Narrative in games: A look into 3 indie games
Over a couple of days myself and James Broderick played through some narrative heavy games; we both know we want to make games that have a strong narrative focus, so we decided to do a bit of research into these types of games. We played Firewatch [1] by Campo Santo, Inside [2] by Playdead and Oxenfree [3] by Night School Studio; we chose these games not just because of their strong narrative but also because they are all indie games and have interesting/beautiful art styles.
SPOILER ALERT! (spoilers from this point onwards)
Firewatch [1]:
Firewatch [1] is a first person game where you play as a man named Henry in 1989. You take a job over the summer working as a fire lookout in the Wyoming wilderness; where you meet another lookout via radio called Delilah. Delilah is the only person you will have proper contact with over the course of the game.
Henry has taken this job to get away from his messy life; His wife Julia has been diagnosed with early Alzheimer's disease and can no longer look after her properly. So he retreats to a job where he will be all alone; Everything is working out well for him. Henry and Delilah start to grow a relationship and depending on how you answer Delilah's questions you can either tell her about Julia and your life or be distant.
[4]
Things start to go down hill when Delilah reports that there is fireworks going off, to which Henry has to go and investigate. Henry stumbles upon lots of empty beer cans, alcohol and finally women's clothing leading to a river. He finds two young girls in the distance and yell at them to adhere to the rules. The girls get angry at you and accuse you of leering. On the way back to his tower he goes through a locked cave and questions Delilah about it she says that the key to the cave has been lost for a long while. As he continues home he notices a figure in the darkness but is told not to worry about it. As Henry reaches home he finds that his tower has been ransacked. The next day Henry is sent out again by Delilah to find out why the communication line is out, he finds the line cut with a note from the two girls. Henry then finds their campsite abandoned and ripped apart; Delilah questions Henry and asks him if he did this; Henry had not.
Henry then finds a backpack and disposable camera, Delilah then explains that it was owned by Brian Goodwin a young boy who was out there with his father Ned a lookout before Henry. She then explains that Ned had PTSD from the Vietnam War and was a bit of a loner and an alcoholic. Delilah then explains that she lied about Brian being out their to other lookouts due to regulations, but Ned and Brian vanished without a trace. Days go by and then Delilah reports to Henry that two girls had been reported missing and they talk out how it could be the two girls from before and that Henry could have been the last person to see them.
[5]
Henry goes back out by the lake and finds a clipboard which has transcripts of all of his and Delilahs conversations, the two of them freak out. Henry then finds a radio but is swiftly knocked out, when he comes to the radio and clipboard are gone. The last thing he remembers is "Wapiti station" which was written on the transcripts; Delilah says there is a place in the area with the same name. Henry then breaks into a government research area, finding lots of surveillance equipment including large telecom towers that can't be seen from any watch towers. He looks around and finds more transcripts on himself and Delilah they talk about how angry they are and that they should just burn the place to the ground; they say how stupid of an idea that is and it is just out of anger that they feel that way. Henry picks up a tracking device and leaves. Delilah then reports that the compound is on fire and blames Henry saying it was only a joke and that she didn't mean it, Henry then explains that he had not set the place on fire. He uses the tracker and finds another backpack with an alarm set to it, Henry smashes the alarm and takes the backpack; Inside is the finds the keys to the locked cave. Delilah then reports that someone is at his tower, Henry rushes back to find a tape player stuck to his door. The tape is an incriminating recording of the conversation Henry and Delilah had before about how they wanted to burn down the compound.
Henry goes to look in the cave but gets locked in, he has to escape through an alternate route as he doesn't have the equipment to repel down the rocks. When he reaches the outside he finds a fort made by Brian, Its where he used to hide from his father; all of his favourite possessions are out there, Henry also finds the equipment he needs to go further into the cave. Henry goes back further into the cave and finds the corpse of Brian Goodwin at the bottom of a cavern under some rocks. Henry leaves the cave and radios Delilah to tell her the bad news, she is upset and blames herself for his death. The next day the fire has gotten out of control and they are to be evacuated, but the tracking device starts to beep again. Henry follows the tracker to find another cassette tape; on the tape Ned explains to him that Brian's death was an accident and that he couldn't tell anyone because he didn't want to get him put in a hole and go back to society. He also says that he is going deeper into the Shoshone and that it would be unwise to follow him. Henry then finds Ned's hide out and tries to explain to Delilah that he believes Ned and that the death was an accident. In the hideout Henry finds lots of objects from the watchtowers and the two missing girls, Delilah then tells Henry that the girls were found and were safe. Henry then starts making his way over to Delilah's tower to get picked up by a helicopter, Delilah goes without you and the last conversation you have with her is about what you should do after you leave in some playthroughs she suggests you go and see your wife. The game ends when Henry gets on the helicopter.
