Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
The Three-Act Mission
Levels in a game are often a lot like episodes of a TV drama, especially
when it comes to narrative structure. While there are larger story and
character arcs in TV shows that span multiple episodes and even seasons,
each individual episode usually contains its own conflict that's introduced
at or near the beginning of the show, and is resolved within that sixty-
minute timeframe (minus commercials). Beginning, middle, end. Introduc-
tion, confrontation, resolution.
Similarly, each mission in a game generally starts with a conflict being
introduced—possibly even at the end of the previous level or within inter-
stitial narrative content placed between missions.
Gameplay then revolves around the Act II equivalent of confronting the
conflict, by resolving a series of sub- or even micro-conflicts (for example,
each individual enemy blocking your path could be considered a micro-
conflict). Ideally, this series of goals creates a rising action driving toward a
climactic crescendo.
And when the overall conflict for the mission is resolved, we generally
get a noninteractive but satisfying Act III “outro” cutscene or other narrat-
ive presentation that acknowledges the player's success and reveals the
effects of the mission's main conflict being resolved. Even if it's often the
revelation of the next conflict!
Whether you're consciously making it so or not, your mission in all likeli-
hood sports many if not all aspects of the Three-Act Structure, and prob-
ably the Monomyth as well. So, having a good understanding of these
classic story structures is important when blocking out the big beats of a
game level.
Surprise, Believability … and Fairness
Other critical storytelling elements such as surprise and believabil-
ity—covered in
chapter 6
—are very much applicable and important to
keep in mind while mapping out the events (or potential occurrences) in a
game level.
As previously discussed, there is a delicate balance between a story's
need for interest-enhancing surprises and the simultaneous requirement
to not shatter believability.
