ELECTRONIC GAMES

Narrative Design and Phenomenology

GAMES
an integral part of human life reflecting culture and society

Elements of probability and chance are

known to entertain the human mind

CATHODE RAY TUBE AMUSEMENT DEVICE (1947)

Dog Daze (two-player competitive early arcade race game)

TETRIS

Entertainment

Amusement

fun without knowing the reason for it

became tiresome

Existential crisis
bordered on the urge to win and survive a conflict
created in the game within a time span

created interest & engaged the players for a

longer duration

Narration and role playing games were introduced

videogames as a storytelling medium

intense, exaggerated and extreme experiences

well-structured narrative and a well-planned immersive environment

starts mediating the human perceptions

Taxonomy of Computer Games

Chris Crawford The Art of Computer Game Design
(1982)

Skill and Action Games (S&A games) emphasizing

perceptual and motor skills
Strategy games emphasizing cognitive efforts

Combat games

Maze games

Paddle games

Sports games

Race games

Adventure games

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D)

War games

Puzzle/ Educational games

Classification based on Gameplay

pattern of interaction with the game system, following the rules, set by the game designer

Role-playing games (RPG)

Real time strategy (RTS)

Third-person shooter (TPS)

First person shooter (FPS)

Stealth shooter games

Massive multiplayer online (MMO)

Multi-user domain/ Multi user dimension/ Multi-user

dungeon (MUD)

Simulation

Jhon Kim- writer and narrative designer unfolds a

threefold model
Drama
Gameplay
Simulation

ELEMENTS OF GAME DESIGNING

Game designing is a massive process where multiple disciplines are involved
Critical Thinking and Idea Generating
Narratives and Character Development (antagonist, protagonist,
henchman, trickster, mentor)
Level Design (maps, NPCs, weapons, rewards, resource nodes)
Gameplay Design and Artificial Intelligence (Manipulation rules,
Goal rules, Meta-rules)
Immersive Environment (tactical, strategic, narrative and spatial)
Visual Narratives

Bastion

The Last of Us

NARRATIVE DESIGN

creating game cohesion and immersion

NARRATIVE DESIGN

creating game cohesion and immersion

CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY/READER RESPONSE

THEORY
constructivist theory is the active involvement of the reader in constructing meanings from the
text (group of signs)

novel,
novel,
film,
film,
play
play

(not
(not delivered
delivered to
to
the
player,
but
the player, but
actively
actively created
created
by
by the
the player)
player)

general
general prototype
prototype
experience
experience delivered,
delivered,
that
that isis understood
understood
within
within
aa culture.
culture.

DECISION NODES
area of risk / notion of fate or illusion of fate

Conflict - Fuel of the Story

The fuel of fiction is conflict. Conflict is a situation in the narrative when the character wants
something, but someone or something stands in the way.

LAYERS OF NARRATIVES
FOUR INTERCONNECTED AND HIERARCHICALLY STRUCTURED LAYERS

Narrative situation
Narration
Story persons
Events (logically connected sequence )

THREE-ACT STRUCTURE

Cutscenes
Cutscenes are non-interactive sequences used in many games to advance the
plot, provide backstory or explain the objectives to be completed by the player
In-engine cutscene
Pre-rendered cutscene
Live-action cutscene

NON-LINEAR NARRATION

Tree
Exploratorium
Parallel-plot structure
Nodal/ Dead-end structure
Modulated/ Dynamic labyrinth structure
Open structure

EMBEDDED NARRATIVES
EMERGENT NARRATIVES

PHENOMENOLOGY OF NARRATIVE DESIGN

Empathic immersion in the situations described

Slowing down and dwelling in each moment of the experience

Magnification and amplification of the situations as experienced

Suspension of belief and employment of intense interest in experiential detail

Turning from objects to their significance

Exploring implicit horizons and meanings

Distinguishing various constituents that make up the entire experience

Paying attention to recurrent modes of experience, meanings and motifs

Interrogating opacity that is pushing the limits of comprehension

Imaginatively varying constituents in order to identify its essential, invariant

structures

Identifying general insights through inter-personal experience

Frederick J. Wertz, Phenomenological Research Methods Psychology: A Comparison with Grounded Theory, Discourse Analysis, Narrative
Research, and Intuitive Inquiry, www.psyking.net

CONCLUSION
A new medium of entertainment through which
storytelling assumes a different style

Listener himself becomes one of the major

protagonists

Players immersion beyond moderation leads to

social isolation and changes in their behavioural
patterns.