Lecture 9 - Interaction Design & Technologies

Themes and Narratives 

staffan.bjork@chalmers.se 

se 

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Structure of the lecture 

• What are narratives 

• A closer look at plots and plot structures 

• An alternative view from game developers 

• Design Documents 

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But first a game or two… 

Two volunteers 

Not usual suspects! 

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First to 15 

• Two players taking turn 

• Each turn a choice ce from the following: 

o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 

• Goal to reach exactly 15 points 

• You win iff three of your numbers add up to 

15 

• Cannot take a number already taken 

• By either player 

• This is not first to 12… 

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Tic-Tac-Toe 

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Now both! At the same time!

Magic Square 

Not magic circle… 

2 7 6 

9 5 1 

4 3 8 

4 9 2 

3 5 7 

8 1 6 

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37 78 29 70 21 62 13 54 5 

6 38 79 30 71 22 63 14 16 

47 7 39 80 31 72 23 55 15 

16 48 8 40 81 32 64 24 56 

57 17 49 9 41 73 33 65 25 

26 58 18 50 1 42 74 34 66 

67 27 59 10 51 2 43 75 35 

36 68 19 60 11 52 3 44 76 

77 28 69 20 61 12 53 4 45 

Would this make a good game 

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Difference between theme and 

narrative 

• Theme 

• Mood 

• Context 

• How to “read” affordances 

• Explain relations in system 

• Which “frame” to use 

• Narrative 

• Temporal development 

• Causal effects 

• Dramatic effects 

• Can you have theme without narrative 

• Can you have narrative without theme 

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What connection does narratives 

& gameplay have 

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Structures of Narratives 

• First analysis 

• Tragedy 

• Poetics, Aristotle, 300 

BC 

• Components 

• Plot 

• Character 

• Reasoning 

• Dictation 

ti 

• Lyric poetry 

• Spectacle 

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Frazer 

• The Golden Bough 

• Different version from 

1890-1922 

1922 

• Study of the origins of 

magic and religion 

• Similar stories all over 

the world 

• Sacrificial killing of 

god-kings to ensure 

bountiful harvests 

• Adonis 

• Osiris 

• Balder 

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Propp, 1928 

• Morphology of 

Russian folk 

stories 

• Studied stories 

• Identified 

similarities 

• Identified 

common 

structure 

• Grammar 

• Linear structure 

• 1. A member of a family leaves home (the hero 

is introduced); 

d) 

• 2. An interdiction is addressed to the hero 

('don't go there', 'go to this place'); 

• 3. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the 

tale); 

• 4. The villain makes an attempt at 

reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the 

children/jewels etc; or intended victim 

questions the villain); 

• 5. The villain gains information about the victim; 

• 6. The villain attempts to deceive the victim to 

take possession of victim or victim's belongings 

(trickery; villain disguised, tries to win 

confidence of victim); 

• 7. Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly 

helping the enemy; 

• 8. Villain causes harm/injury to family member 

(by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling 

crops, plunders in other forms, causes a 

disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on 

someone, substitutes child etc, commits murder, 

imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced 

marriage, provides nightly torments); 

Alternatively, a member of family lacks 

something or desires something (magical potion 

etc); 

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Propp, cont. 

• 9. Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is 

• Examples 

• Hans and Gretel 

• Snow White 

• Other cases 

• Odysseus 

• Moses 

dispatched, hears call for help etc/ alternative is 

that victimized hero is sent away, freed from 

imprisonment); 

• 10. Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter- 

action; 

• 11. Hero leaves home; 

• 12. Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, 

preparing the way for his/her receiving magical 

agent or helper (donor); 

• 13. Hero reacts to actions of future donor 

(withstands/fails the test, frees captive, 

reconciles disputants, performs service, uses 

adversary's powers against them); 

• 14. Hero acquires use of a magical agent 

(directly transferred, located, purchased, 

prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, 

help offered by other characters); 

• 15. Hero is transferred, delivered or led to 

whereabouts of an object of the search; 

• 16. Hero and villain join in direct combat; 

• 17. Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives 

ring or scarf); 

• 18. Villain is defeated (killed in combat, 

defeated in contest, killed while asleep, 

banished); 

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Propp, cont. 

