thought and targeted to a determined audience, as it also has to fit with the experience we want to provoke and the used setting.
