SCENES - A Game Design Vocabulary - page 73

■ Shipwrecked! The protagonist's vessel has been shattered by a terrible storm, and
she must find her way to dry land. Once there, she must somehow find shelter.
■ This old house cleaned up so well, no one will even realize it's haunted. Just a few
more tasks before the protagonist can put it on the market—but then something
goes unexpectedly awry!
Now, imagine that you're going to shape the space of possibilities in the scenario you
chose—the space of choices the player can make. Following is a list of a few possible
shapes. Each of these shapes changes over time. When the shape is more open, the
player has a wider space in which to decide what to do. For a masquerade ball, that
might be the informal part of the evening where guests are free to mingle as they
choose and talk to all sorts of characters. When the shape is tighter, more closed, the
possible choices are more constrained, with fewer options open—perhaps because of
tension or danger. In the masquerade ball, this might involve the moment when the
assassin strikes, when the player must react immediately.
Here are some possible shapes for your scenario. How might these play out? What
would happen at each change in shape?
■ A wide-open space in the beginning and for the first half, then narrowing to a tight
space for the second half.
■ A wide-open space followed by smaller and smaller ones, but ending in a large
open space of possibilities.
■ A narrow space from the beginning that periodically gets wider and then contracts
again at the end.
Defining the rules of the game (and the larger story into which this scene fits, if you so
desire) is up to you.
Group Activity
Knytt Stories , created by Nicklas Nygren in 2007, is a platform for creating playable “stories”
about a protagonist, named Juni, whose primary verbs are “running,” “jumping,” and “climb-
ing.” You can download it freely at http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=Knytt+Stories, though it will only
run on Windows computers.
Have someone in the group play through the included “Tutorial” story and 10 minutes or so
of the other included story, “The Machine.” Then, working as a group or breaking into smaller
groups, look at the level editor. To understand the level editor, be sure to check out the follow-
ing posts in the Knytt Stories support forum:
■ Level Editor FAQ: http://nifflas.lpchip.nl/index.php?topic=28.0
■ Level Editor Manual: http://nifflas.lpchip.nl/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=
18.0;attach=5