Aerothorn on 25/7/2010 at 04:04
Yeah, FWIW I didn't know about it, so we are out there!
Aerothorn on 14/11/2010 at 23:09
Hey folks -
So here's a related (hence same topic) but slightly different question. As an advanced learning activity I must do to acquire my degree, I am teaching a course on narrative in video games. The catch is that the course in taught during January Term, a short three-week period between semesters; and I'm designing it to not be a full-time intensive course but rather one that can complement another course during Jan Term if the students wish.
The result of this is that we'll have only eight classes (three days a week for three weeks, with two classes the final week), the first of which will largely be spent going over the syllabus, planning, blah blah blah. Clearly, a completely thorough examination of all things "storyplaying" (as I'm titling the course) is out of the question. What I'm aiming to do instead is have it be an introductory survey course, with each class covering one or two distinct issues in gamic storytelling.
The principal complicating factor is that I can't expect the students to play full-length games; there simply isn't the time. I can have them play pieces of them (for instance, I have an assignment that requires them to play through the Liberty Island portion of Deus Ex), but even that I can't do too much, since I don't want to require them to purchase a bunch of games for the sake of sampling.
The logical thing to do, then, is use shorter free-or-cheap indie games, coupled with some readings, to illustrate some points. I'm still developing the lesson plan and the specific classes, but I'm trying to figure out games in this category that are, in whatever way, distinctive from a narrative standpoint. I have a few ideas (for example, I'm considering teaching a class on the issue of player death that will include You Only Live Once and Gravity Bone) and there are a few things I am DEFINITELY including (Facade, an IF game, the aforementioned Deus Ex) but I definitely want a larger pool to draw from than just the ones I'm familiar with.
So: any great suggestions that fit the bill?
Yakoob on 14/11/2010 at 23:34
Sounds like you may already be it, but why not try to recognize the main types of game narrative and give a sample of each? I mean like, HL is representative of "first-person, no backstory, you know only as much as your character, story revealed via interactive cutscenes" [i.e. COD, MW etc.] DX is representative of "rich world to discover via books, logs and conversations; possible to miss out big chunks of story if not exploring," [SS2, Bioshock, etc] and Doom is an example of "all back story taking backseat to pure gameplay."[Pretty much all oldschool FPSes].
Also keep in mind that the above distinction is only within the FPS sphere. Storytelling in RPGs is a whole different world from FPSes, RTSes, Racing games etc.
Also look into shareware games (aforementioned doom) and consider "Lets Play" type videos on youtube. Its probably enough for the kids to play a single level / watch the first hour of "lets play" to get enough of an idea about how the story is told.
(but if you do choose "lets play" for the love of god I beg you, choose those that do not have an annoying as fuck commentator)
P.S. You Only Live Once? Really? I know what you are going for with the "a-ha!" thing here, but that is just downright a shit game. Come on now :/
Aerothorn on 14/11/2010 at 23:39
Yakoob: First, keep in mind that I was going with the Roguelike version of You Only Live Once, not the Flash one (completely different games, same title).
As far as gameplay videos, I'm really hesitant about using them as primary texts. Yes, they'll get the point, but then we're watching the games as films (we are passive) which changes the entire nature and experience of the narrative. Basically, if this was a lecture class, I'd say to hell with it and do that, but I'm constructing it as a seminar, and I really want the students drawing from their own experiences and the ideas they get while playing the game. To put it another way: Once I show them a video of the tram sequence fromHalf-Life, then it's just another cutscene.
As for genre, I'm going all over the place; if I wanted to make this tighter it would make a hell of a lot of sense to stay within one, but I'm almost trying to raise as many questions as possible; students will carry out an indepent project where they will select from one or two of these and go after them in greater depth (or write a big synthesis paper).
Enchantermon on 15/11/2010 at 04:30
You could also use demos of games, which are free. For example, the demo of SS2 includes cutscenes, ghost sequences, e-mails and audio logs, which are most of the narrative devices used in the game.