• Grammar 

constructed by 

analysis 

• Can be used to 

create stories 

• Fairytale generator 

• http://www.brown 

.edu/Courses/FR0 

/FR0 

133/Fairytale_Gen 

erator/gen.html 

• But create games 

• 19. Initial misfortune or lack is resolved 

(object of search distributed, spell broken, 

slain person revived, captive freed); 

• 20. Hero returns; 

• 21. Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, 

undermine the hero); 

• 22. Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles 

delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero 

transforms unrecognizably, hero saved from 

attempt on his/her life); 

• 23. Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in 

another country; 

• 24. False hero presents unfounded claims; 25. 

Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by 

ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, 

other tasks); 

• 26. Task is resolved; 

• 27. Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or 

thing given to him/her); 

• 28. False hero or villain is exposed; 

• 29. Hero is given a new appearance (is made 

whole, handsome, new garments etc); 

• 30. Villain is punished; 

• 31. Hero marries and ascends the throne (is 

rewarded/promoted). 

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Campbell 

• The hero with a 

thousand faces, 1968 

• Monomyth 

• All myths have the 

same basic structure 

• Classical examples 

• Osiris 

i 

• Odysseus 

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Campbell, cont. 

• Grammar 

constructed by 

analysis 

• Can be used to create 

stories 

• For example, Star Wars 

Why can one find 

these structures t in 

so many stories 

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Narratives - Recap 

• Components 

• Plot 

• Character 

• Reasoning 

• Grammar 

• Sequence of actions 

• Prerequisites for 

actions 

• Options of actions 

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A closer focus on plots

Types of Plots 

• Possible worlds, Artificial Intelligence, and 

Narrative Theory, Ryan 2001 

• Sequential narrativity 

• “The king died. The queen died.” 

• Causal narrativity 

• “The king died, then the queen died.” 

• Dramatic narrativity 

• “The king died, then the queen died of sorrow.” 

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Plots 

• Linear stories 

• One situation 

• One event leads to new 

situation 

• Does not have to be 

chronological order 

• Examples 

• Most books 

• Most movies 

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Plots - a classical plot example 

• Scene 1 

• Introduction of 

problem 

• Scene 2 

• False solution 

• Scene 3 

• True solution 

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Plots 

• Nested stories 

• Stories being told in 

stories 

• Easy change characters 

and setting 

• Examples 

• “One Thousand and 

One Nights” 

• Scheherazade 

• Canterbury tales 

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Plots 

• Parallel stories 

• Several situation 

• Event leads to 

development in one 

situation 

• Does not have to be 

chronological order 

• Examples 

• Soap operas 

• … 

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Plots 

• Branching stories 

• One situation 

• Several options of 

event that lead to 

different situations 

• Narrative explosion 

• Dead ends 

• Examples 

• Lonewolf 

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Plots 

• Hypertexts 

• Events can lead back to 

previous situations 

• Break temporal 

structure 

• Examples 

• Talmud 

• Absalom, Absalom!, , 

Faulkner 

• Memento 

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Plots - Other variants 

• Possibilities 

• Not predetermined 

• Let players choose 

situations and events 

• Only plan certain 

situations and events 

• prerequisites need 

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What type of plot structures 

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Motivations for telling stories 

• Tell Me a Story – Narrative and Intelligence, Shank 1990 

• AI perspective 

• Me goals 

• Attention 

• Explain actions 

• Get advice 

• You goals 

• Give people an experience 

• Make a point 

• Transfer information 

• Conversation goals 

• Raise topic 

• Change subject 

• Spend time 

• Give response 

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Narratives and gameplay

What is the relation between 

games and narratives 

• Do all games have story 

narratives 

gameplay 

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What is the relation between 

games and narratives, cont. 

• Do all stories have 

gameplay in them 

• Interaction 

game 

play 

story 

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Sliding story-gameplay y model 

