Designing a Game to Tell a Story:
"Most important feature of all - games are about players making meaningful choices that affect the outcome of the game"
If there is only one narrative trail, there is no story or options for the player, and basically no game.
Writer, designer or both?
"The game writer is also a game designer, but the two jobs are distinctly different and require different skill sets"
Best results are when a game writer is part of the project from start to finish.
Story Arcs:
"If you have any idea of where your story is going results in a better execution than slapping a story together on the fly. To do this game writers create story arcs."
Story arc us the path of the story from start to finish.
Two kinds of arcs normally used:
Classic three-part story arc (Aristotle)
Five part arc (Campbell)
Three act story arc:
The story follows this path:
Act 1: Start with "inciting movement", maybe hours of gameplay before inciting moment (prelude or and opening sequence). Common in games is a rubbish inciting moment that doesn't motivate the player. After inciting moment, player progresses for some time towards his final goal.
Act 2: A dramatic reversal occurs. The reversal should be realistic and believable not what Aristotle calls a "Deus ex machina " an impossible or improbable "machine of the gods" created to help the writer achieve his needs.
Act 3: The goal from the inciting moment is resolved. "An irreversible resolution is achieved. Sometimes a second reversal may occur."
The five-part hero's journey:
"As Campbell saw it, there is but one hero and one path told in a thousand different ways. He called this "Monomyth "(The hero with a Thousand faces)"
Campbell's five part story arc:
Part 1:"Hero receives a "call to adventure" and begins a journey"
Part 2:"The hero passes through a series of challenges (a trail of trials)"
Part 3:"The hero confronts the final evil and achieves his goal"
Part 4:"The hero returns to the everyday world"
Part 5:"The hero applies the lesson or objective learned in the adventure to that everyday world."
Narratology and Ludology:
""Ludology" is the study of games as rules (or mechanics)"
"Ludologists believe that a game is first and foremost a collection of rules that give rise to the dynamics of play when a player sets the game in motion through an interface of some sort"
Looking from this perspective, "modern-day games are an extension of ancient games like GO and Chess. Story is not a part of a game, but rather something layered on top of the mechanics of third person shooters."
Cheapest method
Linear Stories:
"Progress from point A to B to C. Have periodic and frequent side quests."
"Shares most common with other storytelling media so it is familiar"
Can be emotional
"does not require players to play through the game several times just to see all possible outcomes"
Mid Rang in Price
Branching Stories:
Multiple ways to get through a story, possible multiple endings.
Play path changes by player input/choices.
Take advantage of game interactivity
Can be expensive as writer has to make several related stories not just one e.g. each branch will have different story, art assets and code etc.
Variant of branching story = parallel path, makes story fold back on itself at key pre-determined points, but can reach them in many ways due to branching. This keeps price down as it is still linear arc (Parallel path).
Most Expensive
Open ended stories:
"Open ended (or multi-linear or threaded) stories start players in a particular place or a variety of places and allow them to progress in many different directions, each of which affects the outcome of their play."
Key example is Elder Scrolls Skyrim as the player can take 100's of paths so has a lot more paths than a branching story.
"Designers are careful to prevent situations where the story makes no sense because it is told out of order, either by limiting the player's choices through fact trees (if they don't know about x, don't tell them about y), or writing different stories for different paths that the player takes"
Normally have teams of writers who's job it is to make and test these vast stories.
Instances:
Special case of open-ended stories. commonly used in MMO's present player with "instance" of a particular story thread.
"Self contained mini-stories. Make them easier to write, and it also allows new instances to be added as a later time"
Emergent stories:
"Arise purely from the lay mechanics of the game"
"Stories created by player experience or player-created content... not placed by game's designers."
Thematic set-ups;
"Opening cut scenes" give an intro to the story but give no more info on the rest of the story.
Algorithmic Stories:
"Constructed by computer AI and respond to player inputs to determine story direction"
AI written by humans but the AI is given "pre-determined plot points... like a bunch of self-contained, small,open-ended stories linked together in a larger, open-ended main-story."
Very few disadvantages
"Façade took over five years to construct", but plays through in 20 minutes.
Story telling methods:
Cut scenes and cinematic's
In game events - "Do no remove from player but trigger when player does something"
Dialogue:
Spoken audio/visual; player can interact, opening different paths. In cut scenes the decision is fixed.
Text:
Useful to convey back story, cave writings, notebooks etc.
Can't force player to read text as they would get bored but if they chose not to read, they could lose valuable information. This shows the story in a passive way.
Setting and Character:
"People want to play cool characters" in a world they couldn't normally experience.
Character Design:
More than looks, good characteristics survive due to behaviour and personality.
Environment Design:
More about feel than wowing special effects.
Thursday 1 December 2011
Gamasutra - Into the woods: a practical guide to the hero's journey
The Hero's Journey Into the Woods:
Characters who the player may encounter:
The Mentor
The Threshold Guardian
The Shapeshifter
The Trickster
"What practical use is the Hero's journey to us as story tellers and game writers?"
Why the Hero's Journey is so important:
"It's important because myths and important. Myths convey the values of society. Myths are how we teach each other who we are and how we should behave"
"Myths actively guide our actions. They're not dusty old stories in a book, or crumbling temples in a far-off land. 62% of people in America say they believe in the literal truth of the Bible, and that became a critical factor in the election of George Bush to the White House. Suicide bombers in Iraq believe by blowing themselves up in their holy cause, they will go directly to Paradise and will this day be with Allah. Game developers believe that if we work just a little bit harder, we'll soon see fat royalty checks."
Rollo May Four myths still active in Modern Life:
"Myths give us a sense of personal identity"
"Myths make possible our sense of community"
"Myths are what lie underneath our moral values"
"Mythology is our way of dealing with the inscrutable mystery of creation and death"
In ancient times a cavemen and tribes, the tribes that adapted and grouped together passed their genes on to use and was established by the telling of stories, myths, legends etc. Not just where the prey us but motivational stories i.e. "the good Samaritan" to tell them how to behave and to look out for others, not just themselves, making the stories, main character a role model.
James Frey writes in The Key about "Beowulf's heroic deeds" and how they are conveyed to others in the tribe to show how to act and to admire to be the next Beowulf.
"Hero's are our models: Their stories convey to each succeeding generation the cultural values of the tribe"
"By definition we are the biological descendants of the tribes who told stories to survive"
Carl Jung believes we have "Mythic structure built in to us, waiting for a particular belief system to be imprinted upon us by the culture we grow up in"
Frey - "The force of a myth is irresistible" they are the "foundations on which all good stories are built"
So story telling is hard wired into us to make sense of the world.
Without myths in our lives we would be lost.
When making games we need to, "what in previous ages was done by family, custom, church and state" basically create our myths to tell the story of the world of our game.
May - "Myths carry on the essential task of trying to create meaning out of our lives and actions, in a world that doesn't care"
"If we you take away a man's myth, the result is mental illness, depression and the loss of the will to live"
We need to believe that we matter, because it not what is the point of us being here.
"Literature proves there is order in the universe"
"I believe games are myth-reinforcing activities" - Gerard Jones
To make deeper, better and more complex game play experiences the myths need to be just as deep and complex combined with a deep storyline.
"To write those storied, you need to understand how myths are put together and communicated. And that is why the Hero's journey is important!"
What is the Hero's Journey?:
Joseph Campbell states that after analysing thousands of myths found that a few common elements kept appearing and no single myth contains them all. "But in categorising them, he tells us that the more of them a narrative has, the more likely it is to strike a deep mythological chord with the audience."
"Campbell summarises these elements, which become known as the Hero's journey", these are briefly :
" Establishing the hero's world
The call to adventure
Entering the mythological woods
Trail of trials
Encountering the evil one
Gaining the hero's prize
Returning that prize to the community"
How can we use the Hero's Journey to build stories?
