Game Analytics on Narrative based Video Games – COMP6470

Name – Vinayak Ravi (u6561524)

Supervisor – Dr. Penny Kyburz

What is a Video Game and its components ?.

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• The ‘vertical ties’ in the outer side of the model

indicates the link between the conceptual ends

and the means to link them to achieve results

in ‘Narrative and Immersion’.

• The ‘horizontal ties’ connects the ongoing

vertical ties, in an attempt to reach

‘equilibrium’.

https://altugi.wordpress.com/articles/video-games-a-frame-model/

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What is Narrative in Video Games ?

• Helps the player get more involved and

helps in immersing into the story.

• Gives the game a meaning and guides

the player in the actions to perform.

Unlike other forms of narrative, in video games, the ‘PLAYER’ is part of the ‘STORY’.

What is Gameplay ?

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• Gameplay constitutes elements that determine the playable character’s ‘mobility constraints, game-

level’s structural design, response/event triggers, game state dynamics and decision responses’.

[1] http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/39414829.pdf.

What is the problem ?

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• Each element (Narrative, Gameplay, Player) are

viewed as separate entities.

• The Developers and Gaming companies are trying

to bridge/minimize this gap (Ludo-narrative

dissonance), to attain emergence.

LUDO-NARRATIVE

DISSONANCE

Narrative (Story) Gameplay

(Engagement)

Immersion (Addictiveness)

Approach towards solving the problem

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• Study on the emergent elements utilized in Narrative-based Video game (Uncharted 4), to visualize on its impact

to minimize the Ludo-narrative dissonance [2].

[2] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/16d8/5efe47da804e9be1dbd99fed5d389a76fbb2.pdf

Case Study:

In-depth analysis on

the narrative/gameplay

content in the game,

understanding its

intricate connections

Formal Analysis:

Narratological

research method

(Fernandez-vara,

2015) studying on

game’s ‘artefacts’

and its relation with

its corresponding

‘game mechanics’

Close Reading:

Understanding on

the decision

making context,

which is

governing each

artefact.

Study on Narrative Structure incorporated in Uncharted 4

• Majewski proposed four narrative

architectural models ‘String of Pearls,

branching narrative, amusement park and

building blocks’

• Further, since Uncharted series follows a

linear-adaptable storyline, String of Pearls

model approach is what connects the

sequence of events (pearls) by strings

(narrative devices)

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[2] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/16d8/5efe47da804e9be1dbd99fed5d389a76fbb2.pdf

String of pearls model

Narrative architecture deployed in Uncharted 4

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• Uncharted 4 follows ‘4-act architecture’,

which consists of [4]:

– Act One: Setup and complication

o Inciting Incident

o First Plot Point

– Act two: Conflict and rising action

o Pinch Point

o Context shifting point

– Act three: Crisis

o Second Pinch point

o Second Plot Point

– Act four: Climax

o Confrontation and falling point

[4] "Following A Four Act Structure: How To Keep It Fresh", Medium, 2019. [Online]. Available:

https://medium.com/@miamanns/following-a-four-act-structure-how-to-keep-it-fresh-b0a454a92575.

[Accessed: 01- Oct- 2019].

[3] https://ayakhan.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/the-4-act-strucutre/

Narrative Architecture and scope

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Narrative Devices used in Research

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• Narrative devices help in communicating the

story/plot to the player, acting as an illustrator

linking the goals, mechanics and decisions made

in the game.

• The Narrative devices considered for Formal

Analysis are (Dialogues, Cutscenes and point of

View).

• Research methodology used are Searle’s

Speech Act theory [5] and Jarvinen’s six types of

game rhetoric [6].

‘Searle’s Speech Act Theory’

• Assertive

• Commissive

• Directive

• Declarative

• Expressive

‘Jarvinen’s Six type rhetoric Theory’

• Gratification

• Motivation

• Goal

• Means

• Feedback

• Outcome

[5]https://www.thoughtco.com/speech-act-theory-1691986

[6] Järvinen, A. (2008). Games without Frontiers: Theories and Methods for Game Studies and

Design (Doctoral dissertation). Tampere University Press.

