Recently in Narrative Design Theory Category

In a transmedial work the viewer/user/player (VUP) transforms the story via his or her own natural cognitive psychological abilities, and enables the Artwork to surpass medium. It is in transmedial play that the ultimate story agency, and decentralized authorship can be realized. Thus the VUP becomes the true producer of the Artwork. The Artist authored transmedia elements act a story guide for the inherently narratological nature of the human mind (see illustration) to become thought, both conscious and subconscious, in the imagination of the VUP.

"These elements, thus knit together, enclose the performer as with an atmospheric ring of Art and Nature, in which, like to the heavenly bodies, he moves secure in fullest orbit, and whence, withal, he is free to radiate on every side his feelings and his views of life- broadened to infinity, and showered as it were on distances as measureless as those on which the stars of heaven cast their rays of light..."

Richard Wagner

Everyday in a game studio, artists do their painting, sculpting, modeling, and rendering; Play makers script and direct the balance and mechanics of play; filmmakers cut, edit, storyboard, and script; programmers and writers write, write and rewrite; animators choreograph cubist ballets; audio specialists compose music and design sound; it is there in the ether all the arts fuse together to create the total interactive art experiences we call videogames. 

The threshold now stands just beyond reach, ready to create a new form of story, an interactive one. It's been a long time coming, for over 150 years people have been trying to bring it forth, but heralding its coming most was Richard Wagner, ever famous German composer/conductor/theorist. He called this new form "Gesamtkunstwerk" or the total artwork, the embodiment of all the arts into one fusion in which the fourth wall is dissolved and the spectator becomes actor-player. The video game medium can create drama that is unlike any other; via projection or role-play a game experience can turn the viewer-user into a Shakespearian player, making the game world a stage. Role Playing Gamers have been aiming at this form for quite some time. At their highest form games or "plays" inspire in a human being all that is noble, inviting the living to engage in acts without real-world consequences, to live and live again as jester, warrior, wizard or wonder kin.

Firstly, what is the substance of 'good' narrative?

Experience? User-story? Be that a user of any system, closed or open. The human mind is the creator of story, since the beginning our not so simple act of perception has had us telling ourselves stories over and over again, in an effort to understand, to believe, and to create fundamental assumptions so one can simply live. From moment to moment the human mind ties together seeming coincidence into a meaningful ballet of destiny; all things interwoven into a tapestry of purpose. Good story, good narrative, allows us to remember the meaning of being, our own being in this place. To believe in something that is ethereal, the triumph of will over darkness, change over stagnation, love over hate. A good narrative designer creates a tapestry that allows someone to believe cognitively, without overt thought. Therein the substance of a 'good' narrative is the seemingly unattainable, the belief in the viewer/user/player of an otherwise delusional perception.

What is the highest ideal we can have for a game in relation to narrative?

My definition of that high ideal would be a compelling interactive story experience which provides the illusion of unlimited agency and satisfactory archplot within the limits of current technologies. By that token, I again say that day is upon us. In the user-story drawn from the opinion piece in Gamasutra by Chris Plante, he alludes to this idea that somehow through Crackdowns limited agency he feels unlimited empowerment. Most of the RPGs I played in my youth had a similar effect, though not with the same cinematic glory.

What similarities would this ideal narrative driven game have to a film?

All good films regardless of genre do one thing, they satisfy the audiences cognitive needs. Like any good film, an ideal narrative driven game would be a streamlined temporal experience which fills 'all' narrative holes and leaves one as an audience member feeling satisfied, not for blowing things up, but cognitively satisfied in the belief that one understands a whole experience. While anti-structure and minimalist plots may allow a digression from the norm of the good guy, in the end, everyone wants to be superman. In my eyes GTA IV is hitting the mark, while Niko is not your traditional Übermensch by any means, in today's world the good, the bad, and the ugly, aren't so clean cut.

RTS is a very different beast from the 1st-person, or singular 3rd-person perspectives of most other genres. How do you tell a story that encompasses many perspectives into a cohesive whole? It has been answered in part, by the history of RTS story-telling mechanics and its evolution. But there is much more work to do.

The Westwood RTS game "Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis" used simple stills, animation, and text. Some how I believed I was playing the Harkonin, harvesting spice felt good, everything was fun, battling for resources, killing sandworms, and conquering you're enemy. I felt like Conan, "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women." This was fun!

The entire gaming experience not only has become more vivid since then, the devices are more refined, and the craft unto itself has evolved; all lending to better experiences for the player. RTS of yesteryear and today still share one thing in common with most none video games, the combination of linear Cinematic sequences and non-linear Gameplay, that when combined create a cohesive experience for the player.

Database narrative refers to narratives whose structure exposes the dual processes of selection and combination that lie at the heart of all stories, particular data - characters, images, sounds, events - are selected from a series of databases or paradigms, which are then combined by the player, through action and thought, to generate specific stories.

























In the interactive system of an RTS; a player encounters 2 primary types of narrative spaces:

• Cinematics
• Gameplay

The Cinematics acts as choke points, that is, all players must pass through it in order to advance. During a cinematic sequence, the Data (as presented) is fixed, that is, if the total sum of cinematic content within an RTS were to play out in succession the narrative would be rendered linear, and non-interactive, becoming then some form of machinima.

Dividing the Cinematic segments with interactive 'sand-boxes' allows the database of art, sound, and play, assets to be navigated and experienced via the player's path choice. In this, the experience of database navigation will vary from player to player, and experience to experience, both in the Cinematics and the Gameplay.

If the game allows the player to interject their own story without heavy handed authoritarian dictation, a much more rich experience will be had. As any good filmmaker would tell you, some of the best devices are empty mysteries, filled in endlessly by the subjective mind of the viewer. The system relies on a player's own cognitive ability to create meaning and purpose within moments; each piece then wove together by the human mind in a consistent narrative. That is not to say this would be an easy task; but that if a well crafted montage of Cinematics and Gameplay is presented, the mind lends itself to the creation of story. This is an act every living person can understand; our lives are in fact Database Narratives. These days we all watch a lot, be it on the TV or computer, or handheld device, and we spend our days moving in and out of moments with varying perceived limits to out agency. This symphony of seemingly random events is compiled together, in our minds, creating a linear experience by which we seek meaning and purpose.