Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
In games, the old Hollywood axiom can be amended to, “do, don't
show.” If you can convey story information with active gameplay, that's
better than communicating it in a more passive mode, like a cutscene or a
dialogue line.
So, first try to find a way to let the player
do
it; your second choice is to
show
it. And finally, your last resort is to
tell
it.
A laudable attempt to combine all three of these methods of expository
communication into a single, interactive experience can be found in the
interrogation system of Rockstar's
L.A. Noire
. Taking on the role of a hard-
nosed late 1940s police detective, the player interrogates suspects in order
to solve crimes and progress the narrative. Advanced facial capture tech-
nology allows the player to be presented with highly convincing and
subtle actor performances—which he needs to pay close attention to in
order to decide whether the suspect is telling the truth. The interrogations
careen back and forth as the player reacts to what he is hearing, seeing,
and sensing.
This is a very effective combination of
tell
(hearing the content of the
dialogue coming from the suspect),
show
(observing the body language
and facial expressions), and
do
(making a decision and taking action based
on the previous, which can spin the situation into a new direction).
So, the form of exposition is an important choice. But just as critical is
choosing where to place it.
Seeding
Most exposition should be treated the same way you'd try to grow a
lawn … by a process I call
seeding
. That is, spreading tiny bits of exposition
(like seeds) in a fairly uniform manner over a large area—not dumping a gi-
ant pile in one spot.
Exposition is information, so you need to keep the information-process-
ing speed of your target platform in mind. No, I'm not talking about the
CPU of the latest PlayStation or iPad … I'm talking about the target pro-
cessor of your story content: the player's brain.
Human minds can only take in, comprehend, and store information at a
certain pace. Our brains are incredible processors of data, but they have
their limits, especially when it comes to story details.