"Must the hero encounter all of Campbell's archetypical characters, or is it ok if he skips a few? We are continuously cautioned against using the Hero's Journey as a template"
Two things not to do:
"Don't look at all the possible steps in the Hero's Journey and make sure you've got them all in there and in the proper order. Fiction is flexible. Don't make a list of all of Campbell 's mythological characters and try to find a spot for each of them in your story. The Herald, the Threshold Guardian, the Trickster, the Shape Shifter, etc. Just create the characters you need to tell your story and you'll be fine."
What To Do:
Create your hero: Create a hero capable of embodying that premise. "A hero is the myth in action Frey (The Key) - qualities a hero will always have: Courage (or finds it), clever and resourceful, "special" talent, outlaw (living by their own rules), good at what they do for a living, Protagonist (takes the lead in action at some point) and sexually potent.
Traits similar to hero:
Full of hubris
Outlaw (Maybe)
Clever and resourceful
Wounded
Have a special talent
Sex appeal
Traits dissimilar to the hero:
"Motivated by greed, avarice, lust for power, variety, narcissism, and so on"
"Never acts out of idealism", except for his own cause and belief.
Often Cruel
Wins by luck, hero never wins by luck
Not forgiving
Might quit at very end
Whines and grovels, hero can't do that (shows weakness)
Characters who the player may encounter:
The Mentor
The Threshold Guardian
The Shapeshifter
The Trickster
"What practical use is the Hero's journey to us as story tellers and game writers?"
Why the Hero's Journey is so important:
"It's important because myths and important. Myths convey the values of society. Myths are how we teach each other who we are and how we should behave"
"Myths actively guide our actions. They're not dusty old stories in a book, or crumbling temples in a far-off land. 62% of people in America say they believe in the literal truth of the Bible, and that became a critical factor in the election of George Bush to the White House. Suicide bombers in Iraq believe by blowing themselves up in their holy cause, they will go directly to Paradise and will this day be with Allah. Game developers believe that if we work just a little bit harder, we'll soon see fat royalty checks."
Rollo May Four myths still active in Modern Life:
"Myths give us a sense of personal identity"
"Myths make possible our sense of community"
"Myths are what lie underneath our moral values"
"Mythology is our way of dealing with the inscrutable mystery of creation and death"
In ancient times a cavemen and tribes, the tribes that adapted and grouped together passed their genes on to use and was established by the telling of stories, myths, legends etc. Not just where the prey us but motivational stories i.e. "the good Samaritan" to tell them how to behave and to look out for others, not just themselves, making the stories, main character a role model.
James Frey writes in The Key about "Beowulf's heroic deeds" and how they are conveyed to others in the tribe to show how to act and to admire to be the next Beowulf.
"Hero's are our models: Their stories convey to each succeeding generation the cultural values of the tribe"
"By definition we are the biological descendants of the tribes who told stories to survive"
Carl Jung believes we have "Mythic structure built in to us, waiting for a particular belief system to be imprinted upon us by the culture we grow up in"
Frey - "The force of a myth is irresistible" they are the "foundations on which all good stories are built"
So story telling is hard wired into us to make sense of the world.
Without myths in our lives we would be lost.
When making games we need to, "what in previous ages was done by family, custom, church and state" basically create our myths to tell the story of the world of our game.
May - "Myths carry on the essential task of trying to create meaning out of our lives and actions, in a world that doesn't care"
"If we you take away a man's myth, the result is mental illness, depression and the loss of the will to live"
We need to believe that we matter, because it not what is the point of us being here.
"Literature proves there is order in the universe"
"I believe games are myth-reinforcing activities" - Gerard Jones
To make deeper, better and more complex game play experiences the myths need to be just as deep and complex combined with a deep storyline.
"To write those storied, you need to understand how myths are put together and communicated. And that is why the Hero's journey is important!"
What is the Hero's Journey?:
Joseph Campbell states that after analysing thousands of myths found that a few common elements kept appearing and no single myth contains them all. "But in categorising them, he tells us that the more of them a narrative has, the more likely it is to strike a deep mythological chord with the audience."
"Campbell summarises these elements, which become known as the Hero's journey", these are briefly :
" Establishing the hero's world
The call to adventure
Entering the mythological woods
Trail of trials
Encountering the evil one
Gaining the hero's prize
Returning that prize to the community"
How can we use the Hero's Journey to build stories?
"Must the hero encounter all of Campbell's archetypical characters, or is it ok if he skips a few? We are continuously cautioned against using the Hero's Journey as a template"
Two things not to do:
"Don't look at all the possible steps in the Hero's Journey and make sure you've got them all in there and in the proper order. Fiction is flexible. Don't make a list of all of Campbell 's mythological characters and try to find a spot for each of them in your story. The Herald, the Threshold Guardian, the Trickster, the Shape Shifter, etc. Just create the characters you need to tell your story and you'll be fine."
What To Do:
- Pick your premise: theme, myth. Must decide what is important and make your game about that. "Myth and stories consciously or subconsciously influence behaviour" How you want people to behave after playing your game.
Create your hero: Create a hero capable of embodying that premise. "A hero is the myth in action Frey (The Key) - qualities a hero will always have: Courage (or finds it), clever and resourceful, "special" talent, outlaw (living by their own rules), good at what they do for a living, Protagonist (takes the lead in action at some point) and sexually potent.
- Create a great villain: "The Strength of your villain is the strength of your story" Great villains are memorable, great example Jack Nicholson as The Joker in the original Batman film.
Traits similar to hero:
Full of hubris
Outlaw (Maybe)
Clever and resourceful
Wounded
Have a special talent
Sex appeal
Traits dissimilar to the hero:
"Motivated by greed, avarice, lust for power, variety, narcissism, and so on"
"Never acts out of idealism", except for his own cause and belief.
Often Cruel
Wins by luck, hero never wins by luck
Not forgiving
Might quit at very end
Whines and grovels, hero can't do that (shows weakness)
Not social
Not logical
Not physically superior, un-like side kick
No special destiny or birth but may claim one
- Show the hero's regular world:
- Disrupt the Hero's world:
Force hero into action (Campbell's call to adventure)
When disruption is a person its the Herald, in Campbell's terms.
Hero may refuse call to help, but not in games.
- Enter the Mythological woods:
Level progression normally best in games
Show character growth
Should end in a different place than be started on each level.
Physical or psychological "woods" - must endure inner/outer struggle
Outer struggle = achieve victory
Inner struggle = discover himself and transform his character
See character progression as levels progress
- Confront The Evil One:
Confronts and defeats evil is key
ideally confront and beat inner struggle before outer struggle
- Acquire the Prize:
- Hero's Return:
At the end you will have moved the character "from pole to pole" - Egri
Through identification, the hero's transformation has a greater impact on the audience
Three act structure:
"First Act, you get the hero up a tree
In the Second Act, you throw stones at him (in other words, you make things harder for him)
In the Third Act, you get him down out of the tree."
Can use Hero's Journey to fix/solve some game problems.
Hero doesn't always need to return but needs to have changed from the start of the game and the prize needs to survive.
Does the game have a flat ending? - take a look at hero's prize
Do the players not seem to be identifying with your hero? - Have you taken hero from pole to pole? Have you shown his change from start to finish? If not go back and do it!
Does working through levels become tedious? Is the villain strong enough?
Have you looked at your levels? - Each level should be a mini story
Hero's journey can't solve every problem though.
"As a game writer, the myths you create have the power to change lives. You have to take the hero's journey."
"Before you can acquire something really worthwhile to give to the rest of us, you're going to have to go through your own personal hell"
"Own personal myth: Do the work, and everything will be ok. Do the work, make it as good as you can, and eventually you will be awarded. You can always hope for the best, but not unless you first, do the work."
