The use of the narrative curve in videogames, pt2

This is the followup from a article I did a few months back about the use of the narratice curve in videogames. I did so by comparing two point and click game series from Telltale as well as one of my own game scripts. Enjoy:

Moai Better Blues begins with flying triangles assaulting Sam and Max´s neigbourhood, kidnapping people and sending them to the Easter island. Jumping into a triangle Sam and Max finds out from some talking moai heads that a volcano is supposed to erupt soon, dooming the island. To stop it they need to seek audience with the volcano god, guarded by baby versions of Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart among others (the fountain of youth is on Easter island too). In the end the evil volcano god turns out to be Max´s pet goldfish. Yeah..you know how bad comedians think that they can just throw random wacky stuff into their act until people laugh and this is pretty much how this episode is written. The episode do have a clear climax when confronting the pet goldfish, though. As an aside, I do find the joke about the head of the Lincoln memorial falling in love with one of the moai head to be really funny. But since God is dead and we can´t have nice things anymore this episode also introduces baby Amelia Earhart, who reappears in season 3.

The Siege of Spinner Cay begins with a battle against the pirate hunter Morgan Le Flay. After making it to the titular Spinner Cay, Guybrush is tasked with finding three summoning artifacts in order to summon a create to take him to La Esponja Grande. However, a group of pox-infested pirates are bent on stopping him. Guybrush defeats them and uses the artifacts, which sadly results in him being eaten by a gigantic manatee. This episode, just like the first episode of Sam and Max, follows the curve very well. There is a clear set-up with the artifacts, a point of no return with the titular siege and a climax with a sea battle against the evil pox-captain. The only thing I would downgrade is since the final battle is a escapable battle (you need to lose at least once in order to replace your mast with a rubber tree) there is no real sense of danger. As yet another aside I must say I find teaching human Lechuck how to be an adventure game hero is not only funny, but hysterically so. It´s like teaching your parents how to play adventure games. My parents aren´t evil zombie pirates in disguise, though.

My initial draft for the middle of Alex and Adva was pretty straightforward. They go from A to B to C until they find the plant, fights the demons off and then you win. This makes the quest way too static and the central conflict at the end too sudden. The way I solved it is to make rumours about among the shades in the underworld about a large scale demon attack, as well as seeding doubts about if the plant they are searching for is really what they think it is. There is also an additional conflict with the lord of the dead, Tymor, since Adva has let someone unauthorized into the underworld, and the magician who Alex stole the magic book from. Alex and Adva becomes fugitives, which adds tension building up between them as well.

A point I wanted to emphazise today is when the point of no return takes place. Since all of these seasons, including my own hypotethical game, has five episodes I would say that it takes place in the third episode. So for the next installment we are going to focus a bit about the point of no return. Tales of Monkey island has this weird thing where points of the narrative curve are shuffled around a bit. What would normally be a climactic battle appears at the start of the first and second episode, for example. A good point of return would be swallowed by a huge beast (you could also go on a tangent about the hero with a thousand faces) which here happens at the end of the second season.

Magier och trick!

Väldigt längesen jag skrev något om RPGmaker spelet Journeys East of Knez! För en tid sen (dvs mer en ett halvår sedan) lade jag upp en del karaktärers specialattacker på facebook som ett sätt att presentera deras karaktärer. Men det var tre jag inte han med! Ap-uppfinnaren Givased, rävmagikern Magínt och kaninprofeten DidIprai blev till fullo klargjorda men de resterande vill jag prata lite extra om här.

Peggy

Peggy är en ung gris-handelsresande som använder pollen, pulver och sin egen kyliga personlighet för att lamslå hennes motståndare. Hon har även tillgång till unika verktyg och kan använda det helt klart störst antalet objekt i spelet. Ett tips är att dubbelutrusta henne med sköldar och din bästa röstning. Attacken "faderns sköld" drar sedan monstrens aggressivitet och skyddar resten av laget!

