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The Toymaker’s Bequest: a defense of narrative‐centric game design
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The Toymaker’s Bequest: a defense of narrative‐centric game design
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Content
The Toymaker’s Bequest :
A Defense of Narrative-centric Game Design
By
Jung-Ho Sohn
Master of Fine Arts
Interactive Media & Games Division
School of Cinematic Arts
University of Southern California
May 11, 2018
Sohn 2
Acknowledgments 4
List of Figures 5
Abstract 7
Terms and Definitions 8
Introduction 9
Part 1: Discussion on Narrative-centric games 10
1.1 Why does it matter? 10
1.2 Game Narrative Types 16
1.2.1 Evocative Spaces 16
1.2.2 Enacting Stories 17
1.2.3 Embedded Narratives 18
1.2.4 Emergent Narratives 20
Part 2: Critique of Narrative-centric Games 21
2.1 Ludonarrative Dissonance 22
2.2 Episodic 26
2.3 Player Agency 29
2.4 Systems Design 32
Part 3: Narrative-centric design with The Toymaker’s Bequest 37
3.1 Concept 37
3.2 Prior Art for narrative design 39
3.3 Design Methodology 41
3.3.1 Ideation 41
3.3.2 Pre-production 44
3.3.3 Production 46
3.4 Feedback 50
3.4.1 Pre-alpha 50
3.4.2 Post-alpha 51
3.5 Lessons and Difficulties 54
3.5.1 Scope 54
3.5.2 Clarity & Simplicity 55
3.5.3 Generic vs. Expressive 55
3.5.4 Work vs. Play 56
Conclusion 57
Sohn 3
Works Cited 59
Sohn 4
Acknowledgments
Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to thank those that have assisted me throughout the
process of creating The Toymaker’s Bequest .
Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my committee advisors Andreas Kratky,
Richard Lemarchand, and Ian Dallas for offering the much needed guidance and insight to push
The Toymaker’s Bequest to its utmost potential.
I would also like to thank Jane Pinckard, Jeff Watson, and Maureen McHugh for the continued
support for this project through their time and validation.
It goes without saying that I would also like to thank Yiwen Dai, my partner in crime, for
commiserating with me over the grueling development process. As difficult as things were, it is
thanks to your constant strive for excellence that has brought the project to where it is today.
Finally, I would like to thank my family for always encouraging me to pursue my dreams.
Sohn 5
List of Figures
Fig. 1. Her Story game interface screen.
Fig. 2. Compilation of screenshots from Device 6 .
Fig. 3. Intro sequence of What Remains of Edith Finch .
Fig. 4. Still from in-game vignette in What Remains of Edith Finch .
Fig. 5. Florence .
Fig. 6. Propaganda Parade in BioShock Infinite .
Fig. 7. Propaganda Poster in BioShock Infinite .
Fig. 8. Ludic experience of gunplay in BioShock .
Fig. 9. Ludonarrative dissonance of moral choices in BioShock .
Fig. 10. Action-based gunplay in Uncharted 3 .
Fig. 11. Stealth-based gameplay in The Last of Us .
Fig. 12. Masks of commedia del arte.
Fig. 13. House of Leaves .
Fig. 14. Meadows’ system example with an energy level of a coffee drinker.
Fig. 15. Super Mario Bros. level 1.
Fig. 16. The Cat Lady coffee level.
Fig. 17. Interactive zoetrope in The Toymaker’s Bequest .
Fig. 18. Interactive peephole portraying the main character’s life in The Toymaker’s
Bequest. Art by Renzel Navarro.
Fig. 19. Opening Sequence in The Cat Lady .
Fig. 20. Stills from The Sensational December Machine .
Fig. 21. Still from the cannery in What Remains of Edith Finch .
Fig. 22. Still detailing interaction mechanic from The Toymaker’s Bequest.
Fig. 23. Paper prototyping of the interaction mechanic.
Sohn 6
Fig. 24. Mechanical toy view of The Toymaker’s Bequest’s vertical slice.
Fig. 25. Narrative prototype of The Toymaker’s Bequest utilizing Twine.
Fig. 26. Text stubbed in for narrative delivery in The Toymaker’s Bequest’ s music box
level.
Fig. 27. Poster as embedded narrative in The Toymaker’s Bequest’ s theatre level.
Fig. 28. Chest interaction revealing a frog in The Toymaker’s Bequest ’s theatre level.
Fig. 29. View of the water tank in The Toymaker’s Bequest’ s theatre level.
Fig. 30. Character’s reappearance upon interacting with the closet in The Toymaker’s
Bequest.
Fig. 31. Opening sequence of The Toymaker’s Bequest ’s theatre level.
Sohn 7
Abstract
In response to criticism of video games as a narrative medium, this document discusses
the innovative potential of narrative-centric design where the creator’s authorial voice to tell
stories is the driving force of development. Drawing from prior narrative-centric works and
research on narrative in games, this document argues that videogames are not only capable of
telling compelling stories, but also that videogames have already established a medium specific
method of storytelling that validates narrative-centric design. Divided into three parts, the first
part will offer a brief overview of the value of narrative-centric games and the unique
storytelling potentials of the interactive medium. Part two will review common criticisms against
narrative-centric games such as ludonarrative dissonance, player agency, and systemic design.
Finally, using the author’s own development experience of a narrative-centric game, The
Toymaker’s Bequest , part three will discuss the unique design methods and challenges of a
narrative-centric design.
Sohn 8
Terms and Definitions
Story : A sequence of events.
Narrative: The method or means of telling a sequence of events to convey meaning.
Narrative-centric Games: Games that “focus more on the narrative and the kinds of emotional
experiences associated with narrative in the verbal and visual arts, emphasising the player’s
interaction with and participation in a story”. Importantly, “whilst containing ludic components
that are integral to the delivery of the narrative”, narrative-centric games “do not foreground the
process of play as the sole, or even the most, important aspect of their make-up” (Stobbart, 14)..
Game Mechanics: Discrete formal aspects of a game in the form of rules designed for
interacting with a game to create gameplay. Given the context, mechanics will also be referring
to game mechanics unless explicitly specified.
Gameplay: The often ludic outcome of the interaction and combination of a game’s formal
elements, or the game mechanics.
Game System: A system according to Donnella Meadows in Thinking in Systems is “an
interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something”
(11). As such a game system is an interconnected set of game mechanics that is coherently
organized in a way that achieves gameplay.
Sohn 9
Introduction
In the academics of games studies, there has been an ongoing debate between ludology,
the study of games, and narratology, the study of narratives. While the ludologists place an
emphasis on the study of games as formal systems such as the game mechanics and gameplay,
the narratologists view games as a new form of narrative that should be studies as such. Though
a somewhat dated debate, a recent surge of narrative-centric games has led to the resurfacing of
this classic debate on the validity of narrative-centric games.