Gamasutra - what every game's designer needs to know
What every game designer needs to know about
"Story is a universally human experience"
"Games aren't movies.... movies aren't games"
"They are a form of story, not jut a new toy"
"Story is conflict"
Robert McKee author of "Story"
Real substance of story is conflict
How classical stories move:
"it's simple. It works"
"First, there's a protagonist. a hero. His or her world is thrown out of order by an inciting incident."
The hero trys the right, real world approach and it fails, then attempts to try another method against the changed world which "pushes back too hard"
"There there is a reversal. Something new happens. or the hero learns something. She didn't know before, and the world is out of whack again. A second gap has opened up."
This is repeated i.e. our hero overcomes one gap another open and they have to adjust to overcome that, then another opens and so on for three "gaps". Which is when the biggest risk of all is taken to overcome everything and achieve their greatest goal.
"In a comic structure, the last gap is overcome. In a tragic structure, one final gap opens up, and stays there. But games are comic by their nature, so we'll assume it's possible to get to the end."
Character, and why it matters to games:
Characterisation = the superficial stuff e.g. clothes, car, eating habits etc
"Character is what he chooses to do" for example risk his life or stay safe that's the defining point of a character.
"Any good story will have pressures on the hero to bring out these choices, and therefore the character. This is called the principle of protagonist, because they conflict with her to define her character"
"The world of the game should be designed to oppose the player at every turn. As games become more interesting choices, and our characters will become deeper."
The importance of Reversals:
The reversal is what keeps the hero moving forward and not back or no where at all.
"As you can see in the brief summary of classical story structure, each act is driven by a reversal. When the hero accomplishes the ordeal before him, the reversal is what keeps him going forward instead of resting on his haunches. A reversal can happen through action (somebody shoots a cop's partner, and that changes everything) or by a revelation (Luke Skywalker finds out that Darth Vader is really his father) "
Lethal Weapon 2 = bad reversal when Danny Glover's character shoots the guy he could have shot earlier on. It's cheating and "Your audience can smell cheating"
"What a good reversal does is expand the story's universe. Everything you knew was true, but now there's more, so the world is flipped on its head with this new knowledge."
Story forms refine Games
Types of conflict and types of story:
Intellect conflict = "what goes on inside your head"
Interpersonal conflict = between people
External conflict = "Conflict with society in general or the physical world"
Why important? "Certain story forms to certain forms of conflict more naturally than others."
"Internal conflict happens most naturally in novels.
Interpersonal conflict happens most naturally in plays, and in soap operas.
External conflict happens most naturally in movies, and in games."
Games are primarily visual like movies and unlike plays, this directly affects the approach of handling dialogue in games.
"Games don't tolerate a lot of dialogue"
Empathy, and the big protagonist flip:
"The viewer is the protagonist" for the first time unlike other art forms so must relate, enjoy and understand them completely to want to keep playing.
"How do you define a character if you're not making the choices? The answer is open ended."
Pacing stretches, dialogue shrinks:
Pacing is extend like never before because the player is the protagonist and doesn't need telling because they are doing it for example in a world war 2 trench game is would be a 3 minute clip in a film but can be dragged out in a game because it's the players "ass" out there. "This is life or death."
But the dialogue shrinks, "even from the level of our very visual cousins, the movies. Players who are wrapped up in action don't have a lot of patience for talking."
Exception of the rule though is when dialogue is a game mechanic. e.g. When the text/dialogue is part of the conflict it works such as in Knights of the old republic.
A game story that works:
Halo through a classical structure:
No deep character, as in no background or information on them, just a "Witty bad ass".
"It's thanks to Cortana that we see even that much of him"
"It's got real reversals that drive interest in the game"
How Halo's reversals work:
"Act 1:
Halo is a computer that the Covenant want to use as a weapon, so the humans, led by you, the Master Chief, have to get there first and activate its defence functions. There's a clear conflict: You versus the Covenant. And it's spurred by an inciting incident: The Covenant have attacked your ship, and you've had to take off in the equivalent of a minivan before the ship explodes.You have no idea what happened to Captain Keyes.
Act II:
As you fight the Covenant along side the Marines, you walk into a room where a freaked-out Marine shoots you, and you have to kill him. That's a great moment of choice, even in a linear plot. You also see Covenant corpses that you didn't kill. Then you meet The Flood, which try to eat both you and the Covenant. Reversal: The conflict isn't as clear as you thought. It has expanded, and caused your world to change. Some of your friends are now your enemies, and there are new enemies."
Act 3:
"You are assisted by a hovering machine librarian in turning on Halo's defence system, so you can use it against the flood"
You then find out Halo is a machine designed to kill all life forms and you was tricked by the librarian as the flood and you will be destroyed.
You now have to destroy Halo.
Conflict expanded again.
The Ending:
"You have to destroy Halo" - Important point of all stories, in games the player has to end it and not just watch it.
"Show, don't tell" - stories rule
"Do, don't show" - games rule
"We want our players to experience as much of the story first hand, as the main actor in it. If there's ever opportunity to create the story through players action, make that choice. If there's a part of the story that must be out of the players control show it."
"Do show and tell in that order"
Story and the writer:
"Writers are essential to game story"
"Paste on some dialogue, buddy, and make it clever! NO, NO, NO. Don't do this."
Writers need to be involved from the start of the development process not just for dialogue, they need to know, understand, feel and believe in the whole story before dialogue so the writer knows what to write to keep the player interested.
Story and the whole development team:
"The writer isn't everything. The principle of antagonism might be planned by the writer, but it's created by the designers, and implemented by the programmers."
"Designers will always be the most direct allies of game writers."
"Designers are in charge of the forces of antagonism. Which are the essential elements of character development and plot advancement"
Art and sound obviously create the most perceivable parts of the game.
"Programmers work with everybody to keep the story alive in what the novelist John Gardner would call "The vivid, continuous dream.""
If everything is not at the same standard or something sticks out like a sore thumb the "dream" is broken.
"Creating this world so no one notices the code is the hardest job of all"
"It's not news that games are a collaborative effort"
But so is the story development in games design and this needs to be well established.
"The writer's job is to know all the details that I don't include here. Everyone else on the team, though, needs to know at least the basics I've outlined in this article. The development team has to speak a common language about story. If we all do, we stand an excellent chance of making games that will leave the last generation in the dust."
"Story is a universally human experience"
"Games aren't movies.... movies aren't games"
"They are a form of story, not jut a new toy"
"Story is conflict"
Robert McKee author of "Story"
Real substance of story is conflict
How classical stories move:
"it's simple. It works"
"First, there's a protagonist. a hero. His or her world is thrown out of order by an inciting incident."
The hero trys the right, real world approach and it fails, then attempts to try another method against the changed world which "pushes back too hard"
"There there is a reversal. Something new happens. or the hero learns something. She didn't know before, and the world is out of whack again. A second gap has opened up."
This is repeated i.e. our hero overcomes one gap another open and they have to adjust to overcome that, then another opens and so on for three "gaps". Which is when the biggest risk of all is taken to overcome everything and achieve their greatest goal.
"In a comic structure, the last gap is overcome. In a tragic structure, one final gap opens up, and stays there. But games are comic by their nature, so we'll assume it's possible to get to the end."
Character, and why it matters to games:
Characterisation = the superficial stuff e.g. clothes, car, eating habits etc
"Character is what he chooses to do" for example risk his life or stay safe that's the defining point of a character.
"Any good story will have pressures on the hero to bring out these choices, and therefore the character. This is called the principle of protagonist, because they conflict with her to define her character"
"The world of the game should be designed to oppose the player at every turn. As games become more interesting choices, and our characters will become deeper."
The importance of Reversals:
The reversal is what keeps the hero moving forward and not back or no where at all.