[6]
List of things I found interesting when playing through Firewatch [1]:
The first section of the game is texted based
The game is driven by texted based choices; all your relationships are helped or hindered by your choice of answer.
The initial text at the start of the game is in the past and the 3D game is in the present
The narrative is also told through the environment; reading signs, notes and finding objects helps tell the story
The radio is the only way you have real contact with people (although you only speak to Delilah)
The radio is the main source of narrative, speaking to Delilah gives you more story and gives you your objectives
Environmental storytelling is used a lot to explain what has been going on; for example previously burnt down trees and Brian's hideout
You never interact with other humans up close
There is no good or bad answers to questions, it only affects how people talk to each other
The overall narrative uses a lot of misdirection, this keeps you guessing at what is actually happening in the plot
Skipping time is also a technique used in this game, it helps progress your relationship with Delilah and shows that its very quiet out there and not a lot happens normally
There is a section in the game where Henry is dreaming that Julia calls him, this shows how much he loves her and misses her which gives the narrative more drive
[7]
From playing Firewatch [1] I have learnt a lot about how to structure a narrative based game. The people at Campo Santo managed to make an intriguing game about being alone; by having to speak over the radio you hang on every word that Delilah says because she is the only contact you have, you notice if she is being quiet, sounds angry or sad. You really grow a relationship with her as a player and not just as Henry; Delilah is also an interesting person as a player you want to know more about her and her past. I've learnt that you need to make the characters in a game interesting and important or you won't want to know more about them or what they have to say. The way that they use misdirection is also important because you leave the player on edge you wonder what will happen and try to piece everything together, whilst the character is ignoring the backstory to what really happened they are being distracted by another theory. Overall I want to use the way they have the characters speak to each other and their use of misdirection; it's no fun playing a game where you can figure out what's going to happen.
Inside [2]:
Inside [2] is a 3D sidescroller game where you play as a boy running from men in masks with flashlights, you traverse through the areas solving puzzles with mind control and moving objects. The game has no tutorial, written text or voice acting. The overall story is meant to be interpretive, it changes from person to person; Playdead have never released the story line to the game so that people could decide what they think about what the story is about.
The game starts with a title screen on top of an environment, when you press start a boy in a red shirt runs in from the side. You then continue to control this boy with no tutorial. You run through a forest as you see guard like people, they shine flashlights as if they are looking for you. There is also lots of vehicles, standing spotlights, dogs and unknown machinery around the beginning environment. You manage to escape from the guards and make it to a farm where there is dead pigs everywhere apart from one that looks like it has a glowing worm attached to it; the pig is hostile and looks like it is being controlled by this worm. You continue to solve puzzles to continue on, you use the farms machinery to escape to a city where you encounter people that can only be described as zombies. You have to pretend to be a zombie but eventually get caught out by a dog and you manage to make it to large factory.
[8]
Along your travels you find these zombies and a mind controlling device that you can use to use the zombies to your advantage to help solve puzzles. Whilst in the factory it becomes obvious that it is partly flooded, you then enter a small submarine to continue on in the story; you then meet a siren like enemy that appears to try and drown you when you get close. As you go through the factory you get to a chamber area with shock waves, you traverse the area hiding behind things. You continue on to water filled areas again where you slip off a chain and get dragged down into the water by one of the siren creatures, it plugs you into a device and from that part of you can control zombies with out having to be in mind control helmet and you can also breathe underwater.
[9]
Now with your new found abilities you can traverse more areas, you reach a laboratory setting where you can see humans suspended in anti-gravity water. The boys journey continues until you get to a more office like setting where you meet scientist like people doing experiments. You see a group of men running towards you but they run straight past and start staring into a large glass container/enclosure. You cannot see into this glass container so you find a way into it. You get sucked into the enclosure where you see a large blob creature with human limbs coming off of it connected by 4 wires; you disconnect them and get absorbed by the creature.
