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Readings 11
Irreconcilable differences: game vs. story
Examining game pace
Irreconcilable differences: game vs. story
• Game - a competition with direct conflict
between participants.
• Story - a fictional account of something that
happened to someone.
• Interactivity - choice which determines outcome
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Irreconcilable differences: game vs. story
• a critical difference between story and game as it
relates to uncertainty of outcome
• emotional power of a story's outcome is
generated by a storyteller through pre-determined
and organized techniques and methods, which the
audience witnesses
• emotional power of a game's uncertainty of
outcome, which is derived from witnessing a
contest which is not pre-determined
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Irreconcilable differences: game vs. story
• stories generate tension through foreshadowing
• when the game is live you have no predictive clues
as to what will happen
• stories require suspension of disbelief before
emotional involvement can take hold
• games require active belief that each participant is
trying as hard as they can to achieve victory
• story and game achieving their emotional power
through uncertainty of outcome in exactly
opposite fashions
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Game Pace
• Key aspects of game pace:
• Movement Impetus -- the will of the player to
move through the level.
• Threat -- the notion of danger.
• Tension -- the atmosphere and mood of the
level or perceived danger which is reflected in
the player.
• Tempo -- the level of actual action currently
being experienced by the player.
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Game Pace
• elements that increase impetus to move:
– Introduce a threat from behind – Present an objective Impose a time limit
– Narrow physical options
– Draw the eye
– Architectural pressure
– Snatch desired
– NPC leads the way
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Game Pace
• elements that decrease impetus to move:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
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Wow moments.
Obstacle.
Altered movement
Introducing a threat ahead
Increased tension
Multiple Routes / Open World
NPC halts player
Taking stock of inventory (collecting items)
Dialog / Roleplay
Story exposition
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• Threat
Game Pace
– pace of the game can also be increased by the sense
of peril that is experience by the player. The more
threat the player believes they are under, the quicker
their pulse, the more nervous and often more
panicked them are
• Generally the level of threat felt by the player is
determined by whether the threat is being
caused by an external force -- an enemy, an
encroaching hazard, etc., or whether is a danger
that will result from the player's own mistake
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Game Pace
• Tension (Perceived Danger)
• Tension occurs from the belief in an unknown
danger and can be difficult to achieve, but the
result of achieving it can be incredibly immersive.
Tension works particularly well in creating the
right pace for a horror game
• Audio can help a great deal in building tension.
Music in particular can create tension by playing
to well known triggers that people have learnt
from years of films and TV shows
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Game Pace
• Tempo describes the level of intensity of action -how much concentration is required by the player to
achieve their goal.
• Low tempo gameplay tends to be that which
requires serious thought and contemplation -generally puzzles.
• High tempo gameplay is generally gameplay that
requires fast reactions and split-second decisions.
• High tempo action often induces stress or panic and
often at its highest level might be termed "frantic"
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Game Pace
• Structure of Pacing
• The key to creating a well paced level is to
provide moments of action interjected with calm
–peaks & troughs as they are often called
• pacing a level is much like composing a piece of
music, i.e. verse followed by chorus, followed by
verse, etc.
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Music
• Rhythm -- in music rhythm is the timing of particular
notes. In gameplay this could translate as the timing of
events that determines game pace.
• Melody -- describes notes in a successive series to
create phrases of sound. This could be comparable to a
sequence of events in a level to create phrases of
gameplay -- something that might be termed Flow in
game design.
• Harmony -- is the combination of notes of different
pitches to create pleasing sounds, something that can
easily be equated to combinations of game mechanics
within a sequence to create a pleasing play experience.
Some mechanics will gel well together and some will
not -- much like musical notes.
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Music
• Form -- the structure of a piece of music. Potentially this could
be applied to the organization of gameplay events to form
particular patterns.
• Timbre -- the quality of the note. This is generally related to
the type of instrument that creates it. This could be applied as
the different types of mechanics used to produce the desired
gameplay.
• Dynamics -- refers to the volume or sound of a note. This could
translate to game design as the specifics of a particular piece
of gameplay, such as the numbers of enemies used in a combat
sequence or the height and length of jumps in a platforming
sequence.
• Texture -- describes the amount that is going on in a piece of
music at any one time. In gameplay this can simply translate as
how many different things are happening at any one time.
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