Unit 74 - Storytelling : Task 1 - Understanding storytelling

Unit 74 - Task 1 - Understanding Storytelling

Forms of Storytelling

Storytelling is sharing stories that are mainly improvised or ones that have been passed down through generation such as the 'boogeyman', other forms of storytelling are for educational purposes or to implant positive moral values into the younger generation. Storytelling has originated since as far back as we can look, cavemen would mix either dirt or charcoal with spit or animal fat and create pictures on the wall, a theory was to show people their stories about their day or life, the earliest was around 40,000 in Eurasia.

Oral storytelling is the most popular form of storytelling and the most favourable of these are myths, folklore and legends which have been passed down through family's, stories ranging from Bigfoot roaming the woods to Dracula or Robin Hood stealing from the rich and giving to the poor to Atlantis being an underwater kingdom. Some were used to scare children from the dangers and others used to enlighten people.

In video games there are four major sections in which stories are told, these are:

Text Block, This is where a large block of text will appear for the player to read and get to know the game, it was mainly used in early games like Wolfenstein 3D, however though if you are creating a short game with only a handful of levels then text blocks will be able to take over cut scenes or dialogue from characters to keep the game short and simple. Text blocks aren't usually used in the modern era by many game development companies.

Cut scenes, This form is the most popular for bigger, AAA companies as it allows the player to be able to sit back and watch the story unfold before them, the development also has the ability to control how the scene is pictured and the music behind it etc. it is a lot harder to show emotion in a game if you allow the player to have control because they may be jumping up on chairs while a character is dying furthermore, indie development companies may not have the funds or resources to create a good cut scene. If used too much though the player may seem to feel unneeded and lose interest.

Dialogue, The use of dialogue is used in almost every single game you will ever play, it is a very easy way to explain how the story plays and to help you throughout the game, dialogue such as 'go to place A and complete task B' is almost needed in every game now. It makes it so easy for a game to give clues and help without giving away anything.

Environmental Storytelling, widely underused environmental storytelling is by far the most unpopular form of storytelling in the games industry yet used right it can be the most effective. It is a way of using no text blocks, no cut scenes and barely any dialogue to let you explore the place yourself and find out the story. An amazing example of this is the indie developed Slender: The arrival in which you're looking for a friend but once you dive a little further you find notes that explain how a woman loses her mind to the Slender.

Game Genres

Game genres is an easy way to put different games into categories and can easily be identified from there. But within these genres are sub-genres that further categorise a game, for example in a sports category there are 4 sub-genres within it: racing, sports game, competitive and sports based fighting. This then allows two games such as Dota2 and Fifa to be categorised differently despite both being a sports game.

The 8 main genres that games are split up into are:

Action - Titanfall 2, Battlefield 1

Action Adventure - Hitman, Last of Us

Adventure - Batman: The Telltale Series, Metal Gear Solid V

Horror - Slender, Resident Evil

Role Playing - The Witcher, Bloodborne

Simulation - Goat Simulator, I am Bread

Strategy - Rainbow Six Siege, Splintercell

Sports - Mario cart, NBA 2k17

Genres in games are very important when it comes to selling games, the publishing company because depending on where the publishing company are looking at selling their game too could mean more or fewer sales depending on the genre of their game, as well as this, the development team may look at creating a certain type of game depending on what sells. For example, in 2015 the most popular grossing game across all platformer was Call of Duty: Black Ops III. Using this information, a company may look to produce a first person shooter game over a horror game since no horror game made a feature in the top 10 grossing games in 2015.

Approaches to Writing

The approach to writing a story can be one of the most difficult tasks since there are so many different ways to begin. The approach when starting a game can determine how the story ends up, for example, if you use an environment to start a story it could end differently to if you use pictures to get influenced. The most common ways of beginning a story are:

Using a profile, where you find the people behind the story to get ideas and go from there, you can also profile places, buildings or anything that can kickstart a story. An example of this is in most games for example 'The Last of Us' the story focuses on the characters Joel and Ellie more than the place in which they are.

Looking at Trends, this is asking you if there's a bigger picture to look at, not necessarily looking at lifestyle but more crime or economy.

Narrative, this is when you look at the characters to start off with a story, you could also look at different scenes to start off with. Visual Story, A visual story is looking at pictures or illustrations to get a story and in some people's idea, this is the easiest way to begin a good story as it already gives you an idea of what to do a story about.

Symbolism, this is using a sign or symbol to create a story, a great example of this is in the game 'The Witcher 3', in which the medallion is an insignia or the profession of the witcher and each style represents another school a witcher comes from. Each path to getting a story has their own pro's and con's behind in, looking at the character could make the story boring as there's no real storyline only the characters past and present. similarly looking at the terrain can lead you astray from what the characters are like.

Representation Within Video Games

When representing people and cultures in video games there is a very thin line between what is right and what is wrong, but all that is based on the opinion of audiences and what they deem acceptable.

The representation of people in video games is a highly disputed even since as far back as the 1980 and 90's when LGBT characters such as Birdo from Super Mario Bros and Poison from Final Fight series but due to a commitment to Nintendo's quality standards because of the preservation of the game, these characters were either changed or completely wiped from the game.

