Category: Writing/Storytelling
Ludonarrative Dissonance doesn’t actually exist
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[time to read, according to wordpress: 10 minutes]
Once again, despite “ending” this blog, I am back on my bullshit. I genuinely didn’t intend to add anything anymore and have been thinking about deleting this blog. Then I had a conversation with someone online about why I hate the term “ludonarrative dissonance” and why I think the term actually is counterproductive to improving digital games as an artistic and storytelling medium. I was really happy with my explanation because even though I think the person I was talking to didn’t totally agree with me, I felt they at least understood where I was coming from.
So, I decided to just copy/paste it into this blog; I’ve already written it, so might as well share it (with some editing to make it fit a blogpost rather than a conversation). Here’s my explanation for why the term Ludonarrative Dissonance is a lie (I’m going to save time and assume you’re already familiar with the term and some of the discourse surrounding it):
The term ludonarrative dissonance is a product of the industry and the mindset around games; it is not a product of the medium itself nor of anything inherent to the artform.
Let me you use an alternate history universe as an analogy. You can imagine what it would be like if works of literature, let’s say novels, ended up being produced the way games are produced in our real world.
Continue readingThe Term For Narrative Design Is Game Design
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(I recently found this mostly finished article in a file from a year or two ago. I figured I might as well edit it and then post it.)
In the Great Discourse on narrative in games, I find it frustrating when people seem to treat narrative/story as fundamentally separate from game mechanics/gameplay, because they’re not.
Narrative design is game design, and game design is narrative design. All gameplay and game mechanics communicate a story, even if they don’t intend to. The narrative embedded inside gameplay might not be big or meaningful, but it’s there. (I could even argue that all narrative communicates the mechanics of the world, as well.)
For a while now I’ve been using a particular example to illustrate my perspective that creating game mechanics inherently creates narrative. It’s a chart that breaks down the mechanics of some video game guns.
Continue readingA Game I Made: Journey To The Cursed City
Tonight is election night in the United States so probably not a great moment to try and post anything with the hopes that anyone will notice. Nevertheless, I’m posting a link to a game I made. It runs in a browser and is mobile friendly.
Continue readingRoot: How To Tell Stories Through Mechanics
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Part 1: Board Games, And Abstracting Narrative Through Mechanics
Board Games are really good at communicating narratives through their mechanics. In many ways they’re better at it than video games.
“Show Don’t Tell” And “Do Don’t Show” Mean The Same Thing
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The Setup:
In writing and general storytelling there is a common adage for avoiding flat, un-engaging writing. The adage is, “Show Don’t Tell”. The idea can be summed up with a simple example. Let’s say you have a character who is angry. You could write “Grimaxe the barbarian was angry” to get your point across. But, this is kind of boring and doesn’t really capture the audience’s imagination. You’re just telling them something is happening which probably isn’t going to “feel” like anything to them. They probably won’t connect with it on an emotional level.
Alternatively, you could also write, “Grimaxe threw the tankard of ale against the wall and slammed the table with a curse.” This is a lot more words, but it has more action, it let’s the reader imagine what is happening, and in general is better at painting a picture and engaging the audience. In this case, you’re presenting the character’s behavior without definition and you’re letting the audience do the interpreting for themselves. The audience can think about what’s happening on their own terms to decide for themselves that the character is angry. In a way, the audience is helping the tell the story to themselves. Generally, the second example is what you would want to aim for as a storyteller, hence “Show don’t tell”.
This is a classic piece of advice in the writing world, but often people misunderstand what it really means.
Paratopic: A Game
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The best way to sum up my experience with Paratopic is this: The first time I played Paratopic, I didn’t like it; the second time I played it I liked it a little more, but the only reason I bothered replaying it was to get screenshots for this article. Nevertheless it’s an interesting game, with some neat ideas, and some good execution.
So, what’s the deal? Why is this how I experienced the game?
I was hearing a lot of buzz about the game on Twitter so I decided to check it out. (Worth noting is that since I started writing this, the developers have released an update which adds new content. I have not played the updated version. This is all based on the earlier version. You can get the game for yourself on itch.io.)
An Example Of Storytelling That Isn’t Unique to Video Games Although Some Think It Is
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“Daniel Floyd Is A Fool And Raven’s Will Peck Out His Eyes”
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#WallOfText
There’s this video posted by Dan Olson on his Folding Ideas youtube channel?/page?/account? It’s Daniel Floyd (writer for Extra Credits) talking about,
“…the very first game that I played that really made me… start thinking and looking for ways that games could do something with the narrative that nothing else could.”
For him, it was the ending to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which he states,
“… was the moment that lit the spark, that games can do something unique here, something that no other medium can emulate this in any way I can think of.”
Electric Cartilage And The Games That Don't Exist 