In response, this paper will discuss the topic of narrative-centric game design in three
parts. Part one will discuss the characteristics of narrative-centric games and the validity of a
narrative-centric game design process. Though this discussion may expand to all forms of
interactive media, this paper will focus on video games. Part two will address some of the
prominent critiques of narrative-centric games and deconstruct the arguments. Finally, part three
will discuss a case study of the author’s own narrative-centric game design process with the
game, The Toymaker’s Bequest .
Sohn 10
Part 1: Discussion on Narrative-centric games
1.1 Why does it matter?
Traditionally, games have leaned towards ludic experiences as noted by the defining of
game genres through their mechanics. In contrast, the focus on narrative-centric games is
relatively new. Yet, a few commonly stated arguments can help give a glimpse at the
significance of narrative-centric games for the games community.
First, narrative-centric games offer additional means for developers to inject authorial
voices into their creative expressions resulting in a greater diversity in games. All creative works
have a trace of the creative intent, such as a game mechanic conveying a particular feeling.
However, the interpretation of these feelings are limited to the personally lived or salient
experiences of the player. Giving creators authorial control over the narrative can serve as an
accessible anchor for addressing complex and diverse themes beyond the scope of familiarity.
Second, innovation through narrative has always been one of the major facets of
innovation in a creative medium. Expertly worded by Mata Haggis,
We are supposed to be working in an industry that values the creation of new and
exciting ideas, but we are facing a problem: as the money spent to improve graphics
begins to have smaller and smaller effects on the final game, the search for innovation
must come from other areas. Gameplay mechanics are one area where innovation is
possible, but new genres and really significant changes are becoming rare. Visual
experimentation away from realism is another path we are taking, but most of all we are
Sohn 11
in a position where innovation is frequently being pushed onto the game’s narrative. This
is a place where historically games have performed very poorly, but where there are
proven examples of the same story being retold in new ways for hundreds of years.
(Haggis)
A game mechanic on its own can only go through a few variations before it begins to feel
derivative. In contrast, a game mechanic in service of a narrative, where every lived experience
has a unique story tied to it, takes on new meanings that feel different every iteration. In other
words, innovation through narrative is easier than the oversaturated innovation through game
mechanic.
Third, existing game mechanics are already ripe with narrative potential. Games have not
always lend itself to linear storytelling, but games have always told stories, just not in the ways
most people notice as stories. As described by Jenkins, “the early Nintendo games have simple
narrative hooks - rescue Princess Toadstool - but what gamers found astonishing … were their
complex and imaginative graphic realms … we situate them alongside a much older tradition of
spatial storytelling” (Jenkins 4). I will further expand on the unique advantages of games as
spatial storytelling shortly.
Finally, there is an audience for narrative-centric games that have always existed.
Traditionally ludic game genres like platformers and shooters may first come as those that have
enjoyed a dominant presence in the industry, but narrative-centric adventure games have also
shared an era in the limelight with studios such as Lucas Arts and Sierra focusing on these
games. Not only that, but the advent of new narrative-centric game development tools like Twine
Sohn 12
have lowered the barrier of entry for game development. This resulted in a resurgence of
narrative-centric games on the market as well as the surfacing of a corresponding audience. This
clearly signifies that regardless of the games communities evaluation of narrative-centric games,
there is an audience ready to consume such content.
In an article titled Video Games Are Better Without Stories , Ian Bogost concludes, “If
there is a future of games, let alone a future in which they discover their potential as a defining
medium of an era, it will be one in which games abandon the dream of becoming narrative
media” (Bogost). Though Bogost’s conclusion is a valid one that speaks to many sentiments
within the games community, it is hard not to see his argument as flawed in its partial
interpretations of narratives. Drawing from Henry Jenkins’ discussion on ludologists,
A series of conceptual blind spots prevent them from developing a full understanding of
the interplay between narrative and games. First, the discussion operates with too narrow
a model of narrative, one preoccupied with the rules and conventions of classical linear
storytelling at the expense of consideration of other kinds of narratives … Second, the
discussion operates with too limited an understanding of narration, focusing more on the
activities and aspirations of the storyteller and too little on the process of narrative
comprehension. Third, the discussion deals only with the question of whether whole
games tell stories and not whether narrative elements might enter games at a more
localized level. Finally, the discussion assumes that narratives must be self-contained
rather than understanding games as serving some specific function within a new
transmedia storytelling environment. (Jenkins 3)
Sohn 13
Taking these blind spots into consideration, games are not only a viable form of narrative
media, but they are an area of games that has been flourishing with progress unique to the
interactive medium. To name a few, Sam Barlow’s Her Story , a game about combing through
old police interrogation footage to uncover the stories surrounding a murder case, seamlessly
interweaves narrative excavation with mechanical constraints (see fig. 1). By establishing an
interplay between predefined truth with perceived truth, the player’s negotiations with the game
system plays an active role of forming the narrative experience. In Simogo’s Device 6 , a
text-based adventure game, the textual space literally exists as a spatial environment to be
navigated, blurring the distinction between the player’s temporal and spatial engagement with
the narrative (see fig. 2). Finally, Giant Sparrow’s What Remains of Edith Finch , a collection of
short interactive stories about a cursed family, displays a masterful execution of game mechanics
enhancing narrative to deliver a truly affecting experience lauded as the pinnacle of its genre (see
fig. 3 and 4). These are only a few examples of games focusing on ludonarrative experiences
with more innovations continuously being made with new releases, and all of these games have
contributed to the expanding language of game design.
Sohn 14
Fig. 1. Her Story game interface screen (Barlow).
Fig. 2. Compilation of screenshots from Device 6 (Simogo, “Device 6”).
Sohn 15
Fig. 3. Intro sequence of What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow).
Fig. 4. Still from in-game vignette in What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow).
Sohn 16
1.2 Game Narrative Types
Returning to Jenkins, he further posits that games have always had a unique method of
storytelling through spatiality, arguing “for an understanding of game designers less as
storytellers and more as narrative architects” (3). In order to facilitate discussion, I would like to
take a moment to expand upon some of the means of immersive narrative experiences listed by
Jenkins as I believe many of these narrative types serve the basis of narrative-centric game
experiences.
