Understanding Without Reading: Storytelling in Video Games
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After work you are wandering through a well-kept office and pause when you notice a splintered coffee cup in front of you - something is wrong here. In another world, you sneak through the intensive care unit of a hospital; There is blood everywhere and in the background you can hear the soft crying of children from the ventilation shafts. In a third game you cross a ruined castle that still gives an idea of the beauty of days gone by. All three examples have in common that it is the environment that tells a story here, instead of outsourcing the whole thing to letters or cutscenes. Attentive readers have probably already noticed that no game can be completely without environmental storytelling - however, there are some techniques that improve the gaming experience and the conveyance of the story in equal parts.
Ashen uses a dynamic soundtrack to create a story to tell: Depending on the situation, the composition and the rhythm change without changing the song itself. Source: PC Games
If you are about to start your favorite game, pay attention to the three big criteria that make up good environmental storytelling: a recognizable identity, a well-integrated narrative context and competent telegraphing. From a design perspective, a "strong identity" means that the gaming world must be recognizable as part of a larger whole. In one of our examples, the destroyed intensive care unit is part of the hospital and you as a player automatically begin to construct the story in your head: The history of the place, the living conditions on site and the atmosphere are all conveyed in seconds. Even funky games such as "Zeno Clash" from 2009 use objects in their fever dream-like environment that we know from real life: A bar can only be recognized as a bar because it contains objects such as a counter, tables and Includes bar stools.
If everything cannot be clearly interpreted immediately, that doesn't have to be a bad thing. This is where the narrative context comes into play: Dark Souls from 2011 conveys a clear mood with its level and creature design - however, due to the often unclear clues in the area, players came to very different conclusions. It wasn't until much later that "games archaeologists" were able to put the entire story together, which fits perfectly with the mysterious atmosphere of the game. If you give your player the opportunity to discover the story for yourself just through the level design and the clues scattered around the area, you kill two birds with one stone: You increase the player's engagement and give him the feeling of not being “held by the hand” "to become.
Ambiguous environmental storytelling works when it is intentionally kept diffuse. Dark Souls inspires a generation of game historians.
Source: PC Games A third technique is the so-called "telegraphing", which prepares the player for an upcoming gameplay segment by providing information in the area. This includes things like an NPC companion running into a minefield or a body that is halfway in a river of acid. In both cases the player knows "Aha, from now on I have to face these obstacles." Anyone who sees a Necromorph crawling out of a ventilation shaft in Dead Space from 2011 will see ventilation shafts with different eyes from this moment on. In a brilliant moment, Isaac is even attacked by a specially created Necromorph while he is at a crafting station. The whole thing will never happen again - so the telegraph is lying in this case! However, it plays with the player's fears in this way and tells them, "You are not safe here. Not in the menu and not during crafting." You learn things about your environment, the conditions and the dangers on the ship without someone having to say in a holotape in a trembling voice "This spaceship is extremely dangerous!"
In addition to the colossus of environmental storytelling there are you also the often underestimated auditory storytelling. This does not mean that the player just "gets told" the story. Instead, the mood of the game, the character of NPCs or emotions are conveyed through subtle sound effects. On the one hand, this could be the binaural audio in Hunt: Showdown from 2018: Thanks to a special sound technology, every sound in the PvPvE Battleroyal was recorded with extremely high directional precision. This not only allows you to locate your teammates very precisely - the atmosphere is also much more tense. In the swamps of Louisiana you just wait for a smack, the clink of chains or the quiet click of a loading mechanism and images of the enemy's hiding place explode in your head. The setting and the sound mechanics work hand in hand here.
The sound design of Hunt: Showdown is so closely interwoven with the gameplay that it naturally creates a dark mood. The sound creates a larger part of the setting here than the graphic assets.
Source: PC Games Conversational Stories: Auditory Storytelling
In addition to the colossus of environmental storytelling, there is also the often underestimated auditory storytelling. This does not mean that the player is simply "told" the story. Instead, the mood of the game, the character of NPCs or emotions are conveyed through subtle sound effects. On the one hand, this could be the binaural audio in Hunt: Showdown from 2018: Thanks to a special sound technology, every sound in the PvPvE Battleroyal was recorded with extremely high directional precision. This not only allows you to locate your teammates very precisely - the atmosphere is also much more tense. In the swamps of Louisiana you just wait for a smack, the clink of chains or the quiet click of a loading mechanism and images of the enemy's hiding place explode in your head. The setting and the sound mechanics work hand in hand here.
On the other hand, auditory storytelling can also produce calm, emotional moments, such as in the game Ashen from the same year. In the Soulslike the player builds a refuge in which different NPCs find shelter. Each of the characters adds a new note and a different instrument to the background music: If you talk to the strong but sad blacksmith, you can hear how deep, bass-heavy string instruments slowly creep into the music, while the mysterious priestess of the melody in her environment sounds bright harp adds. Fights suddenly add rolling drums to the melody. A dynamic sound design that is interwoven with the gameplay enables the game to convey a suitable atmosphere even in very technical moments.
In Pneuma you play the eponymous protagonist - until it becomes clear that your hero does not particularly appreciate that you control his actions. The following scramble for control is a great example of mechanical storytelling. Source: PC Games The Illusion of Free Will: Mechanical Storytelling
The last category is the most interesting and at the same time the most difficult: With the help of mechanical storytelling, the game communicates directly with you, the player. The battle concept of "player agency" or "playful self-determination", which is so often used in development, comes into full effect here. What better way to portray the helplessness of the main character than to deprive the player of his freedom of movement? Used incorrectly, the whole thing seems to be trying very hard - torture scenes in which the player can only helplessly watch the action are not mechanical storytelling, for example, but a classic cutscene.
A good example of mechanical storytelling is provided by SUPERHOT VR the year 2016. At the beginning you will be asked to "prove your loyalty". You stand in an empty white room, only a pistol hovers in the air in front of you. You can surely guess what your mysterious masters want of you. The VR environment actually makes it physically uncomfortable to pick up the gun and point it at your own head. The setting and the mood of the game were clearly conveyed with this two-second sequence. In the 2015 puzzle game Pneuma, you wake up as an ignorant protagonist in a world reminiscent of the Greek Olympus. Accordingly, the hero assumes that he must be a god - until he realizes that he is controlled by you. Shortly afterwards he begins to fight against your control by bracing himself against the camera or trying to ignore your "orders". The character's begging and screaming would only be half as effective if they weren't actively wrestling with you for control of their own body.
No matter how deformed the guests or how crazy the environment: objects that you get out of real life, make even the bar in Zeno Clash clearly identifiable.
(1) Source: PC Games Very clear: In this short introduction we have only touched on the surface of the video game version of "Show, don't tell". We are already very excited about your favorite examples of creative storytelling! And don't forget: if you can show something instead of just telling it, you have already won as a designer.