Shebaz

Shebaz är en drottning över ett rike i öster och fokuserar på kraftfull men dyr magi. När den väl har tagit slut står man där så micromanagement av mana är viktig om man vill använda denna karaktär till fullo. Hon har även ett par verktyg såsom en magisk tron av järn, ett svärd och andra magi-förstörande artifakter. Takes one to beat one!

Sand Horse

Sandhästen är till sist en förvandlad drake som har en jämn uppsättning magier och andra förmågor. Precis som hans förlaga i "resan till väst" fokuserar hans magi på hans magiska andedräkt och....ermm, urin. Men draken kan även använda sin kraftfulla hästspark för att anfalla varelser som är immuna mot magi!  

Pharao Rebirth+

Stackars professor Jonathan Banfield! Inte nog med att en egyptisk förbannelse förvandlat honom till en kanin, utan en annan egyptisk förbannelse frisläppt av hans rival André (som i samma veva förvandlades till en ödla) gör att han kommer att dö om sju dagar. Men nu finns ju Rabevars en lösning på problemet! Om han kan hitta sju heliga graaler kommer han att bli odödlig och därför fri från att dödas av förbannelsen (Jag antar att andra Moseboken hade rätt och den kristna guden klår de egyptiska). Jonathan måste nu spåra de sju graalerna till en samling egyptiska tempel och gruvor (samt Las Vegas) samtidigt som han undviker andra ljusskygga typer som är ute efter Egyptens skatter. Till din hjälp har du din kära assisten som kan hacka alltifrån fällor i gömda pyramider till hål i marken. 

En riktig arkeolog dricker lugnt vin medan han blir attackerad av Serqet

Spelet är ett Metroidvania spel, du utforskar tempel och samlar objekt som ger dig nya egenskaper så att du kan ta dig vidare. Imponerande nog är spelet gjort, bortsett från grafik och musik, gjort av en enda person. Spelet har en väldigt underfundig humor som frossar i sin kassa research (heliga graaler? I egypten? Sju stycken? Tikistatyer nära Nilen?) och brustna engelskaöversättning. 

Ännu en dag som jag kan undvika att faktiskt undervisa i arkeologi är en bra dag!

En sak man kan anmärka på är att spelet har det där irriterande "hardcore-syndromet" där man kan förlora objekt i spelet om man inte gör något obskyrt vid en specifik tidpunkt. Speciellt irriterande då man bara kan ha ett sparat spel åt gången och måste starta om om något går fel. Bortsett från detta är Pharao Rebirth+ ett fantastiskt och välgjort spel som jag absolut kan rekommendera.   

Och det finns en hel del grejor att samla! 

The use of the narrative curve in videogames

The classic narrative curve

It is very popular to make episodic games, particularly from a indie standpoint. There are smaller and easier to manage and develop for. They also have the added benefit of making fans excited and discuss the next installment. In this tutorial we are going to discuss the use of the narrative curve as it applies to videogames, in particular as it applies to episodic games. It is my hope that this thread will be a sort of workshop where I post an installment at a time.

I think that most people are familiar with the narrative curves as it applies to movies and books. When it comes to episodic games and to some extent television series the curve will follow the same basic idea but will have a few more "repetitions".

The narrative curve for theatre, but works for episodic games too!

While episodic games have a single overarching story each individual installment need a smaller "inner" curve of their own. To illustrate this, I am going to compare two Telltale series that I think uses the inner curve well (Tales of Monkey island) and one that uses it not so well (Sam and Max season 2, although the other two seasons used this very well). Please not that I will discuss these games as well as others in the individual series freely, so there will be spoilers. They will also be compared to a potential game called Alex and Adva by Nooby Mcnooberson (ie me) to show how an idea can grow into a story by use of the narrative curve.

Alex and Adva 

But first, the overall storyline of the three series.

 

Tales of Monkey Island:

While trying to defeat his arch-enemy the zombie-pirate Lechuck Guybrush accidentally makes him human again and releases his evil as a pox that infects the Caribbean. To cure the infected people Guybrush must find the fabled La Esponja Grande to suck all evil voodoo energy into it. Lechuck steals the energy and becomes a pirate god but is eventually defeated by Guybrush.