1.2.1 Evocative Spaces
Jenkins defines evocative spaces as narrative spaces that “draw upon our previously
existing narrative competencies” comparable to “amusement park attractions [that] build upon
stories or genre traditions already well known to visitors” (6). In games, a common form of
evocative spaces are the usage of sci-fi and fantasy worlds and expanding them into spatially
navigable environments. By building upon pre-existing knowledge of a space, player’s can
experience complex narratives in worlds that are drastically different from their own reality
without the need for excessive introduction. Furthermore, evocative spaces can also be used to
facilitate everyday narratives by leveraging relatable themes of human existence. For example,
Florence , a mobile narrative experience by Mountains, seeks to tell a story about falling in love,
an experience most people may recognize as their own (see fig. 5). Despite Florence ’s usage of
the potentially unclear visual storytelling technique, the game uses familiar imagery drawn from
the shared knowledge-base of falling in love to convey narrative information with ease.
Sohn 17
Fig. 5. Florence (Mountains).
1.2.2 Enacting Stories
Enacting stories are a means of storytelling where the player enacts narrative events
through their progression. This type of spatial narrative privileges “spatial exploration over plot
development … held together by broadly defined goals and conflicts … so that obstacles thwart
and affordances facilitate the protagonist’s forward movement towards resolution” (Jenkins 7).
Since the enacted narrative events are determined by the player’s navigation of the space, these
stories tend to exist as discrete moments that can exist on their own as well as having flexibility
in their ordering. Although the disjointed characteristic of enacting stories may appear as bad
storytelling, the strength of these stories come in their layering on top of another to create
Sohn 18
narrative depth. This action mirrors a player’s mental model described by Oh in her
narrative-centric design model of constructing narrative layers:
One could say that when the player presses “start” of [sic] a game, she gets thrown into
an unfamiliar world. She does not have prior knowledge about this world, nor has formed
any attachment to it. What she is probably going to do, is to interact with the surrounding
world, deliberately chosen and designed by the designer, in order to form an
understanding of what this world is and what her relationship is to it. (Oh 20)
As such, enacting stories rely on a negotiation between the player’s conceptualization of the
narrative space with the rules of the world to deliver a narrative experience focused on the
process of comprehension..
1.2.3 Embedded Narratives
While enacting stories demands the player’s attention to take an active role in triggering
narrative events linked to a broadly defined goal of progression, embedded narratives are a much
more passive means of narrative engagement. Embedded narratives are similar to a body of
narrative cues scattered throughout the game space that greatly contribute to building the game
world. For example, the propaganda posters in the environment of Irrational Games’ BioShock
Infinite help establish the class struggles in this world, or the demented utterances of the enemy
characters in From Software’s Bloodborne illustrates a dilapidated village suffering from
collective madness (see fig. 6). Many of these embedded narratives are missable due to being
Sohn 19
supplemental content that often fades into the surrounding environments. Furthermore, many
embedded narratives exist in contested spaces where narrative comprehension is not the primary
goal such as the environments in BioShock Infinite where the primary purpose is to shoot through
waves of enemies (see fig. 7). Still, “a mixture of enacted and embedded narrative elements can
allow for a balance between the flexibility of interactivity and the coherence of a pre-authored
narrative” (Jenkins 10).
Fig. 6. Propaganda Parade in BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games, “BioShock Infinite”).
Sohn 20
Fig. 7. Propaganda Poster in BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games, “BioShock Infinite”).
1.2.4 Emergent Narratives
According to Jenkins, emergent narratives are game spaces “designed to be rich with
narrative potential, enabling the story-constructing activity of players” (13). Jenkins further
details an example as “Will Wright frequently describes The Sims as a sandbox or dollhouse
game, suggesting that it should be understood as a kind of authoring environment within which
players can define their own goals and write their own stories” (11). Other than simulation
games, competitive games also have rich emergent narrative potential as the non-scripted
characteristic of competitive play makes each player’s experience unique.
Sohn 21
Compared to other narratives, emergent narratives have a prominent ludic character as
the narrative is less concerned with predefined authorship and more focused on gameplay
possibilities using game mechanics within a game system. Unsurprisingly, this allows emergent
narratives to be one of the most economic methods to tell stories in games with the sheer volume
of stories that can be told from a single game system. The countless stories circulating online
through video sharing sites or streaming sites of popular competitive games should serve as
testament to the emergent narrative potential of these games.
Despite the seemingly endless possibilities, in emergent narratives, the creator has the
least control over the unfolding of the narrative. It can be argued that emergent narratives still
provide creator authorship in the form of game mechanics serving as constraints to what actions
are permitted, but there are difficulties in conveying specific meanings, which is where the
contested issues in narrative-centric games exist. In the next section, I will further investigate the
common points of contention in narrative-centric games.
Part 2: Critique of Narrative-centric Games
Throughout the years of debating between the ludologists and narratologists, many
arguments have been raised in critique of games as a narrative medium. Many, such as Bogost
have claimed the efforts towards storytelling in games as a fruitless obsession fueled by a
misguided cinema envy among game developers. Furthermore, Bogost professes that, “to use
games to tell stories is a fine goal, but it’s also an unambitious one” (Bogost). And time and time
again, these criticisms have been disproved with innovations in narrative-centric games. The
following are a few of the commonly debated issues with narrative-centric games.
Sohn 22
2.1 Ludonarrative Dissonance
Like any creative craft, many game developers have a strong desire for perfection. Each
discrete component of a game is meticulously crafted to be pieced together into a unified whole
that seamlessly coalesces into an experience that perfectly embodies the creator’s vision.
Unfortunately, this is a difficult task to execute and the failings to create unity are amplified as
dissonance, ultimately breaking the player’s immersion. Among these failings, the ostensibly
most egregious is ludonarrative dissonance. Coined by Clint Hocking, ludonarrative dissonance
is the conflicting experience of a game’s ludic elements with its narrative elements (see fig. 8
and 9). Hocking, in a critique on BioShock , describes “by throwing the narrative and ludic
elements of the work into opposition, the game seems to openly mock the player for having
believed in the fiction of the game at all” (Hocking).
Sohn 23
Fig. 8. Ludic experience of gunplay in BioShock (Irrational Games, “BioShock”).
Fig. 9. Ludonarrative dissonance of moral choices in BioShock (Irrational Games, “BioShock”).
Ludonarrative dissonance is without a doubt a major issue that has plagued
narrative-centric games and each step towards solving this problem should be celebrated as a
major stride for the medium. There is much advice on avoiding ludonarrative dissonance, but
among the most common is to begin designing a game’s mechanics before the narrative as it is
easier to retrofit the narrative to the game mechanics. This is sound advice in designing a
mechanically ludic game experience, but this adage, in addition to the games community’s
pressure to mechanically innovate, has stunted game content innovation.
Using the video series, Extra Credits, on narrative game development as a starting point
of discussion, the problems of narrative-centric design are due to a limitations in what the
Sohn 24
mechanics can be, a limitation to specific sets of characters and places, and an emphasis on plot
that pushes development towards an unreasonable scope (“How to Start”).
