A familiar franchise I wish to read more of as they give me fresh ideas for future projects.
An older book which is a great way to show off a simple plot with a detailed story.
A collection of books I have read and used for inspiration over the years.
This post is the start of a detailed adventure into the world of Storytelling, Stories can be told through many different ways, whether that's in games, fairy tales, novels, audio books, paintings, theatre, models or even the world around us.
I for one love reading books, comics and newspapers. I have a whole library in my room filled full to the brim of the Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland titles, Wizard of Oz original books, H.G Wells, H.P Lovecraft, Penguin books and many more.
In our first lesson of the new term we learnt about the basics of storytelling and what it's possibilities are in games/game levels. This would all follow up to us individually or in a group making a game level of our own. We could choose for it to be 2D or 3D and what environment we wanted if needed so.
I who over the holidays and beyond had created mass amounts of developed ideas was ready for anything, anything that I was able to do with the skills I had learnt in the last term. Below are some examples of that work.
A classic book and film franchise to which I always look back on for fantasy character ideas.
A book recommended to me and will be reading very soon.
The link below will take and show a specific part of the video which I will be talking about down below.
When game designers look into storytelling, most look at referencing for books, films and theatre. But when we think and write about storytelling however, its a whole other world. Many poets, illustrators and authors through the years all at some stage refer to a pyramid scheme or a class system. Basically the words they create make worlds in our minds that we wish to live in and explore.
Exploring any world especially game worlds big and small is a joy for those who support the franchise and the ideas they hold. I love big open worlds as much as anyone but I also enjoy smaller compact and shorter games. Books and plays even. Some examples would be the books shown at the top of this post. As popular as they were at the time, most titles like "the complete story of tom sawyer" are collections of shorted stories that may have a morale at the end to influence the reader.
When I was making up my stories through the years, I always wanted to create some emotion, some thrill for the reader, some sort of impact that would make them want to read more. This is the same with games, a recent title Elden ring has a huge open world all set on one big island, most of the people I know who play it have barely spent any time exploring deeply and this is mainly because of how the storytelling has kept them focused even if they get curious and try to explore the lands around them.
The link above that I have posted here is set to open on a specific part of the video, this is because the part you would see if you clicked on it is very important to my workflow/idea generation. Creating a story is quite easy when I start producing ideas, although it can be a hit or miss attempt in some instances. The image shown showcases an example of the different ways to structure a story. Some are told by the environment which is what I like to focus on nowadays. Places to go, important locations and areas that make the player feel curious enough to keep going and keep playing to find out what happens next. An Environment structure like this is Eyeba Palace.
Level design is also important in showcasing the story, the gameplay shown in the video has short clips of restaurants, a farmers market, a shopping mall, a bar and a theatre district. These places may not look like to us that they serve any purpose but when your character is personally walking through the environments, you would feel immersed and almost scarred to see what else lies around. (enemies, loot, bosses, end goal)
Now I shall start comparing two games of which their storytelling can be quite similar in some areas but both have an equal amount of comparisons based on the first 15 mins of the game. Whether that's characters introduced, areas to explore or even a hint of the story unfolding into the full narrative of the game.
Map layout of all Hollow knight game areas.
Hollow Knight first 15 mins
In our first week of term 2, we as a class were assigned to watch or play the first 15 minutes of Hollow knight and write about the examples of storytelling it gives us. This first half of the comparison will talk about the individual parts of the game and any comparisons to Ori and the Blind forest.
Characters
The main characters shown are: Hollow knight the main protagonist, Elderbug and the docile creatures that you find in the forgotten crossroads
Location/Culture
The main location the game is set in is the underground caverns, the player starts of in the town Dirtmouth and then travels through many tunnels and systems. The time frame this game is most likely set in is the 18th/19th/early Victorian and Edwardian era.
Each area shown is visually different with many varied shapes, puzzles, platforms and enemies. The level design and colours change throughout; in the darker areas, the screen will mostly be darker. However higher up in the maze esc levels, the colours brighten up especially in the boss levels.
The major and main art styles are mixed between Medieval, Gothic and Art Nouveau and often the characters will show off certain stylings.
