We think in stories. Narratives are tools we use to make sense of the world, both in life and in games. Seeing how all stories work in a similiar way, and how all gameplay loops share their structure with stories, we will explore the similarities and look for tools that will help us design better games. This talk, inspired by John Yorke's book "Into the Woods. How stories work and why we tell them", and based on over ten years of experience in the industry, aims to present a consistent narrative-driven approach to game design. A talk from Digital Dragons 2018

1. Narrative-Driven Game Design

2. The road ahead
1. Introduction
2. How do stories work?
3. Stories and gameplay
4. Storyteller’s take on games
5. Narrative-driven game design

3. Introduction

4. My Experience
Story and Game Designer (background in data analysis)
• 11 bit studios
• ATGames
• CD Projekt RED
• Lodz University of Technology

5. Special Thanks
This talk was inspired by
John Yorke’s book
Into the Woods
How stories work and why we tell
them

6. Story Designer’s Dilemmas
1. How to tell stories in games?
2. How good are games for telling stories?
3. How can I use gameplay to tell stories?
4. How to design stories in games to make the best of the medium?

7. How to use our knowledge of stories
to make better games?

8. How do stories work?
looking for a meaning

9. Once upon a time…
there was someone living a normal live...
until it became clear that the hero is lacking something vital.
The hero went for a journey to find what was missing.
To get the treasure our hero had to face a grave and deadly danger!
The odds seemed impossible, but our hero overcame all opposition,
returned home with a prize that restored the balance.

10. Every story has the same shape
Beginning
something
unexpected
Middle
something
unexpected
End
nothing
interesting
nothing
interesting

11. Dramatic Arc
0
10
20
30
40
call to action initial success midpoint things go wrong victory or defeat

12. Five Act Structure
1. exposition - dramatis personae, seed of conflict
2. complications - intrigues, clash of interests
3. climax - hero at the crossroads
4. falling action - consequences, false hopes/fears
5. resolution - catastrophe and downfall / victory and transfiguration

13. Dramatic Changes
Facade vs Flaw
Desire vs Need
Opposition vs Hero
Hero vs Opposition (tragedies)
Difficulty vs Skill
Ignorance vs Knowledge 0
20
40
60
80
Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

14. Hero’s Journey
experimenting - (breakthrough) key knowledge - experimenting post-knowledge
Act 3
Act 1
no knowledge
growing knowledge
awakening
Act 2
doubt
overcoming reluctance
acceptance
Act 4
doubt
growing reluctance
regression
Act 5
reawakening
re-aceptance
total mastery

15. Learning process
reaction
Antithesis
Thesis
problem
Synthesis
solution

16. Stories are our brain’s attempt
to make sense of a chaotic universe

17. We Think In Stories
Kuleshov Effect - sequences of data are attributed motivations and emotions

18. Stories and gameplay
and fractals

19. Gameplay Loop
reaction
Challenge
Objective
problem
Reward
solution

20. To master a game our brain has to
make sense of a new universe

21. How to put stories into gameplay?
They are already there.
When we play, our brain creates
narratives, looks for motivations,
attributes emotions, etc.
Can we prevent it?
Kuleshov says: not really

22. Stories
• Story (complete change)
• exposition / complications
• midpoint (crisis)
• consequences / resolution
• Act (major change)
• set-up
• journey
• climax / resolution
• Scene (minor change)
• conflict
• turning point / cliffhanger
• Beat (exchange)
• action
• reaction

23. Games
• Game
• exposition / tutorial / complications
• growing difficulty / stakes
• growth / total mastery / endgame
• Level / Quest / Mission
• objective
• exploration / struggle
• final challenge / resolution
• Encounter
• challenge
• win / fail state
• Second-to-second gameplay
• action
• reaction

24. The Fractal Nature of Stories and Games
• Story = Game
• Act = Level
• Scene = Encounter
• Beat = Second-to-second
At every level a hero faces a problem and reacts to find a solution.

25. Two types of a hero
Three dimensional hero
• has a true self hidden behind a mask
• desires one thing / needs the opposite
• has a flaw that can be fatal
• must confront own flaws
• discovers true self
• changes
• lasts for just one story
• deeply satisfying (when done right)
Two dimensional hero
• is transparent, needs no mask
• desire = need
• has a deficiency of knowledge
• must confront external opposition
• re-asserts true self
• stays the same
• perfect for series/sequels
• highly addictive (when done right)

26. What makes a hero?
Imagine:
• In a bar, a woman walks up to a man who is drinking alone, and says…
• A boy who is bullied at school finds a magic lamp, and asks the djinn for...
• A man loses his family in an accident; one day he wakes up and decides…
• A huntress stands at an entrance to a cave, she sniffs the air and…
What makes a hero unique, is the decision made in a moment of crisis.
In a game that decision is usually made by the player.