The first two points stem from the difficulty in designing a fully fledged game mechanic
to fit a predefined narrative constraint, but this argument is flawed as the opposite is also true.
Predefining a game mechanic limits the type of narratives that can be told. Moreover, retrofitting
a game mechanic to fit a narrative is not an impossibility given the example of games that have
similar game mechanics to convey different feelings. For instance, Naughty Dog’s Uncharted
series and The Last of Us are both cover based shooters in function, but these two games show
off drastically different feelings appropriate to their respective narratives. Uncharted showcases
a lighter agile feeling apt for its high-spirited action theming (see fig. 10). In contrast, The Last of
Us engages the player with a rigid weightiness that reflects the grittier themes of responsibility
(see fig. 11). Additionally, the two arguments about the limiting nature of narrative-centric
design make a false assumption that decisions in game development are immutable when in
reality the iterative nature of game development dynamically adjusts and adapts game elements
throughout development. The goal is never to sacrifice a game element, but rather to have a
constant negotiation of all elements until everything fits into place. Both narrative and
mechanical elements are no exception to this process. As for the final point on narrative driving
plot, which in turn pushes development towards an unreasonable scope is more a cautionary tale
that can be averted through careful planning rather than inevitable fact.
I understand the concerns expressed in the Extra Credits episode for narrative-centric
games given the relative immaturity of narrative-centric design compared to game mechanics
design. There are many hidden problems in narrative-centric design that have not been fully
Sohn 25
explored making the process especially daunting. However, when the goal is to innovate games
as a narrative medium, this design approach of putting mechanics first is a huge deterring factor.
I would go as far as to say that the games community’s insistence on resolving ludonarrative
dissonance cripples aspiring developers from taking the necessary risks for true innovation in
interactive narratives. Instead of guiding our efforts away from narrative, an appropriate solution
may be to educate developers with better narrative design practices such as a realistic
understanding of narrative scope in games or the application of iterative design principles in
narrative design.
Fig. 10. Action-based gunplay in Uncharted 3 (Naughty Dog, “Uncharted 3”).
Sohn 26
Fig. 11. Stealth-based gameplay in The Last of Us (Naughty Dog, “The Last of Us”).
2.2 Episodic
A common view of game narratives are how story elements are loosely connected to
construct a rather incoherent story focused heavily on spectacle. In order for a game to
accommodate player agency, the narrative needs to be self-contained so as to not be tied to
linearity for comprehension. The resulting episodic nature, “can become compelling on its own
terms without contributing significantly to the plot development and often, the episodes could
have been reordered without significantly impacting our experience as a whole”. As discussed by
Jenkins as a conceptual blindspot for the ludologist and narratologist debate, this critique of the
episodic behaviors of game narratives is a failure to see narrative beyond that of traditional
storytelling, missing how “narrative can also enter games on the level of localized incidents”, or
“micronarratives”. (Jenkins 7)
Sohn 27
To summarize micronarratives are localized narrative incidents where “none of them last
more than a few seconds … (and intensifies their emotional impact) through crosscutting
between multiple incidents” (Jenkins 7). In a game setting, micronarratives can be any narrative
moments that carry emotional impact such as cutscenes or triggered events. Despite the lack of a
complex web of interconnectivity, these micronarratives provide players with emotional depth
through two different means.
The first is through a broadly defined premise “to create a framework within which
localized actions become meaningful” (Jenkins 8). According to research on emotions,
Emotions … are the shortest lived of the affective states. They are generated based on
events that have just transpired, and they are related to the goals an individual holds.
Gross [2015] observes that an emotion is expressed if one attends to the event or
object in question and then appraises it to be of relevance to a goal one holds. (Harley 35)
In a game, the general premise or goal of the game would inform the appraisal process of
narrative events that occur, which in turn produces an emotional impact to the player based on
the appraisal. Instances of this practice can also be found in non-interactive forms of narrative
media like commedia del arte (see fig. 12). In commedia del arte, a form of masked theatre
originating in Italy, characters are loosely defined to the audience based on their masks. “The
masks define the relationships between the characters and give us some sense of goals and
desires. The masks set limits on the action, even though the performance as a whole is created
through improvisation” (Jenkins 8). Commedia del arte, in its improvisational nature, embodies
Sohn 28
the same problems as games of having weaker interconnected narrative moments centered
around a few key spectacles. However, instead of offering a lackluster experience, “these
performance or spectacle-centered genres often display a pleasure in process - in the experiences
along the road” (Jenkins 8).
Moving onto the second means for micronarratives to deliver compelling experiences,
games can provide emotional depth through repeated exposure. As emotions have been described
above, this is an affective state that is short lived. As a result, repeated exposure of self-contained
narrative moments can have a compounding effect of layering that provides emphasis on
emotional notes as well as mapping out the complexities of a scene.
Fig. 12. Masks of commedia del arte (“Commedia Dell' Arte.”).
Sohn 29
2.3 Player Agency
Player agency is one of those terms that is hard to pinpoint a universally agreed upon
definition. Yet, a lack of player agency is one of the major buzzwords to criticize a game for a
perceived lack of purpose. With games as an interactive medium, comes an assumption from
players that interacting with the game will return a response. Also, many players will expect their
interactions to make an impact or a lasting change to the game system. In the case of ludic
games, this would be true as a player’s input directly influences the outcome and progression of
the game. For example, think of Nintendo’s Mario games, where the player takes direct control
of the character’s movement with the game providing a clear feedback of whether the game is
won or lost. In contrast, narrative games, especially those with predefined narratives, present
players with agency in more subtle ways like dialogue trees or quick time events. Even still,
narrative-centric games are frequently criticized for having meaningless interactions that have no
bearing or impact on the game.
In response to assertions that narrative-centric games lack player agency, I would like to
discuss how narrative-centric games address player agency through the conceptual act of
narrative comprehension. To start off, ignoring how it is debatable whether player agency is even
necessary for games, defining player agency as a player’s ability to impact events in a game
through choice is a prescriptive definition that fails to acknowledge the various motivations
players derive pleasure from games. In Oh’s research, she mentions Lisa Zunshine’s analysis of
the pleasures of reading.