Picture of forgotten crossroads area in Hollow knight. Image also showcases gothic and Edwardian/Victorian gate and arched bridge underneath.
Picture of Elderbug in Dirtmouth town, a safe space for your character.
Picture of Dirtmouth in Hollow knight where the player in-game has to destroy the giant door to progress to the town.
Game logo for Ori and the Blind Forest
Ori and the Blind Forest First 15 mins
I was also tasked to watch the first 15 minutes of the video game called Ori and the Blind Forest which has a different take of storytelling, I will be comparing this to Hollow knight below.
How
* Technology is limited to magical and mechanical devices/items.
*Magic Items are located in certain spots during the level, they are mixed within a hyper-realistic view of real life forest environments and creatures.
*It has Medieval, Nordic and Art Nouveau art stylings mixed with nature together.
*Level design is varied with realistic geographical landscapes.
*Each area is visually distinct.
When
Pre 18th century/16th century
Picture of Ginso Tree
Themes
The themes that are showcased in the first 15 mins (story-wise) are Loneliness, Being abandoned, Environmental danger, Family/Friendship topics and Tragedy/Loss.
Comparisons:
Both of these games include similar helping NPC's as well as a large level environment to explore and complete missions. You the player will encounter loneliness and similar emotions when reaching each area and meeting the creatures within. The areas you visit and the styles of landscapes are similar in both games.
Example of seasonal gameplay, its locations and the emotions felt
World Building
When making a world, most that come to my mind are either big or small, my big ideas, the ones that work can lead to me making lots of concept art and tons of stories to tell. The smaller worlds I make are either from failed ideas, school/class projects or just idea that I felt didn't have much potential. Most other small worlds that I do make can end up looking quite good and fresh in gaming culture. One notable one would be by final major project from college which only had 3 characters that appeared and yet it had a huge sprawling list of items and villains that never made it in. Smaller worlds can be effective these days, especially against big companies like marvel which earn big from their wide franchises and different companies whether its in films, comic books or merch.
Original Trial Lighters concept art
2D Game Idea: Trial Lighters
This is my main idea that I eventually used for my final level submission. The idea came to me in lesson but the character however came to me in a dream weeks before. The player controls a triangle headed spirit girl who is moving around confined spaces and collecting magical stones to progress.
This idea split in terms of being in a linear world or being in small rooms like the colour conundrum idea below. The rooms were what I had at this time and I will be discussing these for now. The first room shown is basically the tutorial level; not only does it show the basic functions for the game, it also shows how simple it is made with shapes and clever puzzles.
(A step by step walkthrough of the level is shown in the development post)
The player starts at the bottom and must climb to the top of the level to win. The end portal is shown as cross looking spike which symbolises "end" in some cultures. You would climb up some steps and arrive at a large dark bunker which the player can enter.
When the player enters however, the room is completely pitch black darkness and the player must press a certain button to enter "Spirit mode". This allows the player to see in the dark room and find a button which creates some platforms to jump to the end.
I also sketched some obstacles which would stop the player going certain ways or slow them down. This includes Zap Gates, Zap Podiums and Mites. Mites would eventually go down the creation pipeline later as the main enemy of sorts in the game. These mites have sloped sides and spiky tops, some live on the ceiling, others the floor.
Original Colour Conundrum concept art
3D Game Idea: Colour Conundrum
This is a game for which I had the original idea in class and then sketched an ideal level on the tube train home. This game was at the time the amount of skill I could put into a 3D level, before what I had learnt in future lessons. This level idea had the player forced to look through a 1st person view and move around certain cubed buildings to solve puzzles.
Each of the rooms were coloured red, blue and green and the insides were darker variants. Each of the 3 rooms had a cube to find, pick up and place at the exit to climb through a hole to escape.
The green room had the cube placed in the ground, the second room had the cube in the corner and the third cube was above the entrance way once inside the 3rd room. Later on I added enemies that would bounce off the walls to annoy the player. And even had the player use the past two boxes to climb up the the 3rd so that they could learn how to eventually escape.
I also added a boss room once the player escaped through the window, they would have to move on a narrow platform, avoiding the lava below and drop the boxes on the boss's head to win. (3 hits like most games)