[10]
You then play as the blob and escape your confines, you bust though the laboratories and offices; killing anything in your path. You eventually escape and end up rolling down a hill and laying motionless in the sunlight next to a body of water.
[11]
List of things I found interesting when playing through Inside [2]:
Logo: Upon button press title disappears and immediately goes into the game
No controls explained to player
Character movement and subtle environment clues show how the player reacts to things
No voice-over, no onscreen dialogue, all narrative is told visually
The atmosphere is ominous, the feel of the other characters and the lighting shows that you don’t want to be caught
Boy starts panting when he is spotted; starts being scared
Really fluid animations and motion
Very moody and atmospheric
Music and lack of music used to communicate the bleakness of the story
Environments communicate story, farms not in use, old industrial setting, hardly any people about and weird mind controlling machines dotted around
Sounds also play a major part of the experience, contributing to the atmosphere
Music helps to build tension
Deaths are brutal in the game, making you want to think about the puzzles
When in submarine, game becomes a lot more vast and has a change of pace
Music changed completely underwater, a lot more calm plus sounds like it is underwater
When creatures appear, the colour goes more grey and sinister and the music picks up, increasing tension
The music keeps in time with the shock-waves to make it easy for the player to time them
Music gets more euphoric/god like (relief) when you are nearing the end of the game
Music stops suddenly when you enter a lift going down and shock-waves hit it making you fall into a pit of water (loud sparks and metal noises change the tone of the gameplay and then it goes silent and watery again when you are submerged)
Is the game based on a series of test? are you a test subject?
Ambiguous ending and strange context added to meaning of game
[12]
After playing Inside [2] you have to take some time to absorb everything that has just happened, its such a dark and deep story that it really sets you back after playing it. The game doesn't use any text or voice acting so all of the narrative is implied through the little amount of music and visuals. The lighting, choice of colours, values and animations in this game are beautiful and really help the character pick up subtle hints of the game narrative. I want to take the skills they have used and be able to replicate something without any text or voice based narrative; I love the mystery behind this game and how the developers decided to leave the story open for interpretation.
Oxenfree [3]:
Oxenfree [3] is a point and click supernatural mystery game where you play as Alex, a typical smart but unruly teenager. She brings her new stepbrother Jonas along with her on an trip to an old decommissioned military island which is now just a hot spot for tourism. They start the party by hanging out on a beach and drinking before everything takes a terrible turn when they accidentally open a supernatural rift between the islands mysterious past and the present. As Alex you need to deal with all the strange events to try and close the rift and get yourself and friends to safety.
The game starts on a ferry on the way to Edwards Island, you play as Alex and she is accompanied by her new stepbrother Jonas and her best friend Ren. You get off the ferry and meet up with Clarissa; Alex's dead brother Michael's ex-girlfriend and Nona who is Ren's love interest and Clarissa's best friend. The group sets up camp on a beach, set up a fire, drink and decide to play truth or dare. It doesn't end well when Clarissa makes Alex and Jonas feel uncomfortable when she asks Alex why her parents are divorced. Ren decides to move the conversation on when he suggests to explore the nearby cave; the cave is known to give of strange radio frequencies. Alex uses her portable radio to try and tune into the frequencies; she succeeds and does this three times. This makes a green light glow from inside the cave, Jonas follows it. Ren is scared and decides to wait outside whilst Alex follows Jonas into the cave. Alex finds Jonas deep in the cave and Alex decides to tunes into the frequency again and unwillingly opens a rift in time. They hear voices and the both of them see visions before collapsing.
[13]
They wake up by Harden Tower, they receive a call in the tower from Ren; he tells them he passed out in the woods. They then get another call this time from Clarissa who is at Fort Milner (a military fort). The call is cut off and Alex and Jonas decide to walk into the forest; Alex finds a small house, they go inside and flip a switch it turns on the streetlights. The cable cart is now working and they take it to the campground. Jonas starts asking questions about Michael and depending on how you answer these questions you can either tell him what happened and get a better relationship with Jonas or say nothing and be distant. When they get to the grounds they find that it is abandoned, this is when time repeats its self and you go through your first time loop. The radio starts to talk again and you enter a time look where Jonas is gone, a figure appears that looks like you and looks like its trying to communicate. There is a magneto-phone and time will correct it's self when Alex plays it.
