This week there are important lessons on developing story ideas and showing traditional structures for their presentation (such as the Hollywood 3-Act and the Hero's Journey). We're also going to take another look as Games vs. Stories and then delve very deeply into Concept Documents / Story Treatments, but the day will end by you role-playing a heroic Hobbit on the way to Mount Doom.
The link below is the homework assignment due at the beginning of the next class session.
Samples: Concept / Treatment Document Samples by various students
These links feature the supplemental material that you are responsible for knowing before the second exam (that takes place at the beginning of Week 8). Be sure to click on every link in this section!
Article: Adapting the Tools of Drama to Interactive Storytelling by Randy Littlejohn
"How do we graft a story to our action game?" Story means linear...right? The whole idea of a story is opposed to the idea of interactivity…right? The basic concern is "How do we make an effective interactive story?" So what does effective mean in terms of interactive storytelling? There are two basic ingredients. These are intuitive interface design and compelling stories. In this article, which is a nice capsulated summary of this entire course unit, Randy Littlejohn address one of the two ingredients, the development of compelling interactive storytelling.
Article: Dramatic Novelty in Games and Stories by Ernest Adams
To provide true dramatic novelty, a videogame designer must abstain from two of the tools in our traditional gameplay toolbox, repetitious play and randomness. Can that work?
Article: Three Problems for Interactive Storytellers by Ernest Adams
Amnesia, internal consistency, and narrative flow are the bugaboos of interactive storytelling, and Grand Game Design Pooh-Bah Ernest Adams explains why.
Bibliography: General Course References
This is the game that we played and analyzed in class this week. If you want more information about it, see the links below:
THE
LORD OF THE RINGS represents something a bit different. Utilizing a
novel game engine where character, story, and plot all unfold in a
reasonably true-to-Tolkein fashion, The Lord of the Rings is one of those
rare boardgames where the players must work together cooperatively to win.
Dripping with dramatic tension at every turn, the game ratchets up the
pressure right from the beginning and seldom lets up.
If you'd like to see a special expanded version of the rules, click here. There are also published expansion sets that you can examine if you click here.
Contents:
Here's
some information on it from
BoardgameGeek.com::
Lord of the Rings is a co-operative game where the object is to destroy the Ring while surviving the corrupting influence of Sauron. Each player plays one of the Hobbits in the fellowship, each of which has a unique power. The game is played on a number of boards: the Master board indicates both the physical progress of the fellowship across Middle Earth and the corrupting influence of Sauron on the hobbits, and a number of scenario boards which detail the events and adventures of particular locations. Progression across the boards is determined by playing cards (many of which represent the characters and items of Middle Earth), and the effects of corruption are represented by a special die. The game is lost if the ring-bearer is overcome by Sauron, or won if the ring is destroyed by throwing it into the volcanic fires of Mount Doom.