Sohn 30
The pleasure of reading a story comes from the reader’s mind being constantly stimulated
through engaging these representations of textual information on character’s views and
feelings; because the reader is capable of thinking in a meta representational capacity, she
can see “a pattern behind a series of seemingly unrelated conceptual processes inform our
interaction with works of fiction. We begin to recognize that the same cognitive
predisposition, that is, our ability to process information under advisement, makes
possible both the metamorphosis of the once-proud or prejudiced protagonists into
romantic lovers and the metamorphosis of the formerly trusting readers into “detectives”
querying the author’s motives. (Oh 15)
Or in the words of Henry Jenkins, “narrative comprehension is an active process by
which viewers assemble and make hypotheses about likely narrative developments on the basis
of information drawn from textual cues and clues” (9). It is in this process that players are able to
exert their agency on the narrative-centric games’ system, receive appropriate feedback for their
actions, and ultimately derive pleasure from the experience.
To further support this claim, I would like to take a step back and look to ergodic
literature, a non-medium specific function of text where, “non trivial effort is required to allow
the reader to traverse the text.”, as clarified by Espen Aarseth (1). A prominent example of an
ergodic text would be Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves , as it requires a non trivial effort
to traverse the text due to its unconventional formatting that promotes traversal in an almost
spatial sense (see fig. 13). It is an experience where “the reader’s ability to exhaustively explore
and navigate a network is rewarded with additional narrative content” (Corrigan).
Sohn 31
Fig. 13. House of Leaves (“House of Leaves.”).
In an analysis of such ergodic literature in the context of video games,
The increasing popularity of video gaming and digital media marks a shift away from the
“passive” mode of apprehension engendered by television and non-ergodic literature, and
towards a public desire for active participation with media. Within the contemporary
media environment, the ludic approach engendered by ergodic texts bolsters the reader’s
ability to find self-expression in a state of hybrid-subjectivity. By engendering skills that
aid the individual in navigating digital environments, the ergodic smoothes over the
commonly-perceived rift between the digital and the textual, suggesting that both
platforms can reconcile human agency with systemic design. (Corrigan)
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Therefore, “play is posited as an activity that allows for the reader’s manipulations within an
authorial design; creating a hermeneutic framework in which agency is not contested, but
co-existent” (Corrigan). In other words, there is play to be found in a player’s agency of
interpretation and comprehension of authored works, or in our case, a narrative-centric game.
Even in the most basic forms of narrative traversal, where it may be a simple click to
progress mechanic, there is an implicit dialogue that occurs between the player and the game, or
system of designed intent. Whereas traditional linear media is a one-sided delivery of the
narrative, in an interactive narrative the player takes a conscious action of acknowledgment to
progress or trigger a narrative event. Beginning as early as a game’s start screen, each action the
player takes provides additional information of the world that compounds in layers to deepen the
player’s understanding of the narrative, which in turn serves to inform the next set of actions to
be taken.
Harkening back to enacted and embedded narrative systems, these spatial narrative
methods exist as scattered information banks that are traversed with the game’s selected
navigation mechanic. Returning to the criticism of agency, narrative-centric games may not offer
player agency in the ability to affect the game system, but they do offer an opportunity for the
player to engage in a kind of narrative excavation, formulating a mental map of the narrative and
testing this mental map against the game world.
2.4 Systems Design (see fig. 14)
The final critique is an argument that narrative-centric games do not take advantage of
the affordances of the medium, or the mechanical system. Similar to the evaluation of games
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based on player agency, upholding systems design as the gold standard of games is a prescriptive
definition that misses the bigger picture. Systems are a rich area of investigation for game
creation, as they are ripe with ludic potential. For instance, Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. has a
refined ludic game system, especially when observing the first level (see fig. 15). A lot of
discussion has happened about the level design of Super Mario Bros. , but the core idea is that a
player is placed into a game system where they can poke around distinct game components to
receive feedback and gradually map an understanding of the underlying game system to derive
ludic pleasure.
To describe how Super Mario Bros. achieves this, the player is first presented with a
general premise of saving the princess. In this game system, there are certain actions the player
can make, like moving and jumping, along with rules on the world’s behavior. Though the game
does not make all interaction possibilities immediately obvious, the game presents the player
with obstacles that obstruct their progression towards their goal. The game’s desired behavior is
to have the player move right while avoiding obstacles. The game manages to guide the player
into this behavior by providing appropriate feedback for the player’s actions. If the player walks
left, the game will display the character’s inability to move further. If the player moves right,
they will be confronted with an enemy that will display a death animation upon contact. As such,
the player’s next action would involve avoiding the enemy through the jump action. Later down
the line, the player will learn that the jump action can be used to jump onto enemies, jump over
pits, and jump onto platforms. Through level design, the player is placed within a sequence of
feedback loops where new obstacles are presented that guide players to make informed decisions
on the next appropriate action. Like this, the player is placed on a learning curve of gradually
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making sense of the game system’s affordances through interaction. This learning continues until
the player completes the game, upon which the player would typically have received a sense of
achievement and pleasure from the ludic game system.
This type of ludic game system is a powerful tool for generating memorable experiences
of play that capitalizes on the interactive potential of the medium, but it is just one of many tools
to enrich a game experience and it is not even the only possible game system. Take for instance a
narrative system. While a narrative system may not be enforcing a method of play, it can still
function as a feedback loop for providing the player with a gradual understanding of the
underlying rules of the narrative system, deriving a variety of different experiences. As an
example, let us take Harvester Games, The Cat Lady , a psychological horror adventure game
about a chronically depressed, middle aged woman, that is thrown into undesirable situations
after she tries to take her own life. The game shifts back and forth between gruesome images of
violence and simple everyday tasks that mirror the frustratingly mundane life of the main
protagonist. To specifically illustrate an example of a narrative system, I would like to focus on a
scene where the protagonist, Susan Ashworth, tries to relax from a stressful sequence of
disturbing events by making coffee for herself (see fig. 16).
The sequence begins by providing the player with the goal of making coffee. In the game
system, the player can walk around and interact with items in the house to achieve her goal. In
addition, the player is introduced with two gauges that represent Susan’s stress level and
relaxation levels respectively. With these established, the player is free to roam and try to make
coffee. Detailing one possible progression, the player may go to the kitchen to make coffee. They
will discover a coffee maker and find out that the electricity is not on. In order to make coffee,
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the player will have to investigate the lack of power to find that she has not paid her electricity
bills, leading to an increase in stress. After paying the bills, the player will return to learn that her
mug is missing. The player then may discover old items in the house during the search for the
mug, some of which remind Susan of her painful past, resulting in an increased stress level. After
finding the mug and returning to the kitchen, the player can heat up the water and make coffee,
but upon mixing in milk, they will find that the milk has spoiled, ruining the coffee in the
process. As expected, this would again increase Susan’s stress level. This is but one sequence of
events that can take place, but it details an interesting use of narrative systems to provide a sense
of the world through Susan’s eyes. With the premise of making coffee, the player draws upon
their own understanding of the world to make informed decisions on the next appropriate action
to make coffee. With each action, the player also receives appropriate feedback that expands the
narrative space of what actions are possible and the consequences for these actions. In the case of
The Cat Lady , the game manages to make the player see the world as Susan does in how a simple
task like making coffee can feel like an overwhelming endeavor where you are thwarted every
step of the way by some unforeseen misfortune.
