No Medals for WookieesGame Tutorial Elective - 4pm Monday

GDC Game Design TutorialAndy AshcraftJeremy GibsonJonathan HamelMarc Leblanc

The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension

The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension

The Rise & Fall of Dramatic Tension

The Player’s Story Has The Same Arc

●Learn How to Play●Tension Increases

● Difficulty Increases● Stakes are Raised● Complications are Added

●Climactic Moment!●Resolve Remaining Issues

When is the Climax of a Game?●The Point of HIGHEST Tension.

● Afterwards, you KNOW if you’ve won or lost.

● Story Example: Luke chooses to trust the Force over the targeting computer and shoots with his eyes closed.

Repeating Rise & Fall of Tension

Next 4:11

Resolving Tension Inside Game-Play● Shift from Planning to Execution

● Risk!● Shrinking Possibility Space

● Chess, Bingo● Remove Mechanical Constraints

● Journey, Where’s My Water● Secondary Goals and Games

● Minecraft● Revealing Hidden Information

● Texas Hold’em, Werewolf Next 4:12

Resolving Tension Outside Game-play

● Revealing Hidden Information (outside) ● “Show them what they’ve won!”

● Cut-scenes (outside)● Post Mortems & Replays (outside) ● Leaderboards, Achievements (outside)● Smack-talk, Water-cooler talk (outside)

Next 4:14

Great Denouements in Games

● Back to “Normal”● Show what the

conflict has caused● Minor dramatic arcs

Next 4:16

●Red Dead Redemption (Jeremy)

Great Denouements in Games

●Journey (Jonathan)● Free flying (removal

of constraints)!● Discovering who

your companions had been

Next 4:17

Great Denouements in Games

●Dungeons & Dragons (Andy)● The repercussions of battle:

● Healing● Roll the victims● Identifying the treasure● Leveling UP!

Next 4:18

Denouement Vs. Cliffhanger●These are NOT the same thing

● Denouement resolves tension created in the CURRENT story.

● “And they loved happily every after.”

● Cliffhanger ratchets up the tension for the NEXT story.

● “OMG! What’s gonna happen next?!?”

Next 4:19

Example: Questions Answered● What happened to Darth Vader?● Is Wedge OK?● Will R2-D2 be OK?● Will Han and Chewie stick around?

Next 4:20

Exercise: Brainstorm!

●Brainstorm: What OTHER stories have great, memorable denouements?

● Others…● Any movie, book, game, fairy-tale, etc.

Next 4:25

Exercise Rules:● Using Dice and Index Cards● Create a Game-like Activity Based on the

Denouement of a Well-known Story● Write These Down:

●What is the Climax?●What is the Denouement? ●What is the Tension(s) your activity will resolve?

● Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!

Deadline 5:25

Exercise: Beta-Test

●Two people from each group ● stay to teach other players how to play your

game

●Everyone else ● splits up to play other groups’ games

Next 5:40

Falling Tension: Observations?

●What was interesting?

Next 5:45

Falling Tension: Discussion

●Did the activities fit the story?●Did the activities resolve tension?

Next 5:55

Denouement

●The player’s story is the “real” story●A denouement allows the audience to digest their story and make it meaningful●This process can be play-able and not simply scripted

Next 5:57

Cliffhanger!

●Come Back Tomorrow!● 10 AM● Everyone to THIS Room● And, THANK YOU!!

Don’t cry, Chewie! There’s more game-design tomorrow!