Another representation in games that didn't end too well was the massively popular Tomb Raider and its main protagonist Lara Croft which was an unexpected success back in 1996 selling 7.5 million units worldwide. It was said by Jeremy Parish in an article on 1UP.com that the main success of the game was to Lara's sex appeal in the early stage of the game, not only this, he said that player wanted to use Lara as they felt empathy for her ability to survive tough situations similar to Princess peach. Furthermore, after an E3 conference in 2012, it was discovered that Lara had defended herself from an attempted sexual assault, Mary Hamilton said it was not necessary for this to be added into the game. She followed this by saying

"The inclusion of the attempted rape scene raises some difficult questions. If the scene is playable, what exactly happens should the player fail? If it is not, why show it at all? Lara is already going through a lot – shipwreck, major injury, a friend's kidnapping, the threat of death – and adding sexual assault to the mix might just be over-egging the pudding."

Rockstar North's 'Grand Theft Auto V' was shrouded in controversy because of the apparent violence against women in the game that it was banned in around 300 Target stores throughout Australia. The general manager of corporate affairs said he spoke to customers about the controversy and there was a vast majority that was against the game. It was claimed by one that there isn't enough room for women in the game except for being regarded as prostitutes and strippers, this can be countered by saying male prostitutes and strippers and nowhere near as popular as female ones and when you take these factors out the equation then there are an equal number of men and women NPC's roaming the city.

The representation of cultures in games is another big talking point in the game industry, the way some countries or religions are shown as evil or aggressive is a very controversial topic. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 there is a mission called 'No Russian' in which you don't have an option but to carry out a massacre in an airport. The backlash of this was the game being banned in Russia and all sold copies being recalled. Furthermore, a YouTuber pointed two painting that offended the Islam religion, Activision soon removed the questionable paintings and issued an apology to all Muslims.

Emotional Themes

Emotional themes are when companies play on different emotions of the player to enhance the game. The psychological impact of playing games is underlooked for the most of the time. When a player is angry or upset at a game people see it as normal but that's just the effects of the game, not all games appear to be this way so what if development companies set out for this in mind? Getting a strong reaction will allow the player to remember the game easier.

A great game that captures the emotional side of a player is in the game 'The Last of Us', published in 2013 by Naughty Dog. It tells the story of Joel and Ellie as they travel through the ruins of America after a zombie (known as the infected) outbreak. Joel and Ellie must reach the Fireflies so that Ellie can be tested for a cure but as the 15-hour campaign plays out we feel a connection growing between not only the two main characters but the player themselves.

Another feature in the game that draws the attention from the player in the music. Created by Gustavo Santaolalla specifically for the game its a very crucial part to the game and it wouldn't be the same without it. With games that make us feel as Last of Us does, it creates an urgency for there to be a sequel, after years of speculation there is now a trailer for The Last of Us 2 in which shows us a snippet of what the follow-up game holds. However, games can't make a game after a game based upon this one factor and so (which they have done so well) they can't make sequel after sequel on emotion.

Interactive Story

An interactive story simply means that the player has control of how the game pans out over the course of the campaign. The game allows players to change how to game is played and for some players, this is a better experience overall. The majority of video games all have the same linear path when it comes to the story but interactive stories allow you to branch off and explore yourself.

Interactive stories aren't just video games, popular board games like dungeons and dragons allow you to create the story as you go. The players will be given their surrounding and they create the game by choosing what they want to do after which the 'dungeon master' rolls a 20 sided dice to decide whether their plan works or not.

One of the best examples is Telltale game series 'The Walking Dead'. Originally released in 2012, the game is based directly on the comics and aside from the main checkpoints, the player can decide what happens in the story. The first episode sold one million sales within the first 20 days and by the end of 2012 8.5 million units had been sold and by the time series two ended those sales had risen to 28 million units, it topped the sales of PlayStation and steam this highlights how popular a game like this is. It is now in its third series and sales continue to rise, highlighting that people want to play a game like this. The success can easily be accounted to the comics and tv show because they are so popular by themselves.

Games with interactive stories aren't as popular as linear games however, this may be due to not having a big enough background as the walking dead does, with this factor in mind the development of games with interactive stories may decrease unless a majority of fans decide to say they want it, which is unlikely because they trust the developers to create a good enough story.

Writing Strategies

Creating a good story is never luck, every writer has their own take on how to write the perfect story. Every successful uses their own unique ways to control the procedure of their tale. Different strategies allow the writer to flow when creating a story, a strategy can be anything from the way the story is set out to having a captivating opening paragraph.

In games the writing strategies are very similar, there is a beginning, middle (which includes a climax) and then the end. But if all stories follow this then why do all stories differ? it's all due to how the writers set out their work. When writing for a game it's hard to keep the story captivating but steering away from the cliche that has been around for years, interactive stories allow you to do this much easier than linear stories, however, linear and more focused stories are much more popular by developers. The best part about different writing strategies is that you are allowed to take the story in whichever direction you please but on the other hand, it may be difficult to find a writing strategy that fits you personally and works.

The most popular writing strategy is probably third person writing in my opinion. Third person writing is using 'them and they're' instead of 'I'. We learn third person writing in primary school and yet it is still the most commonly used within books. Books such as Harry Potter which was very popular then was turned into a film series.