Thoughts on Critical Game
Studies II
David Finkel
Computer Science Department
Interactive Media and Game Development
Interactive Media and Game Development1
Purpose of this talk
• Previously: An overview of the Critical
Game Studies course
• In this exciting episode: A more detailed
look at one of the topics in the course:
storytelling and games
– This topic might occupy one week of the
course.
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Why stories?
• The role of stories in life. Why do we tell
stories?
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–
–
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A way of organizing our experiences
To inform other people about our experiences
To amuse other people
To create a shared emotional experience
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My theory about storytelling
• In our brain’s visual system, we have a
series of centers responsible for interpreting
colors, objects, scenes.
• Similarly, I believe we have special brain
centers for organizing events into stories.
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Storytelling and games
• Why do we have stories in games
–
–
–
–
May have no story … Tetris
Or minimal stories … Space Invaders
To motivate the game play
To create a more long-term interest than the
game-play alone can create
– To provide an emotional experience
– To provide an experience different from our
everyday lives
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The role of stories in games
• The backstory
• The story of the game
– Who is the storyteller?
– What is the role of the player in determining the
narrative?
• The stories the players tell each other
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Backstory Examples
• Phantasy Star
• Warcarft III
• Max Payne
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Another classification
(Shamelessly stolen from Dean’s course description)
•
•
•
•
Linear
Branching
Emergent
Examples …
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The rest of the presentation …
is intended to tell students about some
specific approaches to constructing stories
and to convince them that it’s worth
learning something about how to create
stories before starting to write their own
stories.
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Sources
• Andrew Rollins and Ernest Adams on Game
Design, Chapter 4
• Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction, by
Michael J. Toolan
– “While functions proper are distributional, sequential,
‘completed’ further on in the story – and so have a kind
of syntagmatic ratification, indices are said to be
integrational, hierarchically-oriented, realized by
relating them to some higher, integrated level, a
paradigmatic ratification.”
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Approaches to story telling - 1
• One approach:
– The monomyth / the hero’s journey
– Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand
Faces (1949)
– Christopher Vogler “A Practical Guide to the
Hero’s Journey” – see handout
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Approaches to Story Telling - 2
• Propp’s analysis of the Russian fairytale
– 31 functions
– See handout
– Analysis of child’s story
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Multipart-stories – Series
• Different narrative formats for multi-part series
(Terminology from Rollings and Adams)
• Series: Story is broken into epsiodes, each of which
resolves its own story line and also advances the overall
theme.
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Multi-part stories - Serial
• Serial: Episodes, but there are multiple
overlapping story lines. Each episode advances
one or more story lines. No overall story, so
potentially infinitely many episodes.
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Story telling - Episodic
• Epsiodic: Overall story line developed
throughout, with tight integration between
episodes and significant overlap of plot threads.
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Topics for class discussion
• Different styles of presenting back story,
and why they might be appropriate for
different games.
• For different games, identify the types /
organization of the stories.
• For a new game, discuss the way to present
the story.
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Thoughts on Critical Game
Studies II
David Finkel
Computer Science Department
Interactive Media and Game Development
Interactive Media and Game Development17