"As you can see in the brief summary of classical story structure, each act is driven by a reversal. When the hero accomplishes the ordeal before him, the reversal is what keeps him going forward instead of resting on his haunches. A reversal can happen through action (somebody shoots a cop's partner, and that changes everything) or by a revelation (Luke Skywalker finds out that Darth Vader is really his father) "
Lethal Weapon 2 = bad reversal when Danny Glover's character shoots the guy he could have shot earlier on. It's cheating and "Your audience can smell cheating"
"What a good reversal does is expand the story's universe. Everything you knew was true, but now there's more, so the world is flipped on its head with this new knowledge."
Story forms refine Games
Types of conflict and types of story:
Intellect conflict = "what goes on inside your head"
Interpersonal conflict = between people
External conflict = "Conflict with society in general or the physical world"
Why important? "Certain story forms to certain forms of conflict more naturally than others."
"Internal conflict happens most naturally in novels.
Interpersonal conflict happens most naturally in plays, and in soap operas.
External conflict happens most naturally in movies, and in games."
Games are primarily visual like movies and unlike plays, this directly affects the approach of handling dialogue in games.
"Games don't tolerate a lot of dialogue"
Empathy, and the big protagonist flip:
"The viewer is the protagonist" for the first time unlike other art forms so must relate, enjoy and understand them completely to want to keep playing.
"How do you define a character if you're not making the choices? The answer is open ended."
Pacing stretches, dialogue shrinks:
Pacing is extend like never before because the player is the protagonist and doesn't need telling because they are doing it for example in a world war 2 trench game is would be a 3 minute clip in a film but can be dragged out in a game because it's the players "ass" out there. "This is life or death."
But the dialogue shrinks, "even from the level of our very visual cousins, the movies. Players who are wrapped up in action don't have a lot of patience for talking."
Exception of the rule though is when dialogue is a game mechanic. e.g. When the text/dialogue is part of the conflict it works such as in Knights of the old republic.
A game story that works:
Halo through a classical structure:
No deep character, as in no background or information on them, just a "Witty bad ass".
"It's thanks to Cortana that we see even that much of him"
"It's got real reversals that drive interest in the game"
How Halo's reversals work:
"Act 1:
Halo is a computer that the Covenant want to use as a weapon, so the humans, led by you, the Master Chief, have to get there first and activate its defence functions. There's a clear conflict: You versus the Covenant. And it's spurred by an inciting incident: The Covenant have attacked your ship, and you've had to take off in the equivalent of a minivan before the ship explodes.You have no idea what happened to Captain Keyes.
Act II:
As you fight the Covenant along side the Marines, you walk into a room where a freaked-out Marine shoots you, and you have to kill him. That's a great moment of choice, even in a linear plot. You also see Covenant corpses that you didn't kill. Then you meet The Flood, which try to eat both you and the Covenant. Reversal: The conflict isn't as clear as you thought. It has expanded, and caused your world to change. Some of your friends are now your enemies, and there are new enemies."
Act 3:
"You are assisted by a hovering machine librarian in turning on Halo's defence system, so you can use it against the flood"
You then find out Halo is a machine designed to kill all life forms and you was tricked by the librarian as the flood and you will be destroyed.
You now have to destroy Halo.
Conflict expanded again.
The Ending:
"You have to destroy Halo" - Important point of all stories, in games the player has to end it and not just watch it.
"Show, don't tell" - stories rule
"Do, don't show" - games rule
"We want our players to experience as much of the story first hand, as the main actor in it. If there's ever opportunity to create the story through players action, make that choice. If there's a part of the story that must be out of the players control show it."
"Do show and tell in that order"
Story and the writer:
"Writers are essential to game story"
"Paste on some dialogue, buddy, and make it clever! NO, NO, NO. Don't do this."
Writers need to be involved from the start of the development process not just for dialogue, they need to know, understand, feel and believe in the whole story before dialogue so the writer knows what to write to keep the player interested.
Story and the whole development team:
"The writer isn't everything. The principle of antagonism might be planned by the writer, but it's created by the designers, and implemented by the programmers."
"Designers will always be the most direct allies of game writers."
"Designers are in charge of the forces of antagonism. Which are the essential elements of character development and plot advancement"
Art and sound obviously create the most perceivable parts of the game.
"Programmers work with everybody to keep the story alive in what the novelist John Gardner would call "The vivid, continuous dream.""
If everything is not at the same standard or something sticks out like a sore thumb the "dream" is broken.
"Creating this world so no one notices the code is the hardest job of all"
"It's not news that games are a collaborative effort"
But so is the story development in games design and this needs to be well established.
"The writer's job is to know all the details that I don't include here. Everyone else on the team, though, needs to know at least the basics I've outlined in this article. The development team has to speak a common language about story. If we all do, we stand an excellent chance of making games that will leave the last generation in the dust."
Friday 25 November 2011
my simple multiplayer game idea: FACE PLANT
This is just a small idea for a multiplayer game not involving computers or a board.
The game is called FACE PLANT. The objective of the game is to run to the opposing teams side of the field. The teams can consist of as many players as you wish as long as its more than one (hence multiplayer) and preferably the teams are even. The teams will line up facing each other and you will play the game with the person facing you on the other team.
Once play commences you will run full speed at each other and at the point of collision you will decide and shout loudly either side, jump or duck and the objective is to side step or jump over the other player so that you have a clean path to the other side of the playing field.
working combinations for example are
both players side step the same way i.e. left to dodge each other
one player jumps and the other ducks
if a collision occurs both players lose and are out of play until the next round starts. The rounds end when there is only one player on each side and they are the winning pair.
Preferably the pairs are of people the same height or the extremities of tall and short to make it easier.
ENJOY FACEPLANT!!!!
The game is called FACE PLANT. The objective of the game is to run to the opposing teams side of the field. The teams can consist of as many players as you wish as long as its more than one (hence multiplayer) and preferably the teams are even. The teams will line up facing each other and you will play the game with the person facing you on the other team.
Once play commences you will run full speed at each other and at the point of collision you will decide and shout loudly either side, jump or duck and the objective is to side step or jump over the other player so that you have a clean path to the other side of the playing field.
working combinations for example are
both players side step the same way i.e. left to dodge each other
one player jumps and the other ducks
if a collision occurs both players lose and are out of play until the next round starts. The rounds end when there is only one player on each side and they are the winning pair.
Preferably the pairs are of people the same height or the extremities of tall and short to make it easier.
ENJOY FACEPLANT!!!!
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Xeodesign: Why we play games: Four keys to more emotion without story
The Player Experience:
"How many emotions can a game create?"
"What makes failing 80% of the time fun?"
"Do people play to feel emotions as well as challenge?"
"Where do they come from?"
"Is it possible to build emotions into games by adding emotion - producing objects or actions rather than cut scenes?"
"To what extent are game designers already doing this?"
Hal Barwood "The joy of figuring it out"
Overview of Four keys to emotion without story:
"Criteria for four keys:
1. What players like most about playing.
2. Create unique emotion without story.
3. Already present in Ultra popular games.
4. Supported by psychology theory and other larger studies"
Emotions from meaningful challenges, strategies and puzzles
1. Hard Fun
"For many players overcoming obstacles is why they play. Hard Fun creates emotion by
structuring experience towards the pursuit of a goal. The challenge focuses attention and
rewards progress to create emotions such as Frustration and Fiero (an Italian word for
personal triumph)"
"Players who enjoy the Hard Fun of
Challenge say they like:
• Playing to see how good I really am
• Playing to beat the game
• Having multiple objectives
• Requiring strategy rather than luck"
Grab attention from Ambiguity, Incompleteness and detail
2. Easy Fun
"Other players focus on the sheer enjoyment of experiencing the game activities. Easy Fun
maintains focus with player attention rather than a winning condition"
It awakes the curiosity in the player, to discover and find out more about the game world.