Sam and Max season 2:

Sam and Max investigate a couple of seemingly unrelated cases, eventually tied together by a couple of time-travelling mariachis and a takeover of Hell by bit-characters from the first season. Yeah...you could probably tell from the description alone that this season does not have a strong narrative. I actually struggled to try and keep the overarching story sound better, but had to give up.

Alex and Adva (my own story idea in its raw form)

Alex and Adva want children but are unable to conceive. As a jackalope it is Adva´s duty to guard the underworld and when Alex hears about a magical plant that can bestow fertility Adva lets him into the underworld so they can search for it together. Turns out the plant is a root from the world tree Yggdrasil. Demons are trying to cut it down and Alex and Adva must protect it.

Let us take a look at the three series and how they begin their respective set-ups.

The launch of the Screaming Narwhal

This episode begins in medias res with a Lechuck confrontation, supposedly after an epic quest to create a sword that can banish the evil pirate forever. Gubrush bungles the spell and is stranded on the island of Flotsam. Here the main quest is introduced, finding La Esponja Grande to banish the evil pox and get off Flotsam. The episode is interesting because it has a climax, or at least something imitating the form of a climax, at the very start. The episode also ends with another confrontation being set up with pirate hunter Morgan le Flay, but not taking place in the episode itself. When it comes to the narrative curve the episode feels a little shaky, since the player can solve the puzzles and challenges in any order.

Ice Station Santa

The episode begins with Sam and Max finding out that Santa sends a murderous robot to their office. Deciding to investigate they find Santa possessed by a demon, which they excorsice. Unlike the first season this one seems to be cases unrelated to each other, which need not be a bad thing. The episode, taken on its own, follows the narrative curve well with a setup (collect items for a banishment ritual), a point of no return (portals to other points in times are opened) and a clear climax in the confrontation with Santa and even a resolution that makes fun of sappy christmas specials.

Finally, let us look at my own first attempt.

The set-up, the search for the plant, needs to be introduced. My original attempt stood on its own and concerned house-cleaning, introducing the characters and the game-system. While it was cute, itwas also really slow. My current first episode concerns Alex losing his book of magic and has to find a new one in a hurry in order to impress his employer. Breaking into the house of a magician he learns about the plant. By making the initial quest about something unrelated I can still present the world and its characters in a natural way. And so the adventure begins...

This is the first installment, please tell me if this was informative or if there are any points I could improve on? Any specific points I should focus on when making comparisions between the two game series. Did it make sense for me to include my work on my own game in the comparison?

Inventory Design (Alex and Adva)

When creating a videogame it is important to make the interface as clear as possible, and that goes doubly for an inventory in a point and click adventure game. My goal was to create the entire interface in a single screen and make it work without any gimmicks while still giving a fresh breath to the adventure game genre.

The interface is found with a press of the I button, scribbled on the side of an egyptian pylon. There is a day and a night version depending on if Alex and Adva is in the underworld or not.

It is divided into two categories, each one further divided into two subcategories. The category to the left is the clickable objects. It is the part of the screen the players eyes will be drawn to first and contains all the items gathered during the chapter as well as buttons to change between Alex and Adva. At the top left there is also a button to receive a hint on what to do next.

The section to the right is the notes. Here you can find a list of the creatures that Adva needs to defeat or find as well as notes that will point you towards a puzzle. Alex can use these notes in conversations with characters in the game to reveal further clues.

Instead of getting in a situation where the player has to use all their objects on everything in a desperate attempt to get further into the game I want the player to look at this scene as little as possible. All items are automatically used when the player character is in the right place and the found notes are added to all conversations as soon as they are found. The goal I strive for is for the player to just bring this scene up once when they load a saved game in order to look over their progression and immediate goals!  

"A more lively world" Tutorial for RPGmaker VX Ace

Making the world and the character feel real is harder than it looks. Perhaps you have created your first short game, familiarized yourself with the rpgmaker engine. But you feel that your game world feels too static, the NPCs just bit players instead of real characters with lives of their own. This tutorial is meant for beginners wanting to get the game world to seem more "real". To get you into the thinking I have prepared two examples to look at together. All are made with the default assets of Rpgmaker VX Ace. 

