Computerspil II Storytelling & Multiplayer (08/03/02)

Computerspil II

Storytelling & Multiplayer(08/03/02)

Storytelling is not only linearity

Storytelling is not opposed to interaction

Designer’s story versus player’s story (Rouse)

makes sense?

but all stories are not linear

Two cases of storytelling solutions

- Get a plot! (single player adventure game)

- Get a human! (multiplayer RPG)

Adventure games• Playing for the plot

It is not the same to read about a detective´s work than to play the detective´s role, in a way to be the detective. Most adventure games cast the player in a detective´s role under various guises: the detective of Deadline, the mistery-writer "Shattenjäger" of the Gabriel Knight series, the curious traveller of Myst, the journalist of The 11th Hour... Something has happened (usually a crime, assault, disappearance or any mysterious deed the programmers can think of), and the player must investigate in order to learn what. She must look for a plot behind the apparently meaningless terrible acts in order to reconstruct the story from clues that she finds at the crime scenes and the interviewing of the non-playing characters. The main character/player usually has a motivation: to find a lost girlfriend, to free somebody, to write a book, etc. genre

fiction

characteristics

• Explore the world• Objects• Puzzles• Dialogues

Jonas Heide Smith

antidotes

• Deistic narration• Better Ais (characters + actions)• Multilinearity (beyond myst), more

branching• Narrative decision points at key

moments

Both the film and the game are based on a solid Film Noir background where there is no simple maniqueism of "goodies" and "baddies", and the protagonist detective is usually assaulted by moral doubts about his job and his beliefs. In Blade Runner, first Rick Deckard and in the game Ray McCoy must question their own identities searching for answers, and what starts with a "do I have the right to kill them? They only want to live...", ends up as "am I worse than them? How do I know I´m human?" As any "shoot´em up", the game starts with the assignment of "retiring" escaped replicants, but unlike in these narratively simple games, the player has the choice of hunting them, letting them scape or even helping them. There is no "right" thing to do to win the game, the final decision about what is best is left to the player. Indeed, the player´s decisions affect not only the behaviour of the non-playing characters towards McCoy, but also bring about different endings to the game.

Blade Runner

storytelling success

• Moral implications• Satisfactory narrative closure• Leave questions open: is McCoy a

replicant?• Worthwhile playing more than

once

rpgs

• Ideal interactive storytelling (P&P)• What has happened in computer

RPGs• Multiplayer: Everquest, Ultima

online• New directions? Vampire

Storytelling

Long ago, before movies, TV, radio and books, people used to tell stories. Tales on the hunt, legends about the gods and the great spirits, or gossip about the affairs of others all drew rapt attention. They would tell these stories aloud, as part of an oral tradition of storytelling, but this tradition has been mostly lost. Other forms of storytelling have taken its place. We no longer tell stories, we listen to them, we sit passively and wait to be picked up and carried to the world they describe, to the unique perception of reality they embrace. We have become slaves of our TVs, and passively permit others to describe our lives, our culture and our personal reality through the stories that are constantly being told. However, there is another way. Today the ancient art of storytelling has been rediscovered. A new movement is slowly growing. People are bringing stories home, making the ancient myths and legends a more substantial part of their lives. Storytelling on a personal level, rather than on the big screen or on TV, has become increasingly a part of our culture. That is what this game is all about, not stories that will be told to you, but stories that you will tell yourself."

(Rein-Hagen, 1991: 20)

-Dexterity

-Drive

-Dice to be rolled: 5

-Difficulty: normal=6

-Success (dice over 6 determine degree of sucess)

The Dot System

You use ten-sided dice

You don’t need tables

Character sheets

Using the White Wolf license also meant that our users would have high expectations in terms of story, plot, and dialogue for the game. It’s a role-playing license based heavily around dramatic storytelling, intense political struggles, and personal interaction. Fans of the license would not accept a game that was mere stat-building and gold-collecting.

(Huebner, 2000)

How the game was designed...

Be Immortal… Your unholy showdown begins in medieval Europe and rages on into the modern day, as you track a soulless enemy in an eternal struggle to destroy him.

(Rodriguez, 2000: backcover)

How the game was packaged & marketed

Tips for Storytelling:

1.Have a general vision for your world.2. Decide early on what the rules are going to be for your scenes.3. Have your players develop backgrounds for their characters.4. Develop backgrounds for your NPCs and antagonists.5. Get comfortable with the ST tools in Redemption.6. Populate the hub of your world based on the tone of your chronicle.7. Try to keep in mind what the rest of the world is doing while the players are adventuring.8. Reward the players because they deserve it, not because they need it.9. Be very careful about awarding experience points.10. There are very few “mistakes” in storytelling.