"The sensations of Wonder, Awe, and Mystery can be very intense"
Players who enjoy this type of play say they like:
"• Exploring new worlds with intriguing people
• Excitement and adventure
• Wanting to figure it out
• Seeing what happens in the story, even if I have to use a walk through
• Feeling like me and my character are one
• Liking the sound of cards shuffling
• Growing dragons"
Generate emotion with perception, thought, behaviour, and other people
3. Altered States
"Players report that how a game makes them feel inside is one of the major reasons why they
play, or “games as therapy."
"Players whose enjoyment focuses on their internal sate say they like:
• Clearing my mind by clearing a level
• Feeling better about myself
• Avoiding boredom
• Being better at something that matter"
Create opportunities for player competition, cooperation, performance and spectacle
4. The People Factor
"Many player comments centre on the enjoyment from playing with others inside or outside the
game"
"Wisecracks and rivalries run hot as players compete."
"Dominant emotions include Amusement, Schadenfreude, and Naches"
"Players whose enjoyment came from interaction with other people say
that:
• It’s the people that are addictive not the game.
• I want an excuse to invite my friends over.
• I don’t like playing games, but it’s a fun way to spend time with my friends.
• I don’t play, but it’s fun to watch."
People No Longer Play
"I won’t play his games, because someone has to take care of the kids!” –Wife of a Hard Core Gamer
"The onset of job responsibilities and raising families reduces game play turning some hard core gamers into
non-players"
Adults tend not to play games, others reject them because of graphics, content and themes or in players that used to play a lot they don't play now because they are "too addictive"
Emotions During Play
Conclusion of emotional responses from xeodesign research
"1. Hard fun: Players like the opportunities for challenge, strategy and problem solving
2. Easy fun: Players enjoy intrigue and curiosity
3.Altered Stater: Players treasure the enjoyment from their internal experiences in reaction to the visceral, behaviour, cognitive and social properties.
4.The People Factor: Players use games as mechanisms for social experiences"
"For the game designer, the Four Keys to unlocking emotion in moment to moment game
play offers new opportunities for generating emotion through player choice."
"How many emotions can a game create?"
"What makes failing 80% of the time fun?"
"Do people play to feel emotions as well as challenge?"
"Where do they come from?"
"Is it possible to build emotions into games by adding emotion - producing objects or actions rather than cut scenes?"
"To what extent are game designers already doing this?"
Hal Barwood "The joy of figuring it out"
Overview of Four keys to emotion without story:
"Criteria for four keys:
1. What players like most about playing.
2. Create unique emotion without story.
3. Already present in Ultra popular games.
4. Supported by psychology theory and other larger studies"
Emotions from meaningful challenges, strategies and puzzles
1. Hard Fun
"For many players overcoming obstacles is why they play. Hard Fun creates emotion by
structuring experience towards the pursuit of a goal. The challenge focuses attention and
rewards progress to create emotions such as Frustration and Fiero (an Italian word for
personal triumph)"
"Players who enjoy the Hard Fun of
Challenge say they like:
• Playing to see how good I really am
• Playing to beat the game
• Having multiple objectives
• Requiring strategy rather than luck"
Grab attention from Ambiguity, Incompleteness and detail
2. Easy Fun
"Other players focus on the sheer enjoyment of experiencing the game activities. Easy Fun
maintains focus with player attention rather than a winning condition"
It awakes the curiosity in the player, to discover and find out more about the game world.
"The sensations of Wonder, Awe, and Mystery can be very intense"
Players who enjoy this type of play say they like:
"• Exploring new worlds with intriguing people
• Excitement and adventure
• Wanting to figure it out
• Seeing what happens in the story, even if I have to use a walk through
• Feeling like me and my character are one
• Liking the sound of cards shuffling
• Growing dragons"
Generate emotion with perception, thought, behaviour, and other people
3. Altered States
"Players report that how a game makes them feel inside is one of the major reasons why they
play, or “games as therapy."
"Players whose enjoyment focuses on their internal sate say they like:
• Clearing my mind by clearing a level
• Feeling better about myself
• Avoiding boredom
• Being better at something that matter"
Create opportunities for player competition, cooperation, performance and spectacle
4. The People Factor
"Many player comments centre on the enjoyment from playing with others inside or outside the
game"
"Wisecracks and rivalries run hot as players compete."
"Dominant emotions include Amusement, Schadenfreude, and Naches"
"Players whose enjoyment came from interaction with other people say
that:
• It’s the people that are addictive not the game.
• I want an excuse to invite my friends over.
• I don’t like playing games, but it’s a fun way to spend time with my friends.
• I don’t play, but it’s fun to watch."
People No Longer Play
"I won’t play his games, because someone has to take care of the kids!” –Wife of a Hard Core Gamer
"The onset of job responsibilities and raising families reduces game play turning some hard core gamers into
non-players"
Adults tend not to play games, others reject them because of graphics, content and themes or in players that used to play a lot they don't play now because they are "too addictive"
Emotions During Play
Conclusion of emotional responses from xeodesign research
"1. Hard fun: Players like the opportunities for challenge, strategy and problem solving
2. Easy fun: Players enjoy intrigue and curiosity
3.Altered Stater: Players treasure the enjoyment from their internal experiences in reaction to the visceral, behaviour, cognitive and social properties.
4.The People Factor: Players use games as mechanisms for social experiences"
"For the game designer, the Four Keys to unlocking emotion in moment to moment game
play offers new opportunities for generating emotion through player choice."
Xeodesign - Why we play games: Natural Funativity
Natural Funativity -
Dictionary Definition of "fun" - "as a source of amusement or enjoyment"
"We may not be able to describe fun, but we know it when we have it"
"What is the Funativity Quotient?" This is what was asked by Steve Arnold when making games - means where does the fun/entertainment come from?
Palaeolithic Pastimes:
"Refined Sugar Syndrome" - basically the change from hunter gatherer ancestors seeking rich ripe fruit for a sweet tooth which was actually good for them compared to modern day where sweet tooth's are beaten by processed sugars attempting to make the taste of a healthy, fruit alternative. This theory (RSS) is also used within a modern game industry "as the technology behind them has in fact made possible a concentrated, particularly potent play experience that is both very new in its expression and very old in it's origins."
"The drive to play is fundamental to humanity"
"Anyone who thinks there is a difference between education and entertainment doesn't know a thing about either" - Marshall McLuhan, communications theorist.
"Our modern fast-changing global culture has put even more emphasis on the ability to keep learning."
Type A Personalities - "People who are driven to work at survival tasks every moment available"
alternative to above are people who appreciate and feel the need to rest more than others and enjoy resting compared to "hunting"
"We must do a few things to survive. Everything else is entertainment" Marvin Minsky, AI expert.
The Natural Funativity theory: (Combination of Natural selection from Darwin and Steve Arnold's theory of Funativity Quotient)
Physical Fun:
Our primary instinct is survival and that is why most games and forms of entertainment focus mostly on survival to capture their audiences attention and survival instincts.
RSS Example - "The desire to gain skill in quickly escaping possible predators, animals or human, or chasing down prey has become abstracted into high-speed racing not only on foot but on bicycles, motorcycles, cars, sail boats, speedboats and pretty much any other conveyance."
We didn't inherit from our ancestors to build extremely fast cars, bikes etc. but we inherited the primal erge to move faster by any means.
"Casinos packed with slot machines recreate berry-picking, abstracted and refined into an RSS-related compulsion."
"Improving ones knowledge of immediate surroundings is a survival skill." As well as the use of "tools" dating back to prehistoric times and if incorporated in most modern day games whether they be weapons or tools to build or cars, flight simulators etc.
Also the use of keyboards and/or console controllers also improve our primal needs of hand eye coordination.
New software like Eye Toy/Kinect are increasing the primal social survival skills of the players who use the system with friends, neighbours, family etc.
Social Fun:
"Cell phones, instant messaging, and GPS - based games that put people in contact with each other in the real world are likely to further the social aspects of video games."
