A Storyteller's Notebook – Story Development in Casual Games

Kenny Shea Dinkin, VP & Creative Director of Playfirst. Former creative director at Broderbund/TLC

Part 1 – Telling your story

Playfirst - “story worlds” building story into casual games.

Two key methods of telling story, cut scenes (aka comics) and audio. The promise of casual games lies in presenting games to people who don't know that top-shelf game markets even exist.

“The Video Games Gap” - there's a major gap between Hollywood and Silicon Valley when it comes to games. Games in general suck at storytelling and have story that appears tacked on. The question of “can a video game make you cry” still has not been adequately addressed.

Casual games offer an opportunity to solve the problem. The markets appeal more to women and older demographics who want stories that just don't involve naked elves.

Other media that integrated storytelling into the genre. It's good to look outside the genre (I.E. outside Star Wars). Musical theater is a good example. In the early 20^th century, musical theater consisted of opera, which was generally weak in story. Then vaudeville happened, which is musical theater for the masses. Vaudeville had lower budgets and quicker turnaround times so it could experiment and react to changes better. Casual games could be like vaudeville – the catalyst to change in the industry, making games that have broad appeal but with deep story.

Characters have become important in game since 2007, with many games based on identifiable characters (mostly women). Characters still, by and large, suck. Women in aprons giving the thumbs-up sign became ubiquitous. Mozart had a toolbox to create characters entirely with music. Do game developers have a similar toolbox?

2008, the question of “do I need a story or a character” has become moot. Characters are part of the toolbox.

Diner Dash has evolved into an entire story arc with spinoffs all built around “Diner Town”. The tapestry of intersecting characters and spinoffs have drawn users into the story.

Chocolatier is based on different phases around the same characters. Some games aren't based on the same mechanic as Chocolatier, but they're centered around the character.

• Premise – what's your premise line? Find a single line that summarizes the entire premise of your story. All of the focus of the show centers around and is given direction by the premise line. A good premise line can lead players to an aspirational fantasies that compel them.

• Show don't tell – Avoid talking heads. Content should exist in the context of action.

• Allow for closure, start deep – Make the story that the audience can come in and learn the back-story as the story goes. Don't just make it a beginning-to-story mechanic. Allow the audience to fill in the blanks.

• Immersion – Respect the fourth wall. Immerse the player in a world. Don't spend a lot of time in introductions to the player. If you can avoid talking directly to the player, do so. “Welcome Explorer”, shatters the illusion of the players being inside a story.

• Foreshadow – Are you telling a story or conveying a list? Are things randomly contrived and presented for your own convenience?

• Edit your crap – Can you cut your story in half, then in half again? Is your story too talky?

Part 2 – Telling your story with audio

Audio is your secret weapon for good storytelling. Music can tell a story. We tend to be visual thinkers first, but audio can be used to create an emotional connection with your content.

Music/Composition. The toolbox is symphonic scoring (strong music to underscore the mood, which we're trained to react to), melodic motifs (thematically defining your brand and drawing your player in, but possibly distracting if not used properly), underscore (subtle music that's not distracting but still sets the mood), dynamic orchestrations (music must change when it gets monotonous or annoying, don't be afraid of silence), context (is the music propelling the story or is it just music that you like to hear).

In Diner Dash, soundtracks are created in 6-15 second loops and are shuffled dynamically. This creates the illusion that time is collapsing (I.E. faster than real-time).

Does your audio track fit the context of play?

Does my audio track allow me to come up for air?

Am I building a soundtrack or a songtrack?

Do your instruments sound fake or cheesy (unless you're going for a cheesy retro feel)?

Sound Design and Sound Effects – Sound effects can tell you where you are and convey your game's mood. Your sound effects should be hyper-real and shouldn't necessarily be a realistic representation of the sound itself.

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