The first example is lifted straight from Links Awakening. Kids shouldn´t stand totally still and say "Welcome to Corneria" over and over, they should be playing! So we are going to create a couple of kids playing, as well as making them talk with the player from a distance without the player´ss input, making them seem like they have agency of their own.  

We start by placing three events out and choose graphics for them. The boy and girl are found under the actor1 subtab and the ball is taken from other1. 

For the ball, make sure the walking animation is checked out and the through option is checked in. Otherwise the ball will act as a character walking, meaning it will "blink" through the colors in its animation sheet. Furthermore the ball will stop if the characters comes into contact with it. With the options like this it will seem like the ball is thrown over the characters! Next, set the speed and frequency to the above, the type to custom and then click the move route button.

Set the move commands like this and check in the repeat action command. Now it will seem like the ball is throw into the air in an angle, making it seem more natural.  

Let us set up the actors next! Having a natural movement for the ball is no good if the characters just stand there without moving. Make two event pages, setting the first one up like this. The trigger for this event should be set to parallell process.

The second page should look like this. What we have done here is creating a switch that periodically turning on and off, making the graphics change so that it appears as if the character is moving as the ball is thrown. Naturally it will look even better if you have custom jumping graphics! You may have to fiddle around a bit with the timing to make it look natural.

Next, we create the same two event pages with changing graphics for the girl, but we do not have to set up the timing and switch change. Just make sure the event still reacts to the switch, though!

Now the character will speak while the hero walks past!

The second trick:

Being instructed by the mayor of the town to find a treasure that the evil Lord Calibri has taken and hidden is not very fun, but it can be made more engaging by the player actually witnessing the events before the quest is handed out. So let us make it so the evil Lord Calibri throws the chest away as the player walks down the path.

Once again we create three events, one that the character steps on to initiate the animation, one for the skeleton and one for the chest.

For the first event we set it up like this and set the trigger to player touch.

We need two event pages for the skeleton, the first do not need to be filled with anything.

The second page is set up like this. You can fiddle around with the speed and frequency to make the character move faster or slower. I want the skeleton to sort of shamble, so I left him fairly slow.

I just want the character to move out of the map, so having a single repeating move right command is enough.

Lastly we have the chest event, which we can leave completely empty. No graphics, nothing.

For the second page we create a chest and set up custom movement.

Set it like this, but make sure that the repeat option is checked out. We do not need for the chest to be thrown again!

And there you have it! I have here included a video on how this will look in practice. Here are some questions to think about and hopefully solve yourself:

1 Can you make it so that the kid only finds the player scary the first time, and makes a more friendly greeting afterwards?

2 If we would implement Lord Calibri in a game, the event would play out every single time the player enters the map. Can you make it so that the event only plays out once?

Försök till Vikingastil

Äger frågade:
Varifrån kommer ordspråket och tillbudet att man inte skall springa med saxar? 
Skägge svarade:

Den händelsen som orspråket härör kommer från att kaninkungen Tymor var ute och inspekterade underjorden tills han kom till bergsroten under jättarnas bygder i Grjotunagård. Jätten Ragne som ägde gården undrade vad det var för smilfink som vågade sig till hans ägor och hur han kunde vara så snabb att han kunde springa över vind och vatten. Tymor sade då att han gärna ville pröva att utmana vemhelst Ragne utsåg till det i en löpartävling. Där fanns då en en jättinna vid namn Jarna. Hon hade långa ben och kraftiga vader och hon sade att hon nog kunde tänka sig att mäta sina krafter med underjordens herre. Tymor sade att tävlingen skulle gå från Grjotunagård genom underjorden till kaninkungens högsäte i Silverstaden.