Story-focused 

Gameplay-focused 

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Story-focused games 

• Player choices 

• Complete task to 

progress in story 

• Puzzle 

• Level 

• Choose options from 

grammar 

• Related design areas 

• Interactive Narratives 

• Façade by Michael 

Mateas & Andrew Stern 

• Interactive Movies 

• Stories Movies 

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Example: The Walking Dead 

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Gameplay-focused games 

• Story use 

• Give theme 

• Provide information 

i 

• Provide immersion 

• Allow players to be 

creative 

• Related designs 

• Improvisational Theatre 

• Theatre Sports 

• Tarot Cards 

• Story-telling 

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Scaling author model 

Game designer 

as author 

Roleplaying games 

Game engine as author 

Players as 

authors 

Put another way: who creates the story, the designer or the player 

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Reductionistic Approach 

• What aspects of 

narrativity can be 

used without limiting 

gameplay 

• Theme | Premise 

• Characters 

• Challenge 

• Play 

• Cutscenes 

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• Theme 

• Aristotle’s spectacle 

• Used to create 

metaphor that gives 

actions meaning 

• Backstory 

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• Characters 

• Self-expression 

• Who one wants to be 

• Life on the Screen: Identity in 

the Age of the Internet, Sherry 

Turkle 

• External presentation 

• Internal composition 

• Possibility of Development 

• Emotional Anchor 

• But maybe not the characters 

under player’s control 

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• Challenge 

• Aristotle’s reasoning 

• Czikszentmihalyi’s s flow 

Difficulty 

• Activity requiring skill 

• Merging of action and 

awareness 

• Clear goals and feedback 

Frustration 

• Concentration on task Flow 

• Paradox of control 

• Loss of self- 

consciousness 

• Transformation of time 

• Activity becomes its own 

purpose - autotelic 

Boredom 

Skill 

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Some professional views on 

stories in games 

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Margaret Robertson@GDC2009 

• Things players actually care about (in 

descending order): 

• Where I am 

• What I can do 

• What I look like 

• Who I am 

• Note that she doesn’t mention back story 

or motivations… 

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• Small Stories 

• Evoking emotions 

• Evoking interest 

• Not telling everything 

• Can carry theme and back story 

• Can provide traces of diegetic intentionality 

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• A classic example 

• Ernest Hemingway 

• Six word challenge 

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For sale: baby b shoes, never worn 

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• Small stories, where can they be told 

• Set-up 

• Externally 

• Subtextually 

t • Environment 

• Gameplay 

• Exposition 

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• Types of medium 

• HUD 

• Art 

• Animation 

• Sound 

• Text 

• Voice-over 

• Video 

• Types of Art 

• Clothes 

• Posters 

• Graffiti 

• Architecture 

• Weather 

• Signs 

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Ken Rolston@GDC2009 

• Perspective: MMOGs & blunder management 

• Be vast 

• Modular 

• Extensible 

• Aims 

• Focus on moment to moment gameplay, not art 

• Avoid a Narrative with a Defined Protagonist 

• Lose lots of protagonists to meet 

• Lose possibilities to customize character 

• Sprinkle loose threads and narrative hooks 

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Ken Rolston@GDC2009 

• Factions a feasible possible component 

• Start before narrative 

• Paper-Rock-Scissors structures can work well 

• Make main quests less important 

• Most important story: I’m not dead yet” 

• Ending main quest = killing your character 

• Main quest can lead players to different parts 

of fthe game 

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Design Documents

Design Documents - 

Motivation 

• Communicate overall vision i of game 

and gameplay 

• Ergo the game designer the primary 

author 

• Necessary for collaboration and 

coordination in larger groups 

• Can serves purposes in small (1 person) 

design teams also 

• Not substitute t for other forms of 

communication 

• Support for more detailed descriptions 

• Support for when people are not present 

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Historical 

• Design documents were 

not used in early days of 

game design 

• Need not perceived 

• Compare to the history of 

craft and design in general 

• Complexity 

• Need for collaboration 

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Format of Design Documents 

• Text document 

• Word (or rtf) for ease of transport 

• Version control –central source 

• Possibly sub-documents for extra details 

• Website 

• For example Wikis 

• Allows easy update for many 

• Allows difficulty in controlling who updates 

what 

• May be difficult to print, transport, etc. 

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A model for Design 

Documents 

That is, a model for the 

assignment 3… 

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Design Document – Design 

History 

• Description 

• Version number – overall idea of document state 

• Description of changes since last update 

• Motivation 

• Allow people to see differences 

quickly 

• Allow people to see how work 

has progressed over time 

• Both what type and 

scope of work 

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Design Document – Vision 

Statement 


• 1-2 pages that captures the essence of the game in 

a compelling and accurate way 

• Theme 

• Core gameplay (what you do 90% of the time) 


• Executive summary 

• Main selling point 

• Keep design vision clear 

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Design Document – Marketing 

Information 


• Describe the context for the game 

design in aspects of target 

audience, platform, system 

requirements, top performers, 

feature comparison and sales 

expectations 


 