Both Super Mario Bros . and The Cat Lady are system driven games, albeit in slightly
different forms. Both games provide the player with a broadly defined goal and a world with
predefined rules. They both present the player with a set of problems that the player must solve
with a given set of tools. Finally, both games provide the player with appropriate feedback to
actions that help guide the player towards the desired action and emotional experience. From
this, I believe it is safe to say that narrative-centric games are as systemically capable as their
ludic counterparts.
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Fig. 14. Meadows’ system example with an energy level of a coffee drinker (Meadows, 27).
Fig. 15. Super Mario Bros. level 1 (Nintendo).
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Fig. 16. The Cat Lady coffee level (Harvester Games).
Part 3: Narrative-centric design with The Toymaker’s Bequest
Now, with all of this discussion about narrative-centric games, I would like to finish off
with an example of developing a narrative-centric game, The Toymaker’s Bequest , as well as
some lessons learned from the experience. The Toymaker’s Bequest has been developed in
collaboration with Yiwen Dai as a joint thesis project.
3.1 Concept
Briefly describing the game, designed for those struggling with the inescapable rat race
which is life, The Toymaker’s Bequest is a vignette based interactive narrative experience
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presented as hand crafted toys (see fig. 17). These toys portray a fantastical story about the
everyday struggles of a woman living in an intolerant society and her attempts to reconcile with
her past through her creations (see fig. 18).
Fig. 17. Interactive zoetrope in The Toymaker’s Bequest .
Fig. 18. Interactive peephole portraying the main character’s life in The Toymaker’s Bequest . Art
by Renzel Navarro.
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Fig. 19. Opening Sequence in The Cat Lady (Harvester Games).
3.2 Prior Art for narrative design
The Cat Lady , as I have mentioned above, is a psychological horror adventure game, by
Harvester Games, about a chronically depressed, middle aged woman, that is thrown into
undesirable situations after she tries to take her own life (see fig. 19). This game has served as
one of the cornerstones for narrative progression where a sense of the world is established
through seemingly pointless interactions with the scene. With a heavy reliance on enacted
narratives, the plot is moved forward by the player performing appropriate actions based on a
broadly defined goal.
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The Sensational December Machine is an interactive short story developed by Simogo
(see fig. 20). This game tells a story about an inventor that creates a machine designed to touch
people’s hearts and the criticism she receives for the seemingly pointless purpose of the machine.
Taking inspiration from the meta-critique of the perception of games through the fictional world
of the inventor, The Toymaker’s Bequest is an attempt to further explore the expressive qualities
of examining a character’s creative works.
Fig. 20. Stills from The Sensational December Machine (Simogo, “Sensational”).
What Remains of Edith Finch is a vignette based narrative-centric game about uncovering
the stories surrounding a cursed family (see fig. 21). This game’s narrative structure of loosely
interconnected vignettes with an unreliable narrator over a consistent theme as well as the
blending of text and unique interactions to emphasize the delivery of story greatly influenced the
development direction of The Toymaker’s Bequest .
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Fig. 21. Still from the cannery in What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow).
3.3 Design Methodology
3.3.1 Ideation
The idea for The Toymaker’s Bequest began with a desire to tell a story through puppetry
and automata. Though mostly out of personal interest, the development team found intrigue in
the aesthetics and feeling of puppetry in its unique, almost theatrical, mode of storytelling.
With this in mind, designing The Toymaker’s Bequest began with defining narrative
experience goals. This being the definition of the themes and feelings intended to be evoked
from the game experience. The specifics of the story may be written to help convey the feeling,
but the story was expected to change as development progressed. For The Toymaker’s Bequest ,
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the goal was to convey a story of self-acceptance that would follow an emotional arc of regretful
disdain to redemptive self-acceptance.
With this narrative experience goal in place, the next step was to establish the interaction
design goals based on what interactions promoted possibilities for the desired narrative
experience. It is important to note that the desired narrative experience is not a specific scene or
narrative spectacle, rather it is a general feeling or theme so as not to prematurely limit the
game’s potential and compromise the original vision. In this regard, The Toymaker’s Bequest
opted for the feeling of playing with mechanical toys to enhance the feeling of rummaging
through another’s belongings to discover the secrets hidden within. The interactions were
designed as general gestures of clicking and turning a crank to simulate mechanical actions (see
fig. 22 and 23).
By the end of the ideation phase, the development team had established a narrative
experience goal and general interaction mechanic. To get to this process, a variety of narrative
and mechanical prototypes were created to narrow down the options, both of which served as a
means of conveying an idea rather than to serve as the final product.
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Fig. 22. Still detailing interaction mechanic from The Toymaker’s Bequest.
Fig. 23. Paper prototyping of the interaction mechanic.
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3.3.2 Pre-production
The same as any other game, in pre-production, the goal was to create a vertical slice.
The vertical slice is a small polished unit of the game showcasing the game’s end goal. For a
narrative-centric game, the vertical slice could be the narrative progression mechanic just as a
mechanical vertical slice may be the traversal mechanic. In The Toymaker’s Bequest , the
progression mechanic was the click and turn interactions that would trigger further narrative
content. Importantly, this progression mechanic alone, without the narrative, would not be
sufficient as a vertical slice as it would be taking a game element out of context. Each game
element is not meant to function as a standalone game. Consequently, it is easy to fall prey to
over-focusing on perfecting the mechanical interaction to the detriment of narrative delivery.
Since having the full narrative would be difficult at such an early stage of development, the goal
is to incorporate the smallest unit of narrative content, or an emotional beat. For The Toymaker’s
Bequest , the team focused on the introduction scene of a single level of the game. The vertical
slice incorporated a view of the mechanical toy and the first few moments of interaction that
included the introduction of the premise and the establishment of the tone (see fig. 24).
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Fig. 24. Mechanical toy view of The Toymaker’s Bequest’s vertical slice.
Though not quite entering full production, another process that occurred during
pre-production is the narrative prototype. This prototype would not be concerned with
mechanical interaction but instead focuses on establishing the overall scope of the story as well
as defining the story’s tone. For this prototype, as long as the entire narrative is included, it can
take any form such as storyboards, paper prototypes, or hypertexts. For The Toymaker’s Bequest ,
I used an open source HTML based tool, Twine, to create the narrative prototype, simulating the
progression mechanics through links that described the action that were to take place (see fig.
25).
