Storytelling Applied - The Game Maker's Companion: Game Development - page 199

C H A P T E R 9
Storytelling Applied
Now that all the theory is in place, it will be useful to see it all in action. It is time to look at our
story in Shadows on Deck using the tools we've been examining. We'll go through the 12 stages of
the Hero's Journey and see what we still need to do to our story to make it better. We also need to
flesh out all the characters and decide which storytelling tools we will be using in our game and
how.
Applying the Theory to Shadows on Deck
On our way through the Hero's Journey, we saw that Flynn's story definitely has some holes that
need filling out, which is no wonder really, as so far it is only a paragraph long. This is what we
have so far:
We start with Flynn on his home island where he is living with his dad. He is bored and
slightly troubled. Then a problem arises. The island is threatened by a poisonous fog
creeping in from sea. Flynn gets his opportunity for adventure; a chance to save his
home and maybe discover who his mother is. With the fog comes a parrot—we'll call
him Archie. The parrot lets Flynn know that his mother is in danger. He sets off on his
adventure with the parrot as a companion and guide. He finds his mother and the cause
of the evil, but then there's a twist. His mother has been kidnapped by an evil pirate and
Flynn has to do what he is told to keep her safe. So he sets of to find a treasure for the evil
guy, hoping that his mother will be freed afterward. But the pirate tricks him and sets off
to invade Flynn's home island and will probably kill Flynn and both his parents if his
evil plan succeeds. In the end, Flynn finds a way to best the bad guy and we have our
happy ending. Flynn has saved the island and found out something about who he is and
something that he is good at.
Let's go through it stage by stage and fill out as we need. When we have all of what will happen,
we can begin to think about how to show it. While the first outline helped us while we were planning
the levels of game play, so the levels will now help us in elaborating on the story.
The Ordinary World
Flynn is from a little fishing village. We'll show this by introducing him down at the beach where
all the boats are busy hauling in the day's catch. We need to show his personality somewhat here,
so what do we want to get across? He is a bit of a loner, so he is set apart in this first scene from