normal conversation in operas, the ability to learn what a character is thinking in a
novel, or a movie camera seemingly floating in midair above a given scene in a film.
When trying to add storytelling to a game in order to increase its emotional impact, it is
extremely difficult to weave all of that story into the game itself without ever falling
back on out-of-game techniques, and trying to do so will almost certainly alter the type
of story you are able to tell. For example, inThe Sufferingwe wanted to have the human
characters you meet throughout the game impart important information to the player.
However, in the end this information could not be too important since all the scenes
happen in-game when the player has the option to kill the characters at any time. This
makes sense, since the player is heavily armed, and though many games do not allow
you to use your weapons on friendly NPCs, we thought this was an even worse decision
than using more cut-scenes. Of course there were some ways to have human charac-
ters that were believably invulnerable until after they had conveyed their crucial
information, such as having them talk over a PA system, putting them behind bul-
let-proof glass, or having them be far away from the player (where it could be
reasonable that the player would miss if he shot at them). These, of course, had their
own downsides, which could make the story seem quite convoluted. Indeed, once we
decided to use cut-scenes, in a few cases they solved a number of difficulties we had
with story elements that the player could interrupt, problems we had not yet found an
answer to. But we still tried to keep the number of cut-scenes to an absolute minimum.
For storytelling outside of cut-scenes, we used a number of undead and thereby invinci-
ble characters to convey key plot points. This worked for us because it was a horror
game and it fit. If we had been doing a crime game such asGrand Theft Auto IIIorVice
City, we would have probably needed to resort to cut-scenes to convey key story com-
ponents, which is exactly what those games did. They too kept their scenes as short
and limited as possible (more successfully inGrand Theft Auto IIIthan inVice City) and
implemented them such that they minimized the disruption to the player’s immersion
in the game. Though not ideal, cut-scenes can be a useful storytelling tool when they
are not abused.
In-Game..................................
There are numerous powerful techniques for telling a story during gameplay.Half-Life
was universally praised in the gaming press for the strength of its story. However, if one
looks at the game’s story, it is not actually all that compelling, perhaps even hackneyed.
Many other games, even many other first-person shooters, have contained stories just
as compelling. WhatHalf-Lifedid well, however, was to tell its story entirely from
within the gameplay. Players never lose control of their character, Gordon Freeman,
even if he is locked in an observation room, stuck on a tram car, or thrown in a garbage
compactor. The story is communicated through a combination of level settings, chatty
scientists, announcements over the PA system, and NPC scripted behaviors. By the
game’s end, players are under the impression that the story was excellent because of
the compelling way in which it was told.
212 Chapter 11: Storytelling