Marc LeBlanc: Tools for Creating Dramatic Game Dynamics

Games have been used as a story telling medium since ancient games such as Senet in which the story was to pass through the underworld to the land of the dead. We explored storytelling in ancient games in our studies of The Royal Game Of Ur.

In board games today such as Cluedo the story is that there has been a murder which each player will investigate and eventually discover the details of the murder. In monopoly, a game heavily played during the great depression in America your goal is to earn money which is used as a scoring mechanic although also allows for the story to be driven by the players and their respective decisions.

Creating drama within games is difficult however due to limited control over how the game will be played each time, especially for a game such as monopoly. The tools used to create drama for games come from how we implement mechanics and dynamics.

For us to begin to create drama within games we would first need to understand what has been proven to be successful in story telling within books, films and games in the past. The dramatic arc helps us to visualise the rise and fall in drama for a good story.

In a romantic comedy film; drama starts with an event which creates tension, we define this as a conflict which will create the tension. Tension will then accumulate to a climax which is where everything goes haywire and the audience or end user should be at an emotional peak to the drama created. The end part of a story is the resolution, or sigh of relief for the drama having come to a close.

Uncertainty

Pseudo Feedback or 'Illusory Feedback' systems are a tool used to keep losing players interested in the game and feel like they can still win, providing a positive and dramatic gaming experience. For example, in a racing game you may put a lot of corners on the track, forcing the cars to move slower around the track, to make a time difference between the players feel less than it actually is. The winning player will still be ahead by 'x' amount of seconds although because the losing player can still see the winning player they will feel like winning is still possible as they 'catch up' to the winner at each corner. These are different to adding a mechanic to allow the losing player to physically catch up. An example of this would be to give the losing player a speed boost to get them back into the game.

Fog of War is a mechanic used heavily in strategy games such as Starcraft and Warcraft. In a multiplayer game of Starcraft the players can't see what strategy the other player may be trying to use due to unexplored parts of the map not being visible. Scouting becomes an integral part of the game as knowledge becomes power in strategy games so drama can be created based around how players react to what they see. Players may hide unit producing structures or parts of their army or flank the enemy in a blind spot. This eventually builds dramatic tension as the game goes on and the fighting becomes more hectic until the game comes to a resolve and only the winner is left.

Hidden Energy is used in many games although I can't think of a better example than the one used in the article I've read on this topic. Racing games and a 'speed boost' mechanic can cause drama if each player has the same, limited amount of 'speed boost' at the start of a race. You could use the speed boost to gain an early lead at the start and then make your aim to block people trying to pass you . You could also use 'speed boost' if you fall behind at some point or crash to get back into the race. You could use 'speed boost' throughout the game in moderation on straight roads to utilize the use of the speed boost. You could also use the speed boost too late and by then it doesn't make a difference. Because of the many different ways it can be used, drama can be created very easily using it because only you would know how much of it you have left.

Escalation is used as a mechanic in which an action will gain more and more points as the game goes on. A single action will gain you 5 points although towards the end of the game the same action may earn you more points or may come more frequently. This creates drama and builds towards a climax because the scores may appear equal towards the start of the game and then one team may just dart ahead or one team may take an early lead only to be overtaken as escalation is put into play.

Cashing out is a mechanic in which the score is reset to zero at the end of each round. The best example I can think of is Counter Strike. Counter Strike is a round based FPS in which the goal is to win as many rounds as possible. This creates drama because one team may be dominating another for one round and then the other team may begin to collect themselves and take a few rounds back. Often the winner of games like these are the most consistently better although the odd round can be lost due to luck or a counter in strategy from a team. This creates drama in Counter Strike because strategies are constantly evolving to throw the opposition off.

Inevitability

Dramatic tension however is not only created using uncertainty. Inevitability is important because the player needs to know when the game is resolved and how it will be resolved. In Starcraft the resolve comes from wiping out everything your enemy has. In monopoly the resolve comes from becoming bankrupt. In a racing game a player will cross the finishing line first. A ticking clock mechanic such as a deck of cards diminishing or an actual game timer may be used. In a fighting game you may have a decreasing health bar.

Inevitability gives the players a sense of progression throughout the game and provides awareness to the players regarding when the game will end and how. These mechanics are often irreversible although we've all played racing games in arcades I'm sure and have found that checkpoints will reward players with added time on the ticking clock.

Resolving Dramatic Tension

The dramatic tension usually ends at the point where the outcome of the contest is known. The climax should happen as late as possible to allow for a more dramatic finish due to the tension building throughout the progress within the game. We need to make sure the resolution is clear in order to leave the game feeling fair at the end and everyone knows why the game has ended or it may lead to the game feeling unresolved.