Computer Story Telling Forms
Ever since the dawn of civilisation, man has told stories by painting on caves or sitting around a fire. As man evolved, so did their forms of storytelling. From the original form that is cave paintings, to oral forms of storytelling, to fable, myth and many more. In this article I will be explaining how different computer game genres use different forms of storytelling, when telling the story of the game.
Ever since the dawn of civilisation, man has told stories by painting on caves or sitting around a fire. As man evolved, so did their forms of storytelling. From the original form that is cave paintings, to oral forms of storytelling, to fable, myth and many more. In this article I will be explaining how different computer game genres use different forms of storytelling, when telling the story of the game.
Text/Cave Painting games
Doom (1993)
Doom is a 1993 science-fiction horror themed first-person shooter video game. It is considered one of the most significant and influential titles in the video game industry, for having ushered in the popularity of the first-person shooter genre. This is storytelling at it's most basic level. At the start of the game, or before missions, the player is presented with a block of text to read through (often to skip them) It does the job of communicating the story but it doesn't actually involve the player at all, and often leaves a big gap between the story and "actual" game. This was most common in early games, Doom (1993) for example, but mostly died out in the early 2000s and for a good reason too. Games are an interactive medium, so reading large block of text breaks the flow of playing the game and will easily bore players.
The Game play for DOOM
Blazblue Continuum Shift
Another example of text storytelling is the 'Blazblue' series. Although it is a modern anime 2D game, it uses text block storytelling. The reason it uses this form is because it is an anime type game, so it has to use anime conventions of storytelling.
Prior to the events of BlazBlue, humanity was on the verge of extinction from a creature called "Black Beast". The world was saved by six heroes who wielded magic. They helped humanity create "Armaqus", a fusion of magic and science, to defeat the Beast. This event would be later known as the First War of Ars Magus. After the war, the Novus Orbis Librarium was created to govern the world with the use of Ars Magus. A great deal to dissent was caused by the Librarium, partly due to Armagus' use in nearly every facet of society, and the widening socioeconomic gap between those who could and could not use Armagus. This dissent would eventually form years later into the Second War of Ars Magus, when the city of Ikaruga openly rebelled against the NOL. Upon winning war, the NOL imposed a harsher rule on the world, pushing any rebellion against the NOL. In December A.D. 2199, several years after the Second War of Ars Magus, a branch of the NOL was utterly destroyed by an SS-class rebel named "Ragna" also known as the "Grim Reaper", in an attempt to destroy the Librarium. The NOL, hoping to stop him, immediately announced the largest bounty ever, available to anyone who could capture him. Interestingly, Ragna possesses a powerful form of Armagus known as the "Azure Grimoire". This led the NOL, as well as the other fighters, to hunt Ragna not just for the bounty, but also for his Azure Grimoire.
Prior to the events of BlazBlue, humanity was on the verge of extinction from a creature called "Black Beast". The world was saved by six heroes who wielded magic. They helped humanity create "Armaqus", a fusion of magic and science, to defeat the Beast. This event would be later known as the First War of Ars Magus. After the war, the Novus Orbis Librarium was created to govern the world with the use of Ars Magus. A great deal to dissent was caused by the Librarium, partly due to Armagus' use in nearly every facet of society, and the widening socioeconomic gap between those who could and could not use Armagus. This dissent would eventually form years later into the Second War of Ars Magus, when the city of Ikaruga openly rebelled against the NOL. Upon winning war, the NOL imposed a harsher rule on the world, pushing any rebellion against the NOL. In December A.D. 2199, several years after the Second War of Ars Magus, a branch of the NOL was utterly destroyed by an SS-class rebel named "Ragna" also known as the "Grim Reaper", in an attempt to destroy the Librarium. The NOL, hoping to stop him, immediately announced the largest bounty ever, available to anyone who could capture him. Interestingly, Ragna possesses a powerful form of Armagus known as the "Azure Grimoire". This led the NOL, as well as the other fighters, to hunt Ragna not just for the bounty, but also for his Azure Grimoire.
GAMEPLAY
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| This is how the story mode pretty much looks like, except when you play the actual battles |
Although it uses text block, it's main form of storytelling is comic book style. This is in a way resembles cave painting, as it keeps the principle of a static drawings which tell a story.
Myth Games
God of War
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| God OF War |
The first God of War gameplay
Ares had secretly transported Kratos' wife and child to village; during his frenzied attack on its temple, Kratos accidentally killed them. Although Ares believed this act would free Kratos to become the perfect warrior, the Spartan instead renounced his pledge of servitude to the god. The oracle of the destroyed village cursed Kratos by bonding the ashes of his dead family to his skin, turning is ash-white and earnig him the nickname, "Ghost of Spartar". Plagued by nightmare of his horrible deed, Kratos vowed to serve the other Gods in hope of ridding himself of the visions. The game starts, Kratos has been serving the gods for ten years. The game uses a lot of cut scenes because besides playing the game tos unveil the story, it uses cut scenes to reveal the story. Action games tend to use a lot of cut scenes to make the game even more appealing.
Legend
Another genre of computer gaming is legend. These games focus on the historical events which happened or are happening throughout the world. For example the battle of 'Thermoplylae', which was a battle fought between an alliance of Greek-city states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta , and the Persian Empire of Xerxes. This was made into a movie called '300' and also made into a game called '300 March to Glory'.
This game in the genre of legend because it's a game about the story of King Leonidas and his bravery, strength and courage to lead his army of 300 men against the Persian Empire. The definition of a legend is a historical story that is told to show human characteristics such as bravery (which is conveyed in the '300' game), courage, honesty etc. Stories such as King Arthur and Robin Hood are legends that show a historical figure that represents such characteristics, the said Legend showing human characteristics such as power, bravery and betrayal. These stories are based on real people who have lived through history and fabricated.
Some good analysis , and you explain well the narrative and story elements of your examples.If this task is completed it would achieve Merit standard , as your work shows a solid grasp of terminology and good knowledge of the link between narrative features and game processes. However , the final section needs to be finished , and you also require a little more detail in your section on story methods such as myth,cave painting , text etc.
ReplyDeleteYou should submit this completed version by our next Computer Games lesson.