"We are tribal creatures forming groups and constantly watching and responding to each other."
"The development of language in its spoken form has added levels of indirection to our ability to learn survival skills and key information"
The use of modern technology now a day's is further aiding the basic survival skill of story telling as stories that were told and spread gave insight and taught others what to do and how to survive further, now through modern technology like films, TV, magazines, books, printers etc we are able to physically see the stories that we are told and this further aids our survival skills for example watching a documentary about child birth gives us the visual insight that would have been word of mouth millions of years ago.
The increase of tech over the years is just going to further increase the social interactivity to higher heights.
"Use the organ your using right now in games to make the game a good one without the need for a story or social interaction like Tetris which has no story or any ties to our ancestors"
Mental Fun:
"Our large brains are the answer"
"Even though we use our intelligence with physical and social fun, there is an entire set of entertainment activities including quite a few video games which focuses primarily on mental fun."
Instead of just using aspects from previous, well sold, popular games and risk adding concepts that are boring, the understanding of the games concepts is much more efficient as us as games designers can see and use what parts of a game work well and which don't.
Others on fun:
"I have yet to find any significant exceptions... to entertainment explained by natural funativity."
Future Funativity:
Dictionary Definition of "fun" - "as a source of amusement or enjoyment"
"We may not be able to describe fun, but we know it when we have it"
"What is the Funativity Quotient?" This is what was asked by Steve Arnold when making games - means where does the fun/entertainment come from?
Palaeolithic Pastimes:
"Refined Sugar Syndrome" - basically the change from hunter gatherer ancestors seeking rich ripe fruit for a sweet tooth which was actually good for them compared to modern day where sweet tooth's are beaten by processed sugars attempting to make the taste of a healthy, fruit alternative. This theory (RSS) is also used within a modern game industry "as the technology behind them has in fact made possible a concentrated, particularly potent play experience that is both very new in its expression and very old in it's origins."
"The drive to play is fundamental to humanity"
"Anyone who thinks there is a difference between education and entertainment doesn't know a thing about either" - Marshall McLuhan, communications theorist.
"Our modern fast-changing global culture has put even more emphasis on the ability to keep learning."
Type A Personalities - "People who are driven to work at survival tasks every moment available"
alternative to above are people who appreciate and feel the need to rest more than others and enjoy resting compared to "hunting"
"We must do a few things to survive. Everything else is entertainment" Marvin Minsky, AI expert.
The Natural Funativity theory: (Combination of Natural selection from Darwin and Steve Arnold's theory of Funativity Quotient)
Physical Fun:
Our primary instinct is survival and that is why most games and forms of entertainment focus mostly on survival to capture their audiences attention and survival instincts.
RSS Example - "The desire to gain skill in quickly escaping possible predators, animals or human, or chasing down prey has become abstracted into high-speed racing not only on foot but on bicycles, motorcycles, cars, sail boats, speedboats and pretty much any other conveyance."
We didn't inherit from our ancestors to build extremely fast cars, bikes etc. but we inherited the primal erge to move faster by any means.
"Casinos packed with slot machines recreate berry-picking, abstracted and refined into an RSS-related compulsion."
"Improving ones knowledge of immediate surroundings is a survival skill." As well as the use of "tools" dating back to prehistoric times and if incorporated in most modern day games whether they be weapons or tools to build or cars, flight simulators etc.
Also the use of keyboards and/or console controllers also improve our primal needs of hand eye coordination.
New software like Eye Toy/Kinect are increasing the primal social survival skills of the players who use the system with friends, neighbours, family etc.
Social Fun:
"Cell phones, instant messaging, and GPS - based games that put people in contact with each other in the real world are likely to further the social aspects of video games."
"We are tribal creatures forming groups and constantly watching and responding to each other."
"The development of language in its spoken form has added levels of indirection to our ability to learn survival skills and key information"
The use of modern technology now a day's is further aiding the basic survival skill of story telling as stories that were told and spread gave insight and taught others what to do and how to survive further, now through modern technology like films, TV, magazines, books, printers etc we are able to physically see the stories that we are told and this further aids our survival skills for example watching a documentary about child birth gives us the visual insight that would have been word of mouth millions of years ago.
The increase of tech over the years is just going to further increase the social interactivity to higher heights.
"Use the organ your using right now in games to make the game a good one without the need for a story or social interaction like Tetris which has no story or any ties to our ancestors"
Mental Fun:
"Our large brains are the answer"
"Even though we use our intelligence with physical and social fun, there is an entire set of entertainment activities including quite a few video games which focuses primarily on mental fun."
“Our intelligence, hand and tool abilities, and language all
complement each other and it is
difficult to separate out how they all developed in the
historical record. Our larger brains and
intelligence certainly made it possible for our ancestors to
make and use increasingly more complex
and varied tools and carry on more useful conversations. Our
tool use and ability to coordinate our
hunting and gathering through conversation has obviously
helped to make our ancestors more
efficient as hunters and gatherers, which in turn let them
find enough food to support their large
brains (which take a disproportionate share of our food
energy). And our language ability has let us
pass on knowledge about making tools, and has helped us
survive socially and cooperate to
compensate for some of the challenges that very large brains
have caused, like difficult childbirth and children who remain helpless much
longer than other young.”
“Although some people have aspirations to create a formula
or even a program to churn out game concepts or to exhaustively analyze and
evaluate games, I think this is an aberrant side effect of the fact that game
development is a multidisciplinary craft that includes a lot of programmers and
software engineers. Video games are software, but are also at heart very
concerned with creative and subtle psychological points, and like novels,
plays, and film I expect that people will reject any overly mechanical attempts
to codify them.”
"The essence of intelligence is the perception and manipulation of patterns" e.g. Tetris as a key example
The literal use of Tetris is obviously not helpful, to more, rotate and drop shapes but the ability drawn from it to view and act upon patterns quickly and improve our mental capacity is aiding in over survival skills such as " quickly recognizing and acting on patterns is useful"
"The survival benefit is not in the actual collecting of stamps or CD's, but in the mental fun of recognizing patterns. It is a workout for the brain."
Blended Fun: (The combination of the three types of fun stated earlier) e.g. Everquest as it incorporates; physical aspects (keyboard and mouse input), with simulated movement and combat, social aspects of teamwork, conversation etc.
Applying Natural Funativity:
"By the tying game play to these key aspects of hunting, gathering, exploration, social interaction and status, and pattern perception and we can capture the interest of large numbers of players and make games more fun."
"When a possible game feature can be measured against its ability to deliver on physical, social, or mental fun as described here"
Instead of just using aspects from previous, well sold, popular games and risk adding concepts that are boring, the understanding of the games concepts is much more efficient as us as games designers can see and use what parts of a game work well and which don't.
Others on fun:
"I have yet to find any significant exceptions... to entertainment explained by natural funativity."
Future Funativity:
"I also fully expect that we will
increasingly find common ground with other developers of all forms of
entertainment, as with genetics, once one looks beneath the surface it is
apparent we have more in common than our surface features would suggest. I certainly
expect to see the principles of Natural Funativity used increasingly to make
games more fun. And who knows - some day we may even learn how to define and
measure that elusive Funativity Quotient"
Friday 18 November 2011
Storyboard Script Final Draft
Here it is. My final formatted script for my storyboard. Enjoy!!!
BUTLER
Butler
THE PROTECTORS
DANIEL BROWN
EXT.
ALLEYWAY – NIGHT
CHRIS VOLK weaves down the alleyway holding a beer. He
is drunk.
SUDDENLY a sound.
He looks up.
At the end of an alleyway a group of THUGS in a fight
against one MAN. feeling confident he
attempts to help the lone man.
Walking closer to the fight, the man is masked and
fending off all of the 8 attackers at once without taking any hits, Chris realises
the lone man is a masked hero and not in need of help.