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Fig. 25. Narrative prototype of The Toymaker’s Bequest utilizing Twine .
In the pre-production phase, it is important to try to be as detailed as possible about the
project’s forward trajectory, but it is of greater importance to acknowledge the iterative process.
As it has been discussed previously, to avoid the typical pitfalls of narrative-centric game
development like ludonarrative dissonance, it is crucial to remain flexible and adapt to changes.
For example, The Toymaker’s Bequest has seen at least four major overhauls. In its current
iteration, the game no longer resembles the original narrative prototype, but the team is in
consensus that the project has been refined to more effectively achieve the experience goal.
3.3.3 Production
Just as any other game, full production begins by working towards the game’s alpha,
where the core game loop is established with all core content stubbed in. For a narrative-centric
game, this means that a critical path for narrative delivery is established. To be more specific, all
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narrative content along with their respective interactions need to be stubbed in for a
comprehensible narrative delivery.
Narrative-centric games usually take longer to reach alpha because narrative moments
tend to have unique interaction requiring specialized development. Despite this, it is frequently
necessary for narrative-centric games to have a functioning narrative in the game as soon as
possible. Designing narrative-centric games addressing player agency and engaging in systemic
design is rarely a straightforward experience of putting in the right narrative content. Instead, it is
an iterative process of trial and error by which the developer constantly compares their desired
narrative experience with the player’s narrative comprehension.
A workaround to the longer narrative development times in narrative-centric games is to
stub in narrative in the form of placeholder text or inelegant prose. Rather than telling a story
elegantly, the goal is to clearly tell a story quickly to begin an overall evaluation of the game.
The rule the development team of The Toymaker’s Bequest used was to aim for over-explaining
everything in the simplest method so that the team could guarantee a baseline comprehension of
the narrative by alpha (see fig. 26). There is likely to be residual desires to perfect each narrative
moment as you go, but this is likely to stunt progress over work that is not guaranteed to remain
later. Any polish work can be saved for later as it is far easier to pinpoint areas of improvement
in an inelegant delivery of a comprehendible narrative than it is to work with confusing or
missing narratives.
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Fig. 26. Text stubbed in for narrative delivery in The Toymaker’s Bequest’s music box level.
Once the game reaches alpha, the game should be at a functional state where narrative
comprehension is occurring clearly. It is possible, even expected, that the game will seem boring
with a weak emotional impact or player agency. For The Toymaker’s Bequest , a common
criticism was how the game felt generic without any expressive qualities to draw the player in.
As discouraging as these comments may feel, the game is still far from being finished at alpha.
The alpha is about reaching a functional core that can be fleshed out. As such, the next stage of
production is to begin fleshing out the game with embedded content, narrative refinement,
interaction feedback, etc. Basically, it is a chance to incorporate anything that would add an
expressive flare to the generic feeling game.
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Specifically, in The Toymaker’s Bequest , the team decided to utilize embedded narrative
content with optional interactive moments in the scene to promote exploration by rewarding the
player with narrative depth. For example, the scene where a magic show occurs would have
posters lining the walls detailing the performance (see fig. 27).
From this point on, the development process for a narrative-centric game mirrors that of
any other game with frequent playtests and continuous refinement of existing content until the
game is deemed finished. At the time of writing this paper, The Toymaker’s Bequest is still in
development but in the following section I will detail some playtest feedback for evaluation.
Fig. 27. Poster as embedded narrative in The Toymaker’s Bequest’s theatre level.
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3.4 Feedback
Just like any other game, a developer cannot anticipate all possible player interactions
with a game and requires frequent playtests to evaluate and refine the experience. Especially
with narrative-centric games engaging in authorial design, it is important to gauge whether the
intended experiences are being conveyed. In addition, player feedback is important in getting a
glimpse into the player’s perceived agency within a narrative system.
For this section, I will discuss the playtest feedback the game has received, focusing on
the comments that specifically pertain to the narrative elements of the game. Overall, the
comments received showed an incremental progress towards clarity with some divergence in
player’s personal preferences. However, a major shift was noticed after the game reached alpha.
In the following I will discuss differences in feedback from pre-alpha to post-alpha stages of the
game.
3.4.1 Pre-alpha
In the stages before reaching alpha, most people found the game confusing without being
able extract much meaning from the content presented. The players were able to guess what type
of emotions the game was trying to convey, but the specifics of the story were not clear. As a
result, most interactions felt random or too simple. In hindsight, most of the feedback pertaining
to interactions were misleading as the interactions were evaluated for its independent worth
rather than its value in conjunction with the narrative.
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3.4.2 Post-alpha
Once the game reached alpha, major changes occurred in four ways. First, all pre-existing
content was seen with all necessary contextual information leading to informed interpretations.
For example, the action of the player clicking on a chest to reveal what was inside seems random
without any context. In contrast, when presented with information that an escape performance is
taking place, the chest receives new meaning as a performative tool as well as invoking a sense
of curiosity (see fig. 28).
Fig. 28. Chest interaction revealing a frog in The Toymaker’s Bequest’s theatre level.
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Second, players were able to form opinions and informed feedback on whether a
narrative element worked or not. This point relates to why it is crucial to stub all narrative
content in the alpha as player’s can evaluate the success of the game’s experience goal.
Third, players’ judgments of the mechanical interactions were changed. Now that there
was narrative content paired with the mechanical interactions, each element could be judged by
how well it fit the whole. As for The Toymaker’s Bequest , players were more forgiving and
sometimes preferred the simple mechanical interactions as they did not distract from the
narrative. Also, the seemingly random interaction no longer felt as random because the narrative
elements served as hints to the next desired interaction.
Finally, players’ were able to construct their own mental map of the game’s narrative, or
in other words they were able to extract their own meaning and formulate hypothesis on what is
supposed to happen next. The Toymaker’s Bequest is a game that offers pleasure in a similar way
as one may find pleasure in reading a story. The player interacts with the presented narrative
information at a conceptual level as they attempt to comprehend and map out the narrative space.
From this map, a player is then able to make informed decisions on likely progressions that can
be confirmed or subverted based on the author’s intentions. A simple example of how this mode
of play can offer pleasure is in a sequence in The Toymaker’s Bequest where the player is
watching an escape performance play out. The player partakes in the actions of guiding the
performer into a water tank, closing the doors, and waiting to reopen the doors to find that the
performer has disappeared (see fig. 29). At this point, the player is free to traverse and interact
with the level and in a few play tests, the team observed players beginning to make guesses on
what is supposed to happen next. They took a look at the space or embedded content, trying to
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take in as many clues from the world to understand what is going on, until deciding that the most
likely reappearance for the performer was to occur in a conspicuously placed closet. The player
would click to open the closet doors to reveal the performer, confirming the player’s
expectations with a rewarding narrative progression (see fig. 30). It was reported by many
players that it was a pleasurable experience when their mental model of the narrative was
confirmed by the game system through appropriate feedback from the game.
