2. This lecture presents a brief summary of the
Three-Act-Structure in Classic Drama Theory
As we learn the basic concepts and
structuration principles of this approach, we
will also stop inbetween and see how video
games deal with these concepts and
principles.
5. Climbing Tension
A story does not only progress horizontally, but also vertically
A scene that doesn’t carry the plot to new heights is considered as wasting time and
stagnating story progress.
Chrono-logy
Events are related to each other in terms of causality and time
Chrono-logical relations are often established in the mind of the player, as part of the
interpretation process
This allows designers to play with the chrono-logy of things because the player would
complete the story mentally, and in retrospect
Unity
Due to dramatization requirements, anything that’s not central to the story will be eliminated
In video games it often happens that side quests violate this rule
▪ They often do not contribute to the rise in plot per se
▪ Often this is done for the sake of variety
▪ Or they help the player in meeting other goals such as collecting extra points to increase the character
level
6.
7.
8. Feature films stay often loyal to the Three-Act-
Structure
However, they would divide the three acts into
four quarters
While the Beginning and the Ending acts get a
quarter each, the Middle is alotted two
quarters, that is, half of the duration of the film
Usually each of the Middle quarters deals with one
specific issue
9. Quarter 1 (First Act): Set up of the plot, introduction of
characters, planting of middle acts.
Quarter 2 (Second Act): The first of middle acts, in
which the goal is to free Sarah Connor from the clinic
in which she is being held.
Quarter 3 (Second Act): The second of the middle
acts, in which the goal is to destroy Skynet and its
infobase.
Quarter 4 (Third Act): Build-up to the
climax, resolution and denouement.
14. Looking closer at the two previous slides, we
can identify three dynamics that a narrative
designer has to intertwine in order to get
good results:
Plot Development
Character Growth
Middle Acts
We will now have a closer look at how these
dynamics work
15.
16. Game and narrative designer often have to deal with the issue of
introducing the player vocabulary.
The player needs not only to learn about the story, but how to use
controls.
It is therefore a very delicate issue in design to set-up a teaser
scene that doesn’t frustrate the player in terms of learning the
gameplay.
Often designers will solve this by splitting the task into two:
▪ They’ll use a cutscene that serves as a teaser
▪ They’ll usa a tutorial that teaches the player how to play the game
▪ Example: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Examples where designers tried to combine the two are
Max Payne (PC Version)
Spiderman (Wii)
17. In video games, intensification is often the result of
increasing complexity of the game systems that revolve
around the player.
Sometimes intensification is based on enemy AI that adopts a
more aggressive stance
Early sneak attacks of rival nations in Age of Empires tell us we’ve got to
hurry
However there are games that have «scripted»
intensification
In games like Metal Gear Solid, we are presented with
cutscenes that allow us to witness dialogues between game
characters which reveal that the complexity in the situation has
increased
18. When it comes to plot, a lot of games do not waste even a
minute to set it up:
Pong The white dot comes at you if you fail to bounce it
back 1:0
Pac- Man The ghost are coming at you If you don’t move
your avatar One life lost
Good games will always make sure that the player has to
do something to get out of misery
Half Life 2
The Sims
They will make sure that there is necessity, that is, an
inevitable challenge that motivates the player into action
19.
20. Many games are based on outer motivation
That is, it’s mainly their actions and looks that reveal something about
characters
Controls and affordances play a crucial part in this
We can only carry a role that the controls allow us to carry out.
For example special moves play an important role in distinguishing characters
in fighting games.
However, modern games also reveal a lot about inner motivation, that
is, what the character feels about their own actions
This will often come in cutscenes
▪ Final Fantasy series
▪ The cutscenes in Soul Calibur II
Sometimes the player is allowed to keep character diaries in which they
pretend to know the inner motivations of the characters
▪ The Sims
21. Another common thing in video games is that
character growth is often presented in
quantifiable terms
RPGs have experience levels and character
inventories
Many Tycoon games have star ratings or financial
indicators
RollercoasterTycoon or Ceaser III on the other
hand, have a palette of «barks» for their character
that will change depending on statistics
▪ This is a nice way to add an inner motivation aspect to the
characters
▪ It makes them look «deeper»
22. Since many video games are built around
levels rather than quarters, we will see
reassessments or denouments being
presented immediately after a finished level
or play session
The characters in Tekken will often say something
about their victory or defeat after a fight is over.
Railroad Tycoon 2 has a narrator that talks about
our performance in the past level
23.
24. Video game progress is often based on levels.
This means that the quarter rule doesn’t apply.
Hence, it makes often no sense to apply planting methods during
the introduction of the game’s story
Instead, in many games we see designers prefer to have
mission briefs
In other words, the planting of the next act is done moments
before the level starts, and not in the introduction of the game
The introduction of the games is used for other purposes
▪ Such as teaching the player the game vocabulary, presenting
backstory, or introducing the world settings
▪ This seems to be a significant difference between video games and
movies
▪ The product design and consumption method requires the video game
narrative designer to deal with planting differently
30. Whereas the overall proportion of a video
game may fall wide apart from a four quarters
model, we may observe that levels are
structured closer to this approach