Environments - Video Game: Storytelling - page 177

Audio Clues
Harbingers that are not silent but still environmentally based include audio
logs and ambient voice and sounds heard as the player moves through the
space. System Shock and BioShock both make liberal use of this tool, in-
troducing characters not yet encountered—such as mini-bosses—just be-
fore the player actually runs up against them in the game.
During development of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 , we wrote and recor-
ded dozens of various types of audio logs that could be found hidden (and
not so hidden) in the missions and hub environments. They provided
backstory on characters, fleshed out story details, supported the illusion of
a larger world that was reacting to the player's actions, and foreshadowed
upcoming story events.
None were required to understand the story—the narrative was de-
signed to make sense even if you never listened to a single audio log. But
those who took the time were rewarded with a richer story experience and
a more complete picture of the events, characters, and world.
For example, in the first hub environment (Iron Man's Stark Tower), play-
ers can run across and listen to an audio object that plays a radio com-
mercial for an upcoming reality TV show called The New Warriors . It
doesn't relate to anything that's happened so far. But later in the story, the
teen super heroes who star in this reality show accidentally trigger a
massive explosion in a residential area, killing innocent civilians and ignit-
ing the story's main conflict. Players who took the time to listen to the ra-
dio commercial would—we hoped—feel a greater sense of world cohes-
iveness and continuity when they later saw the cutscene featuring the
New Warriors and their fateful, explosive miscalculation.
Nobody Home
Exploring an eerily uninhabited urban or suburban environment—a place
where there would normally be other people—can evoke a strong sense of
mystery and intrigue. It also puts more onus on environmental storytelling
to communicate narrative details. A good example of a game that takes
place in an intact but uninhabited location is the critically acclaimed indie
title Gone Home .
With no combat, health units or death, no other characters to interact
with, and only simple puzzles blocking player access to new areas, Gone
Home relies almost exclusively on environmental storytelling to allow the