Narrative is a core part of Impossible Rescue, and forms one of the game’s more long-term, hour-to-hour compulsion loops; the player keeps playing to find out what happens next.
There are many ways to approach storytelling in video games thanks to them being an interactive media. Many video game narratives incorporate player choice, allowing players to determine aspects of the story as it unfolds (e.g. Fable 3, Lionhead Studios, 2011); other games take a more sandbox or story-engine approach, providing players with the tools to make their own stories (e.g. Sea of Thieves, Rare Ltd, 2018).
Due to us having only a short window to develop Impossible Rescue (3 months), we were limited in the methods of storytelling we could realistically use, and decided to deploy a straightforward, linear narrative, more akin to the narratives found in games like God of War (Santa Monica Studios, 2018) and The Last of Us (Naughty Dog, 2013).
Designing the Narrative
At the outset of Module 2, we had little narrative in place beyond what was specified in the Stakeholder Brief. Throughout Module 2, I turned the backstory and outline provided into an engaging narrative. Engaging narratives generally require several things:
Structure – Story beats deployed in a sequence that generates emotional investment
A main character – Ideally one that develops as the narrative progresses (in some instances this ‘character’ is the player themselves)
Conflict – The basis of all engaging stories. Conflict creates tension, which generates interest in the player.
Worldbuilding – Backstory and detail that turns a static world into one that lives and breathes. Level design ties in closely with narrative design here.
The first step was deciding on a structure...
Structure
As we were tasked with creating only Act 1 of Impossible Rescue, I knew I wouldn’t get the chance to tell a full narrative with complete character arcs, but I still wanted to begin a thorough narrative that could be continued in a theoretical Act 2 and Act 3.
For longer narratives, I personally prefer the Save The Cat method of storytelling (Snyder, 2005) to the Hero’s Journey, as it puts a greater focus on the theme of the narrative being told and the creation of a believable world for the narrative to take place in. I find, however, that the Hero’s Journey is preferable for shorter narratives, and therefore chose this framework for Impossible Rescue.
The narrative throughout Act 1 represents only the first third of the Hero’s Journey (The Departure) (Skolnick, 2014). Some parts of the Hero’s Journey are shown clearly within the narrative, but given Impossible Rescue’s short runtime, other parts are implied through dialogue as having already happened.
Impossible Rescue's Hero's Journey (Act 1)
The Call to Adventure – Vice President Holden asks for Danielle’s help; she sets off on a mission.
Refusal of the Call – Danielle reluctantly accepts the mission (represented by her chastisement of Vice President Holden in the opening dialogue)
Supernatural Aid – Shadow is introduced as the player’s guide.
Crossing the First Threshold – The beginning of level 1. The adventure begins.
Tests, Allies & Enemies - Levels 1 to 4
Approach to the Inmost Cave - Ending of level 4 (the mainframe)
Character
Character comes hand-in-hand with structure. Good characters are well-rounded, with their own desires, traits, advantages, and flaws. The main characters of Impossible Rescue are Danielle and Shadow, and though we were only tasked with creating the first act of the game, I wanted to ensure I created characters with depth. If we were ever to take this further and complete Acts 2 and 3, they would build upon and conclude the story arcs I’ve planted seeds for in Act 1.
The tool I prefer for creating believable characters and arcs (in conjunction with the Hero’s Journey) is the Pyra-Grid (Bryant and Giglio, 2015). It is useful in creating characters with goals and personalities. Below, you can see side-by-side versions of the Pyra-grid template and the version I created to better understand who Danielle is, what she wants, and what she's like.
Conflict
ll engaging narratives are driven by conflict, so this was my next step. The core conflict in Impossible Rescue is Danielle fighting through a Martian facility to recover a stolen AI. This ties into the wider conflict contained within the game’s backstory, that of the Terran Federation fighting against the Martian Empire.
Extra tension is generated by conflict between voiced characters as well, with the tone of the opening dialogue implying a history of conflict between Danielle and Vice President Holden. Danielle and Shadow have their own minor conflicts as well, with Shadow condemning Danielle’s love of shooting things. These small conflicts make these characters more interesting and relatable, making the narrative itself more engaging.
If I was to continue Impossible Rescue's narrative into Acts 2 and 3, I'd also give Danielle more of an inner conflict, meaning that to succeed in her mission she'll need to undergo some level of personal change.
Worldbuilding
With all of this in mind, I turned my attention to worldbuilding. The Stakeholder Brief provided a rich backstory, so the main question I had to tackle was how to turn that world into something the player could easily engage with. I had to consider how the world might look, feel, and sound. This latter information fed directly into level design.
I also had to consider who else lives in the world of Impossible Rescue. I wrote one story vignette for each level that would help build a picture of that level’s typical inhabitants. Each vignette is only a few sentences long, split across Datapads scattered throughout each level, and tells a story that explains something about that level. In level 1, for example, Datapads tell the story of a disgruntled person who's lost their job. On their final day, they get 'revenge' on the company firing them by deliberately blocking some security lasers. It's these blocked lasers that allow the player into the facility.
Narrative Implementation
Creating an engaging narrative is only half of the battle; the other half is communicating it to the player. We began Module 2 with no narrative implemented in our prototype, and quickly determined that narrative would be conveyed through an introductory scene, cut scenes, and optional Datapads. The importance of the information being conveyed at each given moment corresponds directly with how much control is taken away from the player.
Introductory Narrative
The introductory narrative is told via a series of dioramas with accompanying voiceover and subtitles. The camera moves between several dioramas, providing the player with backstory and exposition while simultaneously telling the story of Danielle’s approach to Mars. The initial idea for the introductory narrative was to tell it using 2D artwork, similar to the intro from Implosion: Never Lose Hope. This presented a challenge, however, as we didn’t have the development time to source bespoke artwork. To get around this, Sema suggested composing scenes in the Unreal Editor using in-game assets, then creating 2D artwork from screenshots of these scenes. I began doing this, but after creating two scenes I wondered how it would look to use these scenes and have the camera pan between them. I tested this out and paired it with test-audio to see how it would work. The result was more engaging than the same scene as a 2D image, so I created the rest of the narrative intro as dioramas. Adding moving elements within dioramas made them more dynamic, reducing the chance that players get bored by static scenes.
Subtitles and character images were layered on top. These reinforce who each character is, and make the narrative easier to follow for a larger number of people. Inclusion of subtitles is particularly important for accessibility, ensuring that those hard of hearing don’t miss out on the story being told.
Cut Scenes
Each level begins with a short cut scene, and most levels feature additional scenes that convey important information to the player. In these, the camera occasionally has to move to help demonstrate a point.
Subtitles and character images appear on the screen during cut scenes, and the design of this widget was carefully considered.
Legibility is key in subtitles, so I added a translucent box behind them. This ensured subtitles stood out from the environment, and ensured the player could always see as much of the screen as possible, making them unlikely to miss something just because subtitles were being displayed at the same time.
I chose a different font from that used for in-game MetaText, ensuring the player could always tell the difference. The yellow colour was chosen for the same reason, differentiating it from the blue colour of Metatext.
Skippable Narrative
All narrative can be skipped with the press of a button. This feature was a ‘must have’ for me because hazards can cause the player to die, requiring them to restart the level. The skip ability means players aren’t forced to sit through the same narrative sections again and again, which could lead to frustration and quitting the game. The level restarting on death is already a relatively severe consequence for failure, and unskippable narrative would make it too severe.
There are also players who don’t care for narrative at all. By implementing a narrative skip feature, we make the game appeal to a wider range of player preferences.
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