Games Stories

Games Stories

This week's readings explore the idea of the importance behind a hero's journey in games, the importance of myths in game writing

The hero's journey is important to game writers and story tellers as it tells myths- which convey the values of society and teach us about ourselves and how we should behave. Myths guide our actions, for example people believe in the literal truth of the Bible, suicide bombers believe that they will go to paradise if they blow themselves up etc.

Myths give us a sense of personal identity, gives us a sense of communuty, lie way to moral values and helps us deal with the mystery of life and death. 

The reading which can be found here goes on to talk of how human tribes in the past would encourage their members to act for the good of the tribe and not for themselves through the telling of myths and stories- and ultimately these were the tribes that survived. Myths become models for how we should behave and influence the way we act.

This is important to games as they allow people to control their environment for a short period of time. As an example, a young boy got control over events and his own feelings thanks to the portrayal of myths in games, he grew less scared of others and his own feelings.

The hero's journey refers to a collection of common elements in thousands of myths that are categorised to create a narrative.

Important elements of the hero's journey include; establishing the world of the hero, the call to start the adventure, entering the mythological woods, trials, meeting the evil one, getting the hero's prize and returning that prize to the community.

The reading outlines steps on how to use the hero's journey to build a story:

1. Pick the premise of the story
2. Create the hero
3. Create the villain
4. Showcase the hero's normal world
5. Disrupt the hero's world
6. Enter the woods
7. Confront the villain
8. Acquire the prize
9. The hero returns

The second reading which can be found here states that common misconceptions of stories in game stories are that the story is just dialogue and doesn't matter in a game. 

Classical stories are important for game developers to know as they are simple and successful. There is a basic structure to creating a classic story, which is as follows:

• There is a protagonist/hero.
• There is an inciting incident that throws the world out of order.
• A gap in the life of the hero opens.
• The hero tries to close the gap through normal means but fails.
• The hero takes a risk to overcome their problems.
• Something new happens and the world is out of order again.
• The hero must take an even greater risk to overcome this,
• There is anothe reversal opening a third gap.
• The hero must take the greatest risk to close the final gap and get to the object of desire.

 A character is not dictated by what they do, but who they are and what they choose to do. Putting a character into a difficult or morally challenging situation pressures the character to bring out these choices which reflects and shapes the character. 

The rest of the character cast should be designed around the hero, and the world should be designed to oppose the hero at every turn.

 

Link from The Legend of Zelda series

Source: DeviantART