Thugs hear Chris drop his bottle and they stop and turn
to him.
THUG
1
Who
the hell are you?
THUG
BOSS
Get
him!
Fight erupts. Chris drunkenly puts up a good fight,
dodging blows and hitting them hard back quickly. Then the alcohol kicks in and
he is hit repeatedly by three attackers to the ground.
Hero defeats his ‘attackers’ with a powerful melee of
kicks and punches and turns to Chris’s attackers. He moves swiftly punching and striking the
attackers. They are quickly defeated. The hero picks up Chris from the floor.
Hero
(surprised
and confused)
Chris?!
what the hell are you doing here?
Chris
(Just
as Surprised)
What?
How do you know my name?
EXT. END OF ALLEYWAY – NIGHT
Thug boss turns on looking at the pair talking. Drawing
a pistol.
Thug
boss
This
is for Benz!
Hero turns as he hears exclamation. Is too slow and is
shot in chest.
The thugs run off and Chris catches the hero as he
falls back from protecting him.
Hero
I
thought you was at home training?
EXT. ALLEYWAY – NIGHT
CLOSE UP ON CHRIS AND HERO
(SHOCKED, CONFUSED)Chris holds the hero's head in
comfort and pulls down the mask uncovering his face.
Chris
Dad?! What are you doing here? Why are you in a costume
fighting thugs and muggers?
Dad
Take this, it will explain everything, I love you son
Chris
I love you too
The hero passes to his son a golden, odd looking key on
a chain neckless. As he accepts the key the hero's eyes close.
FADE TO BLACK
Chris(V/O)
I
spent all of my time growing up with my dad, my mum was killed in a car crash,
INT. CAR – HIGHWAY - NIGHT
BABY CHRIS in back of car. MUM driving. Car coming
towards them and crashes into them.
Chris
(V/O)
The
driver of the on coming car was drunk, I was in the back and luckily completely
UN harmed.
My dad raised me, trained me in all kinds of fighting
styles, kung fu, karate and tai chi are my favorite as well as using weapons
like stick fighting.
INT. FATHERS DO JO – DAY
Montage of YOUNG DAD
and YOUNG CHRIS training.
Chris
(V/O)
He
also home schooled me, I love science, and so does my dad being a scientist and
all as well as a archaeologist.
INT. FATHERS LAB – DAY
Montage of Chris and dad working with chemicals and
test tubes.
INT. FATHERS LIBRARY
- NIGHT
Chris reading with piles of book next to him.
Chris
(V/O)
My
dad keeps me busy but more recently I realised he’s kept me busy to distract me
from the fact that I am being kept away from everyone.
INT. CHRIS’S ROOM – DAY
Chris looking on at others of his age playing talking
and joking outside his house.
Chris
(V/O)
I
only really get to talk to our butler and people I meet when collecting our
shopping. It seems though when I do talk to others I seem to be massive in body
size and intellect, maybe its the home schooling and martial arts?
INT. KITCHEN – DAY
INT. SHOPPING CENTRE - DAY
Chris shopping and towering in height and muscle mass
over others in the store.
Chris bumps into attractive GIRL. They pair fall for
each other instantly, through their long glances at each other, blushing cheeks
and flirty behaviour.
Chris
I'm so sorry, my minds on other
things.
Girl pears into basket of nutritious food and muscle
supplements.
Girl
I
bet, that stuff looks boring what you got in there!
Chris
ha
I'm on a sort of strict diet, my dads very strict on what I do and eat.
Girl
Sounds
fun to be you.
Sarcastically flirting with Chris.
Chris
I'm
Chris by the way....
Chris extends his massive hand. The girl accepts the
gesture and shakes is giant hand compared to hers
Girl
Nice
to meet you Chris.
Chris
You not going to tell me your
name?
Flirting back to the sarcastic comments earlier.
Girl
Yes
I will, if you come to my party in two weeks? The 6Th of June?
Chris
Erm
I can’t its my birthday and I'm not allowed out too late or any alcohol, Dads
orders.
Girl
Its
your birthday, your not allowed out or any alcohol, WHAT!Come on sneak out
how old are you? You a man or a mouse? Come I wanna tell you my name.
Chris is extremely intrigued by this offer.
Chris
Well
I’ll be 21, and do I really look like a mouse?
Shocked at the realisation of his age compared to his
physique
Girl
Jees!
your 21? and your not allowed drink or to be out late? Right your coming I
don't care what you say, where do u live I’ll get you at 7:30 in two weeks.
Chris
erm
do you know Volk House?
Girl
What
the massive mansion on the river?
Chris
Yeah that's me.
Girl
Cute
and a millionaire, nice. See you at 7:30.
FADE TO BLACK
EXT. OUTSIDE VOLK HOUSE – NIGHT
Girl waiting. Over hearing mumbles of an argument
between Chris and his Dad.
After argument ends Chris appears at his window,jumps
down and front flips over the gate in one very fast fluid motion.
Girl
Wo!!
How’d you do that?
Chris
What
that? That’s nothing just basic acrobatics.
Girl
Well
acrobat we’re late
FADES AS THE PAIR WALK OFF.
INT. PARTY AT GIRLS HOUSE - NIGHT
Chris is laughing and joking, towering over other
guests. He’s very drunk, slurring his words and falling around, knocking things
and people over accidental.
Girl
Hey?
How you feeling? Please don’t fall on me no one will be able to carry you home.
Chris
I’mmm
alllrightt I thinks.HEY you’ve never told me that thing? Your name?
Girl
I
guess you have earned it. Its Silvia, don’t mock me. I kept my word, you got my
name and your having a good time obviously.
Shouting loudly to the whole room
Silvia
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!!
The room goes into an uproar. Everyone cheers and sings
happy birthday to Chris.
FADE TO BLACK
EXT ALLEYWAY – NIGHT
Chris
V/O
And
that’s how I got here. How I caused my own Dads death.
CAMERA FOCUSED ON CHRIS HOLDING HIS DAD AND THE GOLDEN
KEY IN HIS PALM.
FADE TO BLACK
INT. MANSION LIBRARY – NIGHT
Chris places his Dads body onto the large centre table.
He begins to sob. When looking up from his body, notices a square shaped hole
next to the log burning fire with a picture of the father and son in their
training suits smiling at the camera.
Chris takes the key from around his neck and put the
key in the lock and turns.
With a massive thud and the sound of a moving mechanism
the whole fire place swings inwards from the key hole and reveals..
INT. SECRET ROOM – NIGHT
The mysterious room is windowless but is extremely
bright. Computer screens and monitors taking up a whole wall are playing
security tapes, and slideshows of convicts. The main monitor is paused on his
dads killer.
On the desk are articles and newspapers detailing
criminal activity and their apprehension by a hooded hero, his dad.
Chris turns around the room and comes across two glass
chambers. One empty and one with a 21stst birthday banner across.
Inside is a costume similar to his dads in his size.
FADES TO BLACK
CAMERA MOVES FROM CHRIS’ FEET TO HEAD.
We see Chris in the full costume except his mask.
Behind him the BUTLER
We need to sort your face out?
What are you going to do sir?
The camera turns to Chris as he turns to the butler
wearing his costume all except his mask/hood revealing his bloodied and bruised
face and costume in all its dominating glory.
Chris
Benz
killed the cities protector, now they have a new, Protector, a fitter model to
deal with, with a vengeance!!
The scene finishes with Chris putting on his mask and
hood then the scene fades to darkness.
Storyboard second draft
Below is my second draft at my story for my storyboard project.
Butler
I hope you like the story idea, this is just the introduction to the story but this is what I will be storyboarding at least partially.
Dan out x
The Protectors
My
story is going to start in a flash forward with the main character Chris Volk
walking inebriated down an alley way holding a beer.
He
oversees at the end of an alleyway a group of thugs in a fight against one man,
feeling confident he attempts to help the lone man.
