Storytelling and Narrative - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 163

interlevel sequence that often takes the form of a briefing about what the player
will encounter in the next level (or chapter or mission); or in the form of cut-scenes ,
that is, short noninteractive sequences presented during play that interrupt it
momentarily.
The game Half-Life , for example, begins with a movie in which Gordon Freeman,
the player's avatar, takes a tram ride through the Black Mesa research complex
while a voice explains why he is there. This opening sequence introduces the game
world and sets the stage for the experience to follow.
Narrative blocks presented between levels tend to last from 30 seconds to 4 or 5
minutes. Those at the beginning and end of the game are sometimes longer still,
because they provide important narrative bookends to the entire experience. In
Halo 2 , the introduction scene is more than 5 minutes long.
Cut-scenes during play, on the other hand, should be shorter because they inter-
rupt the flow and rhythm of the player's actions. Players who like fast-moving
genres such as real-time strategy games or action-adventures are annoyed if you
keep them listening or watching for too long without giving them something to
do. Players of slower-moving games such as adventure games or role-playing games
tolerate long cut-scenes better.
DESIGN RULE Noninteractive Sequences
Must Be Interruptible
All narrative material must be interruptible by the player. Provide a button that allows
players to skip the sequence and go on to whatever follows, even if the sequence contains
important information that players need to know to win the game. A player who has
played the game before already knows what the narrative contains.
FORMS OF NARRATIVE
Narrative in a video game can take many forms. A prerendered movie, a cut-scene
displayed by the graphics engine, scrolling text that introduces a mission, voice-
over commentary that explains the backstory of the game, or even a long monolog
by a character can all be considered narrative elements of the game.
There's one exception to the definition of narrative. A single, prerecorded line of
dialog spoken by a game character might be considered to be narrative because the
player can't change it as it is being played back. However, dialog in games usually
occurs in an interactive context, with the player choosing a line for her character
to say, and the game choosing, based on what the player's avatar said, an appropri-
ate line in response. Therefore, individual lines of dialog are not narrative. A long,
noninteractive dialog between NPCs, on the other hand, qualifies as narrative.