Kim

Narrative Devices Research on Dialogues and Cutscenes

(Artefact)

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Gameplay Devices used in Research

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Salen and Zimmerman [7] define, rules, goals

and mechanics, as the primary gameplay (ludic)

components to be studied in comparison with

narrative elements.

• Rules: defining boundaries of in-game behaviors of

characters/agents.

• Goals: Help players in deriving a sense of purpose from

the plot.

• Mechanics: Primary elements receiving physical

feedback from the player manipulating the

character/environment/ agents inside the game

[7] K. Salen , K. S. Tekinbaş, E. Zimmerman, “Rules of play: Game design fundamentals”, MIT

press, 2004.

Gameplay devices research on Rules and Goals (Artefacts)

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Gameplay devices research on Mechanics(Artefact)

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Strategy:

• Stealth:

• Offensive:

• Avoidance:

• Navigate:

Interactive Mechanism:

• Distance:

• Hand-to-hand:

• Vehicle:

• Puzzle:

Utilities:

• Guns:

• Bombs:

• Journal:

Achieving balance between story and gameplay (Immersion)

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• Immersion is the perceptive involvement of the

player, engulfed into the constructed narrative and

gameplay mechanics.

• From Tanskanen’s Immersion Venn Diagram [8],

we can deduce that immersion occurs when the

player blends their psychology, the game’s story

and design together.

[8] S. Tanskanen, “Player immersion in video game: Designing an immersive game project”, 2018.

Emergent coding of the ‘Chapter:11 Uncharted 4’ (Artefact)

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UNCHARTED 4 ( Chapter 11: Hidden in Plane Sight)

1. MinCs

2. N, swD, Ex

3. AC

4. gpD, MajCs, N, VJ, Ex, MinCs, Ex, MinCs, Ex,

swD, Ex,

MinCs, swD, Ex, MinCs, N, AC, MajCs

5. swD, gpD, MinCs, Pz, Ex, VJ, Pz, gpD, Ex,

gpD, swD, gpD, VJ, Pz, swD, gpD, VJ, Pz,

swD, gpD, AC, MajCs,

6. N, gpD, O, G, A, MinCs, V, swD, gpD, AC,

MajCs

7. MajCs, O, (V,G - loop), MinCs, G, AC, MajCs

8. MajCs

9. Macro Goal

Integrated Narrative and Gameplay Structure

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• The coding system utilized documents the way narrative and gameplay components are

combined with each pearl in narrative architecture.

• This integrated system forms the “framework of immersion”, which embodies all the elements

in the chapter and the entire game, thereby, giving the player the choice to utilize various

mechanics to reach the goals.

• In the research conducted, it was understood that the player is given a constricted goal-

guided linearly built world, where the player gets an ‘illusion of a open-world scenario’. If

immersion is achieved properly (by minimizing the Ludo-narrative dissonance), it will induce

‘repeatability’ in audience.

References

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[1]Oecd.org, 2019. [Online]. Available: http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/39414829.pdf. [Accessed: 15- Oct- 2019].

[2]Pdfs.semanticscholar.org, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/16d8/5efe47da804e9be1dbd99fed5d389a76fbb2.pdf. [Accessed: 15- Oct- 2019].

[3] https://ayakhan.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/the-4-act-strucutre/

[4] "Following A Four Act Structure: How To Keep It Fresh", Medium, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://medium.com/@miamanns/following-a-four-act-structure-how-to-keep-it-

fresh-b0a454a92575. [Accessed: 01- Oct- 2019].

[5]"Speech Act Theory: Definition and Examples", ThoughtCo, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.thoughtco.com/speech-act-theory-1691986. [Accessed: 15- Oct- 2019].

[6] Järvinen, A. (2008). Games without Frontiers: Theories and Methods for Game Studies and Design (Doctoral dissertation). Tampere University Press.

[7] K. Salen , K. S. Tekinbaş, E. Zimmerman, “Rules of play: Game design fundamentals”, MIT press, 2004.

[8] S. Tanskanen, “Player immersion in video game: Designing an immersive game project”, 2018.