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.