 

 

Let distributors understand how well you have planned 

target audience and understood the market 

Explicitly state intended game play and target audience to 

the design team 

Can be seen as limiting the design space, identifying 

already existing games within that design space and their 

popularity 

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Design Document – Legal 

Analysis 


• Agreements regarding copyrights, trademarks, 

contracts, and licensing 


• Make clear to all parties what obligations exist 

• Make clear how potential issues can be avoided or 

mitigated 

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Design Document - Gameplay 


• Core gameplay (preferably through prototype), 

detailed gameplay, interfaces, rules, scoring/win 

conditions, modes of play, levels, editors and tools 


• Describe gameplay to external parties 

• Have complete description of what rules have to be 

implemented, what levels should be created, what 

interfaces should be designed 

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Design Document - Characters 


• General characteristics and functionality, 

PCs, NPCs, gameplay role, narrative role, AI 


• Provide common location of description 

of characters to maintain character 

integrity during the design process 

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Design Document - Story 


• Synopsis and general structure, 

complete story, backstory, 

narrative devices, subplots 


• Provide holistic view of what narrative experience 

• the player will have by playing the game 

• Making sure that contingency is 

maintained during gameplay 

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Design Document – The Game 

World 


• More details on the theme 

• Overview, key locations, travel, mapping, 

scale, ,physical objects, weather conditions, 

day and night, time, physics, society/culture 


• Common location to describe functionality 

and appearance of the world and objects in it 

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Design Document – Media List 


• Interface assets, environments, characters, 

animations, music and sound effects (, text) 

• The appearance of what is described in the previous 

sections: Characters, Story, Game World 


• Identify what artists and UI engineers need to create 

• Create uniform naming convention 

• to allow early implementations to use mock-ups 

• Avoid confusion 

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Design Document – Technical 

Specification 


• Technical analysis, development environment, 

delivery, game engine, interface tech spec, 

control tech spec, lightning models, rendering 

systems, network spec, system parameters, 

help menus, manuals, setup, installation 


i 

• Give programmers explicit instructions on what needs 

to be implemented 

• Show publishers what potential technical 

problems/risks can occur 

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Design Document - 

Appendices 


• More detailed descriptions of material that 

would be too detailed or too long to be part 

of main document 


• Ease the flow of the design document 

• Allows interested parties to study content 

separate from the rest of the design 

document 

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Another model – Chris Taylor 

• NAME OF GAME 

• USER INTERFACE 

• DESIGN HISTORY 

• WEAPONS 

• GAME OVERVIEW 

• MUSICAL SCORES AND SOUND 

• PHILOSOPHY 

EFFECTS 

• COMMON QUESTIONS 

• SINGLE PLAYER GAME 

• FEATURE SET 

• MULTI-PLAYER GAME 

• THE GAME WORLD 

• CHARACTER RENDERING 

• OVERVIEW 

• WORLD EDITING 

• WORLD FEATURE #1 

• EXTRA MISCELLANEOUS STUFF 

• WORLD FEATURE #2 

• “XYZ APPENDIX” 

• THE PHYSICAL WORLD 

• “OBJECTS APPENDIX” 

• RENDERING SYSTEM 

• CAMERA 

• GAME ENGINE 

• LIGHTING MODELS 

• “USER INTERFACE APPENDIX” 

• “NETWORKING APPENDIX” 

• “CHARACTER RENDERING AND 

ANIMATION APPENDIX” 

• THE WORLD LAYOUT 

• 

• GAME CHARACTERS “STORY APPENDIX” 

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More models 

• Tim Ryan’s - Gamasutra.com 

• Various -ihfSoft.com 

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Working with Design 

Documents 

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Method for Writing Design 

Documents 

• Methods 

• Iterative process 

• Can be seen as the 

documentation of the 

Generate Ideas / 

Identify Target Group 

design process 

• Living Document 

• How to start Flowcharts of 

game and “Wireframes” of 

Evaluate / 

Formalize Ideas / 

interfaces 

Playtest Create Specification 

• Trade-offs 

• When to start – book 

recommends after making a 

prototype 

• But how to sell idea before 

that 

• How comprehensive - 

length has detail but makes 

reading more difficult 

Test Ideas / 

Implement 

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Thank you!

Lecture 9 - Interaction Design & Technologies

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