Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
briefly check in with various characters we met along the way to let us
know if everyone got what we think they truly deserve, and it's curtains.
Transitions/Plot Points
The Three-Act Structure, by its very name, seems to imply distinct and ob-
vious breaks that separate its three story phases. However, in modern
storytelling we often don't experience any kind of pause or other overt in-
dication that we're transitioning from act to act.
When you go to see a movie, are there two intermissions demarcating
these act breaks? Of course not—the experience is designed as a single,
flowing unit of entertainment. Even in TV shows with their commercial
breaks, novels with their chapters, and video games with their levels, we
can't always assume that those divisions align with the narrative breaks im-
plied by the Three-Act Structure.
The act breaks may not be actual breaks, but the transitions are still
there. Close examination of any standalone story will almost always reveal
three acts and the turning points that separate them. In fact, if you know
the Three-Act Structure well enough, you can often sense these trans-
itions happening even while you're experiencing a story for the first time.
The two breaks between three acts are often called the story's
Plot
Points
.
The first Plot Point divides Acts I and II and happens at the moment the
Hero fully commits to resolving the main conflict. It is at this point in a
story that we can feel the gears shifting; we sense that the story has finally
gotten going, and we know that the real ride is just beginning.
Plot Point 2 separates Acts II and III, and is sometimes a bit fuzzier. Gen-
erally it's the moment in which the Hero, battered by the effort of already
overcoming so many challenging obstacles, finally sees the path to victory.
