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The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension

No Medals for Wookiees Game Tutorial Elective - 4pm Monday GDC Game Design Tutorial Andy Ashcraft Jeremy Gibson Jonathan Hamel Marc Leblanc. The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension. The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension. The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension. The Player’s Story Has The Same Arc.

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The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension

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  1. No Medals for WookieesGame Tutorial Elective - 4pm MondayGDC Game Design TutorialAndy AshcraftJeremy GibsonJonathan HamelMarc Leblanc

  2. The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension

  3. The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension

  4. The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension

  5. The Player’s Story Has The Same Arc • Learn How to Play • Tension Increases • Difficulty Increases • Stakes are Raised • Complications are Added • Climactic Moment! • Resolve Remaining Issues

  6. When is the Climax of a Game? • The Point of HIGHEST Tension. • Afterwards, you KNOW if you’ve won or lost. • Story Example: Luke chooses to trust the Force over the targeting computer and shoots with his eyes closed.

  7. Repeating Rise & Fall of Tension Next 4:11

  8. Resolving Tension Inside Game-Play • Shift from Planning to Execution • Risk! • Shrinking Possibility Space • Chess, Bingo • Remove Mechanical Constraints • Journey, Where’s My Water • Secondary Goals and Games • Minecraft • Revealing Hidden Information • Texas Hold’em, Werewolf Next 4:12

  9. Resolving Tension Outside Game-play • Revealing Hidden Information (outside) • “Show them what they’ve won!” • Cut-scenes (outside) • Post Mortems & Replays (outside) • Leaderboards, Achievements (outside) • Smack-talk, Water-cooler talk (outside) Next 4:14

  10. Great Denouements in Games • Red Dead Redemption (Jeremy) • Back to “Normal” • Show what the conflict has caused • Minor dramatic arcs Next 4:16

  11. Great Denouements in Games • Journey (Jonathan) • Free flying (removal of constraints)! • Discovering who your companions had been Next 4:17

  12. Great Denouements in Games • Dungeons & Dragons (Andy) • The repercussions of battle: • Healing • Roll the victims • Identifying the treasure • Leveling UP! Next 4:18

  13. Denouement Vs. Cliffhanger • These are NOT the same thing • Denouement resolves tension created in the CURRENT story. • “And they loved happily every after.” • Cliffhanger ratchets up the tension for the NEXT story. • “OMG! What’s gonna happen next?!?” Next 4:19

  14. Example: Questions Answered • What happened to Darth Vader? • Is Wedge OK? • Will R2-D2 be OK? • Will Han and Chewie stick around? Next 4:20

  15. Exercise: Brainstorm! Brainstorm: What OTHER stories have great, memorable denouements? Others… Any movie, book, game, fairy-tale, etc. Next 4:25

  16. Exercise Rules: • Using Dice and Index Cards • Create a Game-like Activity Based on the Denouement of a Well-known Story • Write These Down: • What is the Climax? • What is the Denouement? • What is the Tension(s) your activity will resolve? • Iterate, Iterate, Iterate! Deadline 5:25

  17. Exercise: Beta-Test • Two people from each group • stay to teach other players how to play your game • Everyone else • splits up to play other groups’ games Next 5:40

  18. Falling Tension: Observations? • What was interesting? Next 5:45

  19. Falling Tension: Discussion • Did the activities fit the story? • Did the activities resolve tension? Next 5:55

  20. Denouement • The player’s story is the “real” story • A denouement allows the audience to digest their story and make it meaningful • This process can be play-able and not simply scripted Next 5:57

  21. Cliffhanger! • Come Back Tomorrow! • 10 AM • Everyone to THIS Room • And, THANK YOU!! Don’t cry, Chewie! There’s more game-design tomorrow!

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