The two of them see Nona and she claims she has already seen a Jonas and Alex, they explain to her they are the real Alex and Jonas and tell her to go to Harden Tower so they can find Clarissa. Alex and Jonas' relationship starts to get better and they bond; they then find Ren. Time loops a second time and Ren moves about showing strange activity, when the loop ends he is no where to be found. They fix the time loop by playing the magneto-phone's and then find Ren possessed, this creates another rift when Alex tunes into the frequency. Ren wakes up after being knocked out by the frequency and they tell him to continue to Harden Tower. Alex and Jonas then continue to Fort Milner to find Clarissa, whilst there Alex uses her radio to tune into another frequency which opens a door.
[14]
The two go inside and Jonas gets trapped in a room; Alex's reflection is shown in the mirror and gives her advice. She gets him out the room and they leave, on the way a ghost speaks to them and possesses Jonas. They speak and reveal that they are the ghosts of the passengers of a submarine that crashed and ripped into an alternate dimension. Alex then creates a third rift whilst saving Jonas, both of them then go on to find Clarissa but time loops again and she is hanged and it loops again to see her falling out a window to her death. Alex then plays the magneto-phones and fixes time to find Clarissa gone.
The group meets back at Harden Tower; Jonas and Ren fight and Alex has to choose who to side with. Alex takes one of the three with her to find a key in the office. They find the key and radios with a frequency that can open locks all over the island. They also find a letter from a recently deceased resident of the island which tells them about 12 beacons that are hidden across the island. They then come across an unconscious Clarissa; the group continues to go to the boardwalk. Clarissa starts to talk about Michael's death and how she blames Alex for his death, however this is cut off short when Alex and Jonas loop back to when they were in the office. When they leave time loops back to a year ago where Alex can see Michael and Clarissa; she manages to loop back but is unconscious. They then go to the estate to try and steal a boat to get off the island and go back home. Alex uses the new radio to unlock the gate and they begin to search the area. After searching for a bit Alex finds everyone dead; Clarissa is possessed and tells Alex that the next test is a hide and seek game, Alex passes this and her reflection appears in the mirror again. The group regains consciousness only to find out that Clarissa is in the bomb shelter.
[15]
The group finds instructions on how to fix the rift; Alex needs to go to the other side and tune into their frequency inside of the rift. Alex and Jonas travel to the hill where time loops again and they find Nona and she tells them that Ren has died; time continues to loop and shows multiple ways in which Ren could die. Jonas becomes possessed again and tells Alex that Clarissa cannot be saved and tries to bargain with her but she refuses. The loops continue until Alex talks to Nona and helps her calm down, which fixes the loop. Alex and Jonas continue on to the lookout tower whilst Nona and Ren stay at the bomb shelter ready to open it. After following objectives they collect multiple notes and letters, which when completed Alex time loops to when she is talking to Michael. After the loop Alex and Jonas meet back up with the others and enter the bomb shelter. They find a possessed tape player and by tuning into the frequency Alex is transported to the other side of the rift. She then goes to the cave in that dimension and tunes in again to get sent into a void. She finds a possessed Clarissa and is told that she will be killed if the rift closes and time will continuously loop but if she leaves Clarissa will be kept forever. Alex closes the portal and traps herself with the ghosts.
After lots of loops Alex's reflection from previous is revealed to be Alex herself but just in a different dimension and timeline. She goes back to before Michael dies and speaks to him about how he wants to move away with Clarissa, time corrects itself and Alex regains consciousness finding herself on the ferry home. Everyone is safe and they make a truce not to tell anyone about what happened that night. They all take a group photo and the game ends.
