Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 7.14
complain in cutscenes about their pet peeves (left),
which then stress them out during gameplay (right).
Characters in
Miss Management
Each level's tasks are introduced by scenes that play out in dialogue between the characters.
Although these cutscenes are noninteractive, forming the authored story of the game, they
also provide context and explanation for the player's challenges during the rest of gameplay.
When a player decides to make Tara happier or let Timothy get impatient, those decisions feel
more meaningful because of the way they're embedded in a longer story about the conflicts
and development of these coworkers. Some of the tasks on many of the levels are optional: the
player can earn extra recognition (in the form of a
gold star, a simple cosmetic reward) for the
difficulty of juggling all the tasks, but it's up to the player to determine how hard she can push
and which goals feel important to her. The overarching theme of “Can you really keep everyone
happy, and is it worth it?” also becomes the main question for the struggles of the story's main
character (Denise, the office manager) by the end of the game.
Of course, not all characters in games have authored plot arcs and character development,
but we don't necessarily need to use those traditional elements of story for players to care
about the characters whose actions they guide. In war games like
Risk
, chess, or
Axis & Allies
,
players make decisions that represent military movements, often sacrificing pieces or sending
abstracted soldiers to their deaths. Very few players get emotionally attached to these stylized
armies or feel remorse or sadness for their imagined deaths beyond “Argh, that was a stupid
move!” This is part of the point of play: there's no
real loss or death in failure.
When we experience a well-told story, however, we enjoy being swept up in the lives and emo-
tions of the characters involved, even if they're imaginary. We can feel pride in their struggles,
sadness at their experiences of loss or death. What about characters in less authored, more
emergent stories, who aren't part of a preordained plot? Grunts and peons are some of the
basic units of games in the
Warcraft
series, commanded by the player to build and fight. They
die frequently, but they're generic and replaceable, so these deaths carry little emotional
weight. Other characters in games like
Warcraft III
have
names and personality and speak lines