Sulphur on 15/11/2010 at 07:43
Short indie games, huh? Well, for pretentious narrative there's Braid, and for breaking genre convention (probably best played in the latter part of the course) there's The Path.
I'd have also said Pathologic or The Void for their atmosphere and being some of the very few games where you can't actually trust what the game tells you, but they're a trifle long.
Have you considered Every Day the Same Dream and the Radiator 1-2 mod? They're an art fag flash game and an art fag mod respectively, but EDtSD does it with mostly no dialogue, and Radiator is... well, try it for yourself. They're very, very short.
Also, if you're going to put IF in the course, apart from Façade I have to recommend (
http://adamcadre.ac/if.html) Photopia. Different slices of narrative from different perspectives, and it's not 'puzzle' IF in any sense, but it's short and well-written enough that it will generate discussion.
Aerothorn on 15/11/2010 at 19:35
Yeah, there's actually a lot of IF I want to do, but don't want to segue the course *too* much in that direction (it would be fascinating to teach a course on interactive fiction, but not the path I choose). Photopia is a prime candidate. I'm thinking of doing a class on NPC interaction, pairing Galatea and Facade.
The demo idea is great - I have no idea why they didn't occur to me. Opens up all sorts of possibilities.
EDtSD would really only work in a class on story-without-dialog (probably too narrow for such a compressed semester) or "persuasive games" which I'm considering doing, pairing it with the likes of Harpooned. Radiator is awesome, but I'm not sure how to really fit it in. Which is okay - as I said, the class is almost designed to be kind of messy, partially for marketing reasons: it's very difficult to get people to take student-taught courses, and the more I narrowed it the harder it would be to recruit.
All good suggestions, and I appreciate it. I'm building up the syllabus in my free time, though it probably won't be seriously completed till mid-December. I'll post it for perusal and criticism when it is.
Yakoob on 15/11/2010 at 21:39
To play devil's advocate, I would advise against including EDtSD, Radiator, Dear Esther or any other such experiments. Why? Because they are experiments. You only got a brief period of time to discuss the already extremely broad field of gaming narratives. Don't waste time on outliers, you have far more fundamental things to talk about.
Aerothorn on 15/11/2010 at 21:48
I'm mixed on that. On one hand, I agree with you on some accounts - I'm definitely excluding Dear Esther, for instance, because it's trying to do a very narrow thing (randomized storytelling) that is interesting but not that important in the larger gaming sphere.
That said, I now know that the makeup of the class is all experienced gamers to some degree of another; they already have "normal" games as a point of comparison, so I don't feel as guilty about including outliers as I otherwise would. In the end, I'm gonna try to split the difference a bit; for instance, I have one class session that I will spend mostly dealing with the debate around cutscenes, and in that we'll look at a number of mainstays (FF VII, Metal Gear Solid, and Half-Life, for instance). And while the use of demos definitely provides some possibilities, there are some limitations to that, particularly in RPGs; there simply isn't enough time to give a Bioware game a fair shake.
(For anyone wondering why the hell I'm teaching this in Jan Term rather than a full semester, it's because it's pretty much the only time I can get people to take an EPEC).
Sulphur on 15/11/2010 at 21:58
Quote Posted by Yakoob
To play devil's advocate, I would advise against including EDtSD, Radiator, Dear Esther or any other such experiments. Why? Because they are experiments. You only got a brief period of time to discuss the already extremely broad field of gaming narratives. Don't waste time on outliers, you have far more fundamental things to talk about.
That's a fair enough point. Since it's an advanced course though, and about distinctive narratives, no more no less, I'd still recommend going for some of those because gaming's been stuck in a narrative rut for yonks. These outliers show some of the potential of the medium and could potentially inspire people to
do something with it; and if I'm not mistaken and this isn't me wallowing in wishful thinking, that's part of what Aerothorn wants to do with this course.
Of course, first things first, the lesson plan's got to be drawn up to see where to slot what and for how long. Man I hate and love doing that shit.