De satta båda iväg samtidigt och hade god fart. Tymor låg tävligen igenom ett ben före men Jarna var så uppfylld av jätteraseri att hon inte märkte det. I Silverstaden bjöds Jarna in till gästabud i Tymors högsal Centzon-Tototchin. Där beordrade hon att man skulle ta fram de dryckeshorn som jackaloperna drack ur och att ge skulle fyllas och bära fram till henne. Emedan hon drack blev hon skrytsam och sade att Silverstaden var en liten håla jämte Gjotunagård, att hon skulle bryta av jackalopernas horn och ta med hem som jakttroféer och att hon skulle använda råmagi för att locka de unga vackra männen till Grjotunagård för dem ville hon ha som slavar och älskare. 
När de samlade kaninerna inte stod ut med Jarnas skryt ropade de på Adva, jackalopernas ledare, och så fort hon nämdes vid namn var hon där. Hon frågade barskt vad denna jätten gjorde här, varför hon hädade kaninkungen och skapade oro bland jackaloperna och varför det skulle hällas upp till henne som vore det gudarnas gästabud. Det kan du tro att de församlade blev djupt oroade när Adva stampade i marken och böjde sitt huvud för genomborra Jarna. Jarna å sin sida sade att hon gärna ville gå holmgång med Adva och det meddetsamma.
"Det var skada att jag inte tog med mig min järnsax och magiska mantel," sade hon. "Men jag håller dig för en niding om du dräper mig vapenlös!"
Adva ville på inget sätt dra sig undan tvekampen, något sådant hade ingen vågat erbjuda henne tidigare.

I underjorden spred sig ryktet och speciellt djävlarna var djupt oroade. De sade sinsemellan att de skulle få det svårt att snärja de dödas själar om kaninkungen, underjordens nya härskare, hade så mäktiga hirdmän att de kunde fälla en av Grjotunagårds jättar. De sände en väldig krigare till Jarna försvar som hette Snortgut. Han var röd i hyn och såg inte snäll ut. Adva hade å sin sida med sig Urminora, en väldig björninna i full rustning. Det är om henne Surt Ronniberri har skaldat:

Vårens vännina den väldiga
Mäktig klädd i östrans rustning
stark i handling med kraftfull ram
Hon som vaktar när hon sover

Urminora spände ögonen i Snortgut och han blev så rädd att han pissade och kunde inte kämpa. Adva å sin sida sprang som vinden och skulle nog genomborrat Jarna i ett anfall om inte denna använt sin magiska kappa för att skapa villor. Jarna högg med sin stora järnsax och Adva hade all möda med att undkomma. Striden gick fram och tillbaka i timmar utan att utfalla till någons fördel.
Jarna tänkte nu på hur kaninkungen kommit upp från marken och tänkte att Adva skulle försöka något liknande. Hon lindade sin magiska kappa om sina egna ben som skydd men Adva drog så att Jarna snubblade och blev genomborrad av jackalopens horn. I sina dödsryck lyckades hon trycka in järnsaxen i Advas huvud så att den fastnade. Det som hamnade utanför sprack och föll vida kring och blev all världens järn. Jarna stupade över Adva så att en av hennes väldiga ben föll över Advas hals och hotade att kväva henne. Ingen av de andra jackaloperna eller Urminora kunde lyfta benet.

När allt hopp tycktes ute kom Magnus, Advas son, och lyfte benet. Han var bara åtta år gammal. Adva lyfte honom och sa att han skulle växa sig stark och att dagens ära skulle räknas till honom. Advas make Alex sjöng galdrar och trollsånger över saxen i Advas huvud. När hon kände att saxen lossnade ville hon belöna honom och berättade därför att hon nyligen burit själen av Alex bror Tunr i en korg av vass och att han snart skulle vara hos dem i Silverstaden för att njuta evig salighet. Detta kunde påvisas eftersom ett av Tonrs öron förfrusit och Adva hade planterat det i marken och det nu hade vuxit upp till det träd som kallas Tonrs Öra. När Alex hörde detta blev han så glad att han skrattade och dansade och glömde alla trollsånger, så en liten bit av järnsaxen blev kvar i Advas huvud. När någon springer med en järnsax rör sig den mindre saxen i Advas huvud och hon får huvudvärk, och därför skall man inte göra det.