As
he gets closer he realises the lone man is wearing a dark hooded costume,
covering all of his skin and a form of high tech body armour.
The
hooded character does not need Chris’ help but the thugs now move on to Chris
as the thugs have noticed him and the hooded character is outnumbered
physically but not outnumbered in skill.
Chris
is overpowered and beaten by the thugs because of his drunken state, then the
hooded character fends off all of the thugs and as he is helped up by the
faceless hero the leader of the thugs turns around and draws a pistol as the hero's back is turned
away from them.
THUG: This is from Benz!
As
he finish his exclamation the hero turns to face him just as the bullet hits
him in the chest.
The
thugs run off and Chris pulls himself up and to look at the hero. As he does so
the hero turn to look at him and exclaims in confusion.
Hero: Chris?! What are you
doing here?i thought you was at home training?
Shocked,
Chris holds the hero's head in comfort and pulls down the mask covering the
hero’s face.
Chris: Dad?! What are you
doing here? Why are you in a costume fighting thugs and muggers?
Dad: Take this, it will explain
everything, I love you son
The
hero passes to his son a golden, odd looking key on a chain neckless. As he
accepts the key the hero's eyes close and a voice over cuts in.
Chris (Voice over): I never
thought that would happen when I woke up this morning. Not the best 21st
birthday party, actually tonight was my only real party I ever had, and it was
all because of this girl.
Scene
fades out and goes back 2 weeks earlier. Chris is in a shop buying groceries
and general food when he bumps into a good looking woman who he instantly falls
for.
Chris: I'm so sorry, my
minds on other things.
Girl: I bet, that stuff
looks boring what you got in there!
Chris: ha I'm on a sort of
strict diet, my dads very strict on what I do and eat.
Girl: Sounds fun to be you.
Chris: I'm Chris by the
way....
Girl: Nice to meet you
Chris.
Chris: You not going to
tell me your name?
Girl: yes I will, if you
come to my party in two weeks? The 6Th of June?
Chris: Erm I can’t its my
birthday and I'm not allowed out too late or any alcohol, Dads orders.
Girl: its your birthday,
your not allowed out or any alcohol, WHAT!Come on sneak out how old are you?
You a man or a mouse? Come I wanna tell you my name.
Chris: well I’ll be 21, and
do I really look like a mouse?
Girl: jees your 21 and your
not allowed drink or to be out late, right your coming I don't care what you
say, where do u live I’ll get you at 8 in two weeks.
Chris: Erm do you know Volk
House?
Girl: what the massive
mansion on the river?
Chris: Yeah that's me.
Fades
to voice over.
Chris: I spent all of my
time growing up with my dad, my mum was killed in a car crash, the driver of
the on coming car going the wrong way was drunk, I was in the back and luckily
completely UN harmed. My dad raised me, trained me in all kinds of fighting
styles, kung fu, karate and tai chi are my favorite as well as using weapons
like swords but mostly stick fighting. He also home schooled me, I love
science, and so does my dad being a scientist and all as well as a
archaeologist. My dad keeps me busy but more recently I realised he’s kept me
busy as well as distracting me from the fact that I am being kept away from
everyone, I only really get to talk to our butler and people I meet when
collecting my dads shopping. It seems though when I do talk to others I seem to
be massive in body size and intellect, maybe its the home schooling and martial
arts?
With
the voice over running we are shown a montage of clips of Chris in a car crash
with is mum, followed by him training from a young age with his dad until now
in different variants of martial arts and finally showing him now and his
towering physique and mental capacity. (Through books and amounts of work he
does).
Voice overs
and montage fades to Chris after an argument following Chris asking to go out
for his birthday and his dad banning him from leaving the grounds tonight, he
disobeys and Chris sneaks out on the 6Th
June at around 7:3opm and meeting up with the mysterious girl.
Following
the story will jump to him at the party getting quite inebriated and having a
good time and the final revelation of this mysterious girls name.
Then
we flash forward to the start and Chris is holding the mysterious golden key and
decided to avenge his father and in doing so he take his fathers body home and
finds a mysterious hidden door way with a square shaped key hole, that opens up
into a hidden rooms within his dads private room.
Inside
he discovers newspaper articles and magazines about his dad as this hooded hero
and lastly turns to see a costume exactly his size in a glass container with a
21St banner around it and an open laptop but before he can view the
computer screen he is interrupted by the butler.
The
camera turns to Chris as he turns to the butler wearing his costume all except
his mask/hood revealing to the butler his bloodied and bruised face.
Chris: Benz killed the
cities protector, now they have a new, younger, fitter model to deal with, with
a vengeance.
The
scene finishes with Chris putting on his mask and hood then the scene fades to
darkness.
Thursday 17 November 2011
The Royal Game of Ur - Iterations
Royal Game of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur dates from 2600 B.C. It was discovered in the 1920s by Sir Leonard Wooley during his excavations at the city of Ur in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). In the early 1980s, Irving Finkel of the British Museum uncovered the rules of the game, long forgotten, by deciphering Sumerian cuneiform tablets.
Rules
The Royal Game of Ur is played by two players using a board consisting of 20 squares shown in Figure 1. One player has seven white stones and the other has seven black stones. Each player takes turns to throw four D4 dice (figure 2) or throwing sticks that are marked on one side and move one of their pieces according to the number indicated by the dice or sticks.
Figure 1: Royal Game of Ur board
Dice with
marks upwards
|
Count
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
4
|
4
|
The goal is to move each stone along the 14-square path from the start square to the end and remove the stone from the board. The winner is the player who removes all their stones from the board first.
If a stone lands on a square marked with a star the player may roll again and if they are left on a star square they are protected from being destroyed by the opponent for as long as they are on that square. After rolling the dice the player moves the stone forward the number of squares shown by the dice roll. When starting a stone the first count is onto the start square. A player may have more than one stone on the board at a time. If the stone of one player lands on a square occupied by the stone of the opponent while on the center row, the opponent’s stone is removed from the board and must start again." Information and images quoted from http://www.boardgamesoftheworld.com/ur.html and then alterations added by me.
Figure 2: D4 dice image taken from http://www.google.co.uk/images
The D4 dice shown above is a modern day D4 so is different from the table and relative counts, the D4 that would have been used originally would have been used by dotting two points on each of the four dice used and when thrown if the point facing upwards had a dot on that would count as one then the total of all four D4's would equal the amount the player could move.
New Board of Ur:
Below is an image of the new type of board that we also played on after we tried the original board game. After we played on this type of board we then added our iterations.
Figure 3: a new iteration of the original board game space
My Royal Game of Ur Iterations:
After this we decided to add the iteration that if the player can move they have to even if that meant moving from the safety of the star squares.
After a play through with these rules we decided on two iterations, the first was to determine who goes first, as arguing occurred, the first person to three in a game of rock-paper-scissors went first, then we decided that if a player jumps over and/or lands on an opponents square they are taken excluding the star squares.
Following another run through we decided to iterate a positive feedback loop which meant that if a player took a piece or multiple pieces they had an extra go, but only one go even if they took more than one piece, this was also a sort of negative feedback loop as well as the player who was behind could luckily take the others players piece and land on a star square afterwards meaning they could combine their movements to move quicker up the board in one go.
Our last iteration after playing through this we decided another negative feedback loop which meant, because of the rule of having to move if it is possible, through the introduction of a death square on the second to last board space, which meant for example, if the player in the lead had one piece left near the end and rolled the perfect number to land on the 'Death square' they had to land on it unless they had other pieces, which meant giving the loser the advantage as the winner has been sent back to that start.
Figure 4: Our iteration of the board space
I hope you have enjoyed this post and if you like you can make your own board and have a go at the original game, my iterations and also make your own iterations. Enjoy the Royal Game Of Ur.
Dan Out x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)