Overall, the main shift in player feedback was in the player’s ability to conceptually
engage with the game beyond its formal elements. And for a game that, at its core, wanted to use
a story to promote thought and convey a message, this was a major milestone towards the desired
player experience.
Fig. 29. View of the water tank in The Toymaker’s Bequest’s theatre level.
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Fig. 30. Character’s reappearance upon interacting with the closet in The Toymaker’s Bequest .
3.5 Lessons and Difficulties
At the time of writing this paper, The Toymaker’s Bequest is still in development but here
are some of the lessons and difficulties that have surfaced in creating a narrative-centric game.
3.5.1 Scope
The biggest lesson learned is that the scope of a narrative-centric game can grow
drastically as the complexity of the story increases. A narrative-centric game is not only about
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moving from one plot point to another, but it is also establishing the meaningful interactions and
spatial navigation to offer depth to the plot elements. Making a vertical slice is a good way to
figure out how long creating narrative content takes for planning ahead, but it is good to be wary
of how easy it is for a narrative-centric game to become unmanageable.
3.5.2 Clarity & Simplicity
A major lesson learned is that games are not necessarily the best medium for telling
complex stories through subtlety. In addition, having clarity and simplicity does not dilute the
impact of the story. The Toymaker’s Bequest team learned this the hard way as the team
struggled to tell a complex story about interpersonal conflicts with aesthetic, yet not really
explicit, prose. Most of the meaning got lost to the players that were distracted by the mechanical
interactions. Eventually, the team decided to implement clear text with an obvious introduction
of contextual information with repeated exposure of important plot points. Furthermore, the
narrative was rewritten to simplify character motives to easily understood emotions. As one
dimensional as this may seem, the results were far superior with the clear and simple approach
with players having enough initial understanding of the narrative to begin layering their own
depth with embedded clues and hypothetical interpretations.
3.5.3 Generic vs. Expressive
Another point of pain was the struggle to make generic content become expressive.
Attempting to make plot points clear, the writing for The Toymaker’s Bequest took on a
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functional approach. Each event was described as it occurred, but the players’ began questioning
why they were reading the same content that was being visually shown. As a result, the team
took an approach to use textual information as a means to add an emotive layer on top of the
functional event that was happening. For example, the narrator of The Toymaker’s Bequest used
to have an omniscient voice that talked directly to the player as if they were a guide to the game
world. This method proved to be difficult in portraying the narrator as a character with her own
goals and emotions. Instead, in a newer pass of the writing, the narrator takes on a character that
is frustrated with past events and seeks creative expression as a means to rant about her past.
This adjustment in character motive allowed for the narrator to deliver exposition tinted with a
hint of anger and solemn regret that ultimately enhanced the game’s expressive delivery.
3.5.4 Work vs. Play
The final lesson from developing The Toymaker’s Bequest came in the difficulty of
integrating mechanical interactions with narrative content without making one feel like work.
Similar to how many gamers express their distaste for cutscenes in action games, the team found
that a narrative-centric game may suffer the problem of the mechanical interaction feeling like
busy work when the narrative content is what the player wants. Though there is no clear solution
to this problem, a few tricks The Toymaker’s Bequest team managed to pick up were to test the
mechanical interactions early with the narrative, that simple interactions are likely sufficient for
narrative-centric games, and that mechanical interactions do not need to perfectly solve
ludonarrative dissonance but it does need to involve narrative stakes in some capacity.
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Expanding the last point, the team settled on a mechanical interaction that has been
described as the fourth wall mechanic. A fourth wall mechanic is a progression mechanic that is
not directly impacting the direction of narrative progression. Instead, the interaction exists
outside of the narrative space, in a fourth wall space, where the player only pulls a lever to move
the story forward. What is unique and compelling about the fourth wall mechanic is that the
fourth wall interaction requires the player to make informed decisions on their next action while
keeping the player invested in the outcome of the action by tying the outcome with the player’s
goals. In The Toymaker’s Bequest , the team settled for a player interaction that mirrors the act of
tinkering with old mechanical toys that tell stories of their creator (see fig. 31). Operating the toy
would not change the story, but it would keep the story moving. Each interaction was informed
by the plot and the resulting outcome provides additional information about the narrative space
as well as revealing new clues towards the ultimate goal of understanding the motives behind the
elusive toymaker. Though the success of implementing the fourth wall mechanic in The
Toymaker’s Bequest is up for debate, the fourth wall mechanic model is a compelling model for
gauging whether an interaction in a narrative-centric game serves any purpose.
Conclusion
Even though the process of developing The Toymaker’s Bequest was a bumpy journey, it
has without a doubt been a fruitful one. The struggle to design a narrative-centric game proved to
be a worthwhile endeavor in creating a game experience unique in content, especially with
Jenkins’ spatial narrative models. As mentioned before, though The Toymaker’s Bequest is still
in development, there has been enough evidence from play tests that a narrative-centric design
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model is a viable means to develop interactive experiences. The abundance of narrative-centric
games that are already in existence also serve as evidence for the viability of narrative-centric
games. Therefore, I would like to end this discussion with a hope to encourage more game
developers to pursue narrative-centric game development so that there may be a greater diversity
in game experiences, ultimately pushing the boundaries of the games medium.
Fig. 31. Opening sequence of The Toymaker’s Bequest’s theatre level.
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Abstract (if available)
Linked assets
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Sohn, Jung-Ho
(author)
Core Title
The Toymaker’s Bequest: a defense of narrative‐centric game design
School
School of Cinematic Arts
Degree
Master of Fine Arts
Degree Program
Interactive Media
Publication Date
04/06/2018
Defense Date
05/11/2018
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
automata,game design,interactive narrative,ludonarrative,narrative game,narrative system,narrative‐centric,OAI-PMH Harvest
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Wixon, Dennis (
committee chair
), Lemarchand, Richard (
committee member
), Watson, Jeff (
committee member
)
Creator Email
jsohn96@hotmail.com,junghos@usc.edu
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-819
Unique identifier
UC11671671
Identifier
etd-SohnJungHo-6158.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-819 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
etd-SohnJungHo-6158.pdf
Dmrecord
819
Document Type
Thesis
Rights
Sohn, Jung-Ho
Type
texts
Source
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
Access Conditions
The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...
Repository Name
University of Southern California Digital Library
Repository Location
USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA
Tags
automata
game design
interactive narrative
ludonarrative
narrative game
narrative system
narrative‐centric