Many of us have at least once thought about creating something of our own.
Be it a movie, game, painting or anything else.
In any case, you need a story, you need a plot to interest the consumer or, with the help of this story, to convey the author’s thought to the masses.
Hello everyone, Raul is here and I’ll talk about the plot today.
I will try not to touch on other areas of game dev, and concentrate entirely on today’s topic.But I won’t be able to avoid touching on it at all for obvious reasons, I hope it won’t turn out too chaotic.
Many of us have a certain understanding of how to develop a plot.You come up with a world, add the main characters, the main plot, a couple of plot branches leading from the main story and that’s it, the plot for winning an Oscar is ready.
But this is far from true.
First you need to understand well why exactly you are making history.
If this is a movie, then the screenwriter needs to focus on the characters, since in the film industry we get a greater range of emotions from the main characters.From their chewing on the interaction between themselves and the decisions and actions they take.
A good example is Tarantino.
Almost every film of his avoids explaining what kind of world this is and what is happening here.Bringing characters to the fore.
In his film "Reservoir Dogs"
From the location 90% of the tape we see the same barn.
The location of the action does not really change, but because of this the picture almost loses, since our attention is completely taken away by the characters.Their dialogues, their behavior is what makes you believe in what is happening with such admiration.
If this is fine art, then the main message is.There should be a story behind the picture that will not only excite the minds of the public but also give food for thought.
Or the story of the picture itself should be at the level.
Not so long ago, a https://charlescasino.uk/withdrawal/ painting by the great artist Leonardo Da Vinci “Portrait of Monalisa”
No one took it seriously, considering it a second-rate portrait, one of many of its time.
Until it was stolen from the Louvre.
The loss was noticed within a day.
Since then she has been considered an art icon.
What about game dev?.
Here, for the most part, the plot is usually built from the world where everything happens.
The player must believe and completely immerse himself in the universe invented by the author.
There are several rules for competent world building.in brief.
1-LAWS.
The world must have its own conventions and restrictions.
The player must understand that he is in a logical sequence of events and not in an anarchic and disorderly chaos, where everything appears out of nowhere and goes there too.
There must be fundamental laws.
2-BACKGROUND
The world should have its own story.The player should feel that before he appeared here, life was in full swing and everything did not revolve around him.
3-INTERACTION
The world must be built to interact and be tightly intertwined with the gameplay mechanics of the game itself.
Thanks to these 3 foundations, the basis is created, the skeleton of what we want to receive.
It’s like raw dough for a baker; if it’s not cooked well, the dish won’t turn out well.
Going further we come up with “Providing information”
No matter how exciting the story is
The key moments in it are interesting, but the things between them will sooner or later begin to cause fatigue.
For example, "Dragon Adge Origin’s"
The story itself is as captivating as the best books, but at the 20th hour of the game, another deologist with a passing gnome will wake you up blindly with the thought “leave me alone”
In contrast to this, “Jorney”, which provides information through the surrounding world and nothing more, has no deologists from the word at all.But there are sounds with which players communicate with each other and which provide at least a grain of information about the world in which everything happens.
In MGS5 you can listen to tapes during the main gameplay, which is many times better than listening to rather boring dialogues of minor characters or reading notes.
But you can’t convey all the information through the world around you, this is where scenes appear.
And when developing the story, many of the original writers don’t take advantage of the fact that they write the script and dialogue for the game.
I’m not talking about a selection wheel like in Fallout like Yes No Sarcasm.
The latest example of "Katana Zero"
Where you can skip all the dialogues and thereby influence the network thread and the world around you.
You should not neglect such tools, because this is precisely what gives games the advantage.
Games allow you to move and position the camera in a way that won’t work in more than one movie, but techniques from other industries such as comics, the film industry, and animation work here completely, if not better.
For the most part, it is not dialogues that reveal a character, but actions.His behavior in a certain situation and interaction with the outside world.
The main character of "BioShock Infinite" upon arrival in the cloud city, first looks amazingly at what is happening around him, and cannot believe his eyes.But as soon as he realizes that he is not welcome here, he immediately begins to act without hesitation.
This is why we understand that this man is purposeful and has seen a lot in his life.
Don’t forget about how the player consumes the game.And what exactly is he playing?.
For example, most Indie games are based on relaxation and entertainment, they do not have complex mechanics, a lot of characters.In them, the gameplay itself, the action itself, is much more important.
In such games, delivering the message through gameplay is the most successful option.
Tie the narrative to the gameplay so tightly that the former is noticeable without the latter.
And consider that you did it.
But this won’t work with large AAA projects.
Consistency is important there, you need to understand and feel when to let the player play and when to insert scenes to give the player a break.
You can get tired of any story, especially if this story is presented monotonously.
Give the player the opportunity to get pieces of the plot in the most unobvious ways.
Be it music, level design, character design, or even drawings on the walls.
The main thing is that when the player notices this, he can feel and understand everything subconsciously, maybe not in the way you intended, but that doesn’t matter anymore.
A game is primarily about gameplay.
Build the narrative around gameplay mechanics and not vice versa.
Avoid text, letting actions and objects tell the story.
Be it the savages in “The Forest” or Kratos’ ax that his dead wife gave him.
As for the music, work with the sound designer in constant communication because the sound sets the tone for the game.
The Legend of Zelda is a prime example of how the history of the world is told through music.
You hear the sounds of a recorder, homemade drums and piano.You understand that you find yourself in a fairy tale and it is a fairy tale story that you will have to experience.
The situation is completely different with DOOM
Hearing heavy rock, you immediately want to run into battle and destroy everything that comes to hand.
Swap the sound of these games and the lion’s share of emotions and understanding of the world around us and its history will be completely lost.