27. Storyteller’s take on games
analysis of certain gameplay mechanisms

28. Our Focus
• character development
• audience engagement
• audience satisfaction and subverting expectations
• motivations and empathy
• dialogues and exposition
• emergent narratives

29. Character Development
Two dimensional approach:
• gains experience, learns new skills
• character development = increasing knowledge
• character development ≠ true change
• power creep = jumping the shark
• requires occasional amnesia

30. Character Development
Three dimensional approach:
• makes decisions, observes consequences
• character development = progress in the story
• character development ≠ increasing mastery
• player’s desire and character’s need
• may rely on a player’s decision

31. Audience Engagement
We like to earn our entertainment, effort increases involvement.
The “2+2=?” rule.
Gameplay (high engagement) as storytelling tool; system rhetorics.
When curiosity is your friend, fear is your enemy.

32. Subverting Expectations
Dark inversions:
• hero’s “flaw” is his virtue
• hero’s true self is evil
• story ends in a catastrophe

33. Subverting Expectations
Disturbed structure:
• parts of the character arc are missing or misplaced
• surprise and dissonance creates strong emotional response
• difficulty curve and fail/reload system as the character arc
• overused or mishandled causes frustration

34. Motivations and Empathy
We need credible vibrant breathing living empathetic characters:
• do you believe in your character’s motivation?
• do you really understand what the antagonist wants and why?
• can you tell how your opponents feel, what they emotions are?

35. Motivations and Empathy
Red flags:
• characters in cutscenes are different than in gameplay
• important decisions are made for the player, not by the player
• the only motivation in a scene comes from gameplay

36. Dialogues and Exposition
Conversation as an action scene:
• use opposition to present a dilemma
• use the dilemma to characterize the characters
• words show the facade, choices reveal the flaw
• prepare the scene for a change or revelation

37. Dialogues and Exposition
Make players work for their entertainment:
• instead of writing “4” write “2+2=?”
• use Kuleshov Effect to make players create their own sense
• consider skipping dialogue, use system rhetorics instead
• motivations: surprises, unexpected emotions, new knowledge

38. Emergent narratives
When we talk about games, we talk in our personal narratives:
• event sequences are interpreted as stories
• juxtaposed events color perceived emotions and motivations
• emergent narratives are almost impossible to track
• but may be enhanced by feedback to player’s choices and states

39. Narrative-Driven Game Design
Is my game a good story?

40. Player's Need
Every story needs a theme:
• question - assumption (thesis)
• exploration - challenging assumption (antithesis)
• answer - conclusion (synthesis)

41. Author’s Voice
The answer is not universal, it always has an author:
• designer’s answer
• player’s choice from presented designer’s answers
• player’s answer, emergent and internal

42. The basic story/gameplay building block
How does this particular gameplay mechanism make a good story?
1. discovery - the hero notices/learns something and decides to act
2. truth! - true nature of the opposition/ hero’s flaw reveals itself
3. assimilation - the hero acts on the knowledge and succeeds/fails

43. Game-as-a-good-story checklist
• what the hero wants, what the opposition wants, is there a conflict?
• does the player want the same thing that the hero wants?
• where is the moment of choice, what is at stake?
• what does the hero learn, what does the player learn?
• do all actors have a reason to be in this situation, what do they want to gain?
• does the hero change or reveal some inner truth, in what way?
• does this situation end in a setup for a new scene (a cliffhanger)?

44. Game-as-a-good-scene checklist
• what does the player expect entering the scene?
• what does the player learn from interacting with the scene?
• how can the player use the new knowledge to win the scene?

45. The Universal Quest
Every story is about a journey,
finding of the missing part,
its retrieval
and making of something whole.

46. The Universal Gameplay
Every game is a conflict,
two opposites clash
opposites are assimilated
and the conflict is stilled.

47. Learning Process
Every story and every game is about making sense of the universe:
1. we ask a question
2. test it against the world
3. and assimilate what we’ve learned.

48. Narrative-driven game design
We can use the universal story structure to create meaningful and exciting
games.
1. question - theme, motivation, why the question was asked?
2. learning - testing, growth, understanding, decisions, key knowledge
3. assimilation - consequences, feedback loops, internal stories, change
By hijacking our brain’s learning mechanisms we can create a new
game-specific language to tell engaging and emotional stories.

49. Looking for a meaning
Every story has an author.
• system rhetorics = authorial voice
• decisions = asserting identity
• cause and effect chain = internal narratives
• fractal structure = consistency of theme and mood
• structure ≠ meaning
In the end we must have something interesting to say.

50. Thank You!
artur.ganszyniec@gmail.com