[16]
List of things I found interesting when playing through Oxenfree [3]:
The game is mainly focused on dialogue options
Dialogue advances regardless of player choice
Character relationships are established through dialogue choices
Radio is used to get extra information about certain areas
Using radio in certain locations creates advancement in the plot
Radio voices are playing games with the characters. In one area they make you play some sort of weird question based hangman which tests the player on their knowledge so far
Game gradually ramps up the weirdness and supernatural element
Time loops play out different scenarios for example Clarissa committing suicide then to find her body has disappeared
Open map with linear plot progression
Time loops are used quite a bit and it has varying effects on the characters: in campsite Alex can slightly remember loop, but Jonas can’t until after a few loops of the location with things changing
Game uses jump scares but they are done well because you are not expecting it in this kind of game which makes it more effective
Game makes you reuse areas over the map which makes game seem bigger and longer
In flashback Clarissa seems to be “nice” towards Alex, It must have been Mike's death that drove a wedge between the two
The characters are stereotypical simple teenagers which creates strong characters and focus on the interplay between them
Focus is on the telling of the story rather than the actual plot the character writing and script is really strong
[17]
After playing Oxenfree [3] I now know how to make sterotypical characters and make them interestiong; the way that the developers wrote the narrative for this game gave the characters a lot of backstory. As a player you already have feelings for certain characters when you find out things, for example you feel bad for Alex because of her brother, you feel resentment towards Clarissa because she's mean to Alex and you feel awkward for Jonas because he's stuck in the middle of everything. A story that makes the player emotionally involved is in my opinion a good one. I want to take the way that the game uses text choices, I like the way that the answers are shown on screen and correlate to certain buttons; it makes for very smooth and easy gameplay. Overall the games narrative is interesting to me and I want to take the theme and genre and apply it to my own narratives.
Conclusion:
All the games which myself and James like including these three involve themes of death; Firewatch [1] has the death of Brian, Inside [2] has the ambiguity of whether you are alive or dead? are the other test subjects dead? and in Oxenfree [3] all the passengers of the submarine are dead and it constantly showed your friends dying in different ways. All we know for sure is that death is a very touchy subject, we don't know why we are drawn to it but we are; so unknowingly to us we always add an aspect of death into our work and probably will continue to. I love the use of dialogue options in Firewatch [1] and Oxenfree [3] and this is something myself and James definitely want to use in the games we want to make. We also love the silence of Inside [2] and how it uses visuals and sounds to portray its narrative. I also like the way that they left the story ambiguous and open to interpretation; this is another type of game that myself and James want to work on. The main theme with these games is the genre, they are puzzling mystery games which a quirky mechanic such as radios and mind-control. If we are able to make a puzzle mystery game with a strong story and interesting mechanic I am sure it would be a successful game.
Bibliography:
[1] CAMPO SANTO (2016) Firewatch. [Online] Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One. California/Oregon: Campo Santo/Panic Inc.
[2] PLAYDEAD (2016) Inside. [Online] Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4. Copenhagen: Playdead.
[3] NIGHT SCHOOL STUDIO (2016) Oxenfree. [Online] Microsoft Windows, OS X, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Linux. California: Night School Studio.
[4] CAMPO SANTO (2016) Firewatch: Forest. [Online image] Available from: http://www.firewatchgame.com/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[5] CAMPO SANTO (2016) Firewatch: Turtle. [Online image] Available from: http://www.firewatchgame.com/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[6] CAMPO SANTO (2016) Firewatch: Map and compass. [Online image] Available from: http://www.firewatchgame.com/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[7] CAMPO SANTO (2016) Firewatch: Inside the watch tower. [Online image] Available from: http://www.firewatchgame.com/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[8] PLAYDEAD (2016) Inside: Car headlights. [Online image] Available from: http://www.playdead.com/games/inside/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[9] PLAYDEAD (2016) Inside: Glowing helmet. [Online image] Available from: http://www.playdead.com/games/inside/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[10] PLAYDEAD (2016) Inside: Submarine light. [Online image] Available from: http://www.playdead.com/games/inside/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[11] PLAYDEAD (2016) Inside: Swimming. [Online image] Available from: http://www.playdead.com/games/inside/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[12] PLAYDEAD (2016) Inside: Crowding men. [Online image] Available from: http://www.playdead.com/games/inside/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[13] NIGHT SCHOOL STUDIO (2016) Oxenfree: Beach. [Online image] Available from: http://nightschoolstudio.com/oxenfree/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[14] NIGHT SCHOOL STUDIO (2016) Oxenfree: Radio signal. [Online image] Available from: http://nightschoolstudio.com/oxenfree/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[15] NIGHT SCHOOL STUDIO (2016) Oxenfree: Inside communication tower. [Online image] Available from: http://nightschoolstudio.com/oxenfree/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[16] NIGHT SCHOOL STUDIO (2016) Oxenfree: Inside cabin. [Online image] Available from: http://nightschoolstudio.com/oxenfree/ [Accessed 24/11/16]
[17] NIGHT SCHOOL STUDIO (2016) Oxenfree: Talking on a hill. [Online image] Available from: http://nightschoolstudio.com/oxenfree/ [Accessed 24/11/16]