The GAM140 lecture on interactive narrative covered some interesting points. It was good to see some examples of effective embedded and environmental stories in games. It is evident that marrying the two within a game’s narrative can make for great outcomes, however they are often at odds with gameplay systems which often lend themselves to more emergent stories. Balancing these factors, and knowing what to emphasise is essential to crafting a great game narrative. The GDC talk on environmental storytelling was fascinating – conveying the unique ability of videogames to convey narrative through exploration and ‘mise-en-scene’ (Smith and Worch, 2010). I also liked the case study of Fallen London (2009), with heavy importance laid on building a world first, and then ensuring that all elements of the game are made to be in service of that world and narrative. I will aim to do the same for my assignment, taking particular care to make sure the UI reinforces my narrative.
At the beginning of the week, I made some more artwork for my initial idea based around a haunted island (figs. 1, 2 & 3). However, following the GAM140 workshop, in which we discussed the assignment brief for the Fungus game, I have decided to pivot from this idea to something more manageable and fitting of the assignment. The reasoning for this is that, while I would love to make a classic point and click adventure game, the structure is more limiting for a branching narrative when compared to a more traditional visual novel style game. I would also be putting significant time into creating gameplay which, while fun, wouldn’t fall within the marking rubric for this assignment. I think I will shelf the idea for now, perhaps to return to for a later project. As I’m very happy with the look of the art, I have decided to carry over the monochromatic aesthetic into my new idea.
(Above) Figures 1, 2 & 3: Screenshots. Art made in Aseprite to be used for the point-and-click game idea. I’m really happy with how it looks, and have decided to carry over the monochromatic style into my new idea.
The new idea I have landed on takes the form of a “dungeon crawler”, in which you traverse the labyrinth of your own mind, meeting interesting and eccentric characters on your way. These characters will be physical manifestations of your own mental constructs, such as Ego, Guilt, and Memory. The majority of gameplay will stem from the conversations you have with these characters, and depending on your choices, you will gain stat increases/decreases. You will also have choices on which direction to take, which will determine who you meet on your journey. This is an idea that I am really excited about as I think it has a lot of potential. I have created some pixel art to represent the environments the player will move through, likely to be updated and refined later down the line (figs. 4 5 & 6). As the game will be largely focused on the dialogue system, I wanted the environments to serve as an abstract backdrop to these conversations rather than taking centre-stage.
(Above) Figures 3, 4 & 5: Screenshots. More pixel art made in Aseprite to represent the different intersections that the player will encounter. I like the abstract representation, alluding to the ‘fleshiness’ of a brain without it being obvious. I have also carried over the monochromatic style of the last idea.
Other than the above, this week has been largely spent learning how to use Fungus, as I feel that I will be able to more confidently jump into my project and begin experimenting with different ideas when I have a better idea of what the tool is capable of. I picked up another great course on Udemy (McGrath and Gregan, 2017), by the creators of Fungus itself, and worked through the entirety of it during the week. It covered most of the major aspects of Fungus, and took me step-by-step through the creation of a simple point and click game with a branching narrative. One of the key things I took away from it is the ability to create custom dialog boxes and menus – something which will be key to creating a UI that feeds into the narrative of my game. The ability to create draggable / target sprites also intrigued me, opening up the possibility to implement an item system.
Next week, my goal is to begin writing a story outline and topology, as well as writing dialogue for the various characters. I would also like to start making the art assets for the characters too.
References:
Fallen London. 2009. Failbetter Games.
MCGRATH, Paul and Chris GREGAN. ‘Make Unity 3D interactive games with Fungus – no coding!’. Udemy [online]. Available at: www.udemy.com/course/make-interactive-games-with-fungus-unity3d-no-coding-required/ [accessed 02 February 2021].
SMITH, Harvey and Matthias WORCH. 2010. ‘What Happened Here? Environmental Storytelling’ [online lecture]. GDC Vault. Available at: https://gdcvault.com/play/1012647/What-Happened-Here-Environmental [accessed 03 February 2021].