Part 2 of 2, by Pieter Parker
In Gears of War there are moments where Marcus Phoenix and his crew are communicating with helpers outside of the combat area via a headset. This helps to tie into the overall flow of the story as the player guides Marcus Phoenix towards the next combat area, being warned all the while about the enemies he is about to face. Doing this in such a way helps retain flow and immersion, and does not pull the player out of the game. Another good example of this is in Assassin’s Creed, where in almost every cutscene the player is able to have limited control of Altair as cutscenes are being played. The beginning of Half-Life 2 also does this extremely well, as what could have been conveyed as a cutscene is instead experienced directly by the player. I’m sure we all looked into that open slot in the doorway and saw the prisoner being tortured by the Combine the first time we played the game.
The games industry is in an exciting time where engines are becoming more powerful and are enabling developers to do more with their characters and their story. Cutscenes need to become less crucial to conveying story, and it as such it will ultimately be gameplay that defines those moments. What if in Mass Effect when the player was confronted by Wrex; the player was able to walk around and maybe even take a swing at Wrex and have him react dynamically in the gameplay? What if the player actively pulled his gun on Wrex halfway through Wrex’s rant and Wrex automatically reacted accordingly? What if there was no need for a dialogue wheel, as the player had a palette of reactions available to their character? Ultimately when it comes down to it the things players remember and talk to others about when they play a video game isn’t that cool cutscene they saw, but what cool things they managed to do with the character and the gameplay experience. It is time that the line between cutscenes and gameplay became merged to the point of being indistinguishable. This can be seen in the latest God of War III trailer, which if you haven’t seen do yourself a favor and go see it, as the entire trailer is gameplay (albeit with an altered camera) and paints a broad stroke as to what the future of gameplay could be like.
What do you guys think? Where does the future in video games as a form of storytelling lie?
Header graphic created from work of James Lyall Photography
Pieter Parker has wanted to work in the games industry since he first learned how to hold a controller and after a quick bout of schooling, has since managed to stumble his way into the company he loves, BioWare. In his spare time he can be seen looking up bad YouTube videos with which he can horrify his co-workers; and doing his best to avoid getting shot with nerf guns by his co-workers.
I agree with everything you said in both posts, except that I don’t think cutscenes/cinematics are a bad thing, or obsolete. Sure they can pretty much be done in-game now days, there isn’t much need for fancy pre-rendered stuff, but many of my favorite games had cinematics that just left me breathless or so excited that I’d run off to find the nearest person so that I could tell them about it.
Cutscenes allow you to show events in the most perfect way possible, to make sure the player experiences them exactly as you intended. If you leave a player in control there is a high chance that they’ll be staring at their feet while your dragon rips apart a city, or browsing their inventory while a spaceship pops in from a worm hole.
To me cutscenes always felt like a reward, you just finished a difficult task overcoming impossible odds and as a reward you get to watch a kick-ass cutscene while you catch your breath and and pry your white-knuckled fingers from the controller.
On the other hand I hate it when something is amazing is going on in-game but I can’t stare at it in awe, or even look at it, because another wave of enemies showed up and are very persistant about demanding my attention.
A somewhat recent example of bad in-game events is Spore. Many times, particularly in the creature and tribal stages, a UFO would fly by or a meteor would hit the planet but I wouldn’t know because I was busy collecting fruit or mauling other animals. I would simply see a flash and/or hear a noise and be like “Huh? Did something happen?”
It was very annoying.
So yeah, diversify but don’t forget to make things look cool, and make them so that the players can see them.
Cutscenes are not obsolete, but at the same time are not really needed by many RPG/FPS modern games. While this seems to be a contradictory statement, its actually true.
It is agreed upon that a game that has seamless storytelling flow provides a more immersive and enthralling experience. Modern graphics provide similar levels of illustration that are displayed by cutscenes. On the other hand, it has been suggested that cutscenes do a better job at portraying awesome events, as they force the player to pay attention to the scripted carnage or whatever else is happening in the game world.
However, I believe that the use of cutscenes for the above reason is not required. In the instance of the Dragon suggested by Vancent, instead of skipping to a cutscene, the dragon could send a thundering earthquake through the town, dropping the player to the ground and essentially immobilising them, leaving them to watch the dragon destroy the town. Or maybe the dragon casts a magic spell, disorienting the player and leaving them again to watch helplessly as the dragon annihilates the poor town or village. In this way, the player is forced into watching the awesomeness of an event and cannot fiddle with their inventories or stare aimlessly.
Also, the argument that they provide a ‘break’ can easily be replicated in other situations just through strong level design, rest points such as wards or other intelligent game features.
So what are cutscenes then good for? Cutscenes are definitely good for creating a more story focused, voyeuristic and casual experience, similar to a movie. Cutscenes tell the player certain information rather than allowing them to witness it first hand, which is more important to story-telling than immersive gaming.
Also, although this is slightly off topic, the concept of seamless storytelling should not just be applied to cutscenes but to other elements of gameplay/game design. Features such as inventory should be almost seamless… for instance in Dead Space, the inventory is projected via the protagonists holographic projector into the games physical space, rather than pausing the game and bringing up an arbitrary map. Other elements, such as the absence of a traditional life bar and instead being on the back of the protagonists high-tech suit, and the weapons themselves displaying ammo information rather than an arbitrary makes the game feel so much more realistic and immersive, even though it is set in a science fiction world.
So in summary, cutscenes are good for telling stories rather than giving experiences, and since todays games are primarily expeirience focused, immersive gameplay lowers or removes the need for cutscenes.
I agree with James, and would like to accentuate a few of his points.
Cut-scenes are not necessarily needed for modern RPG and FPS games as they have the scripting base to support in game storytelling. The reactionary trees described by Pieter would be a logistical nightmare for any scripter, and would be so unwieldy, it makes me hazard to even dive into that line of think. It’s all nice and fun to high concept grandiose ideas, but those that are infeasible to implement are no better than ideas unsaid.
How would one control an experience where anything is possible? Where is the control for the storyteller if a player can kill/maim/slap/kick/ignore any character that they want? In a world of infinite possibilities, I doubt a player would magically follow the path that the storyteller would like them to. Without calling a game over every time a player kills a main character, what would stop everyone from reenacting a “Dog Days Afternoon” all up in this hizzy?
I love the idea of loosely controlled in game “events”, which is what Gears of War, Half Life 2, World of Warcraft and other industry leaders are heading towards with their respective genres that can accommodate those measures. Even these in game events are heavily controlled to the point where the player is usually not even amidst the action.
The danger of these in game events is that, yes, the player can look at his feet, which is why the cut-scene is such a useful tool. A cut-scene can serve as a bottleneck for narrative to get everyone back on the same chapter regardless of their individual experiences leading up to it. It can serve as a check point, a point of reference that the designer can be absolutely the player has been made aware of.
Sure, the player can turn off his/her TV during the cut-scene, but control of the experience only spans so far.
The God of War III trailer is a great example of making a game world seem more alive and vibrant, but I would hazard to say that it has anything to do with plot or story. A story will be told in GOWIII, and it won’t be told while fighting on the back of a giant troll creature, and it will most likely either involve in-game events, cut-scenes, dialogue, and a mixture of the three. Groundbreaking, it isn’t; progressive, it is.
I like the sentiment of putting more story cues into the game-world itself. The Half-life symbol of the resistance is a perfect example of such a cue. It brought the life of the resistance to the forefront, and made that concept a reality, if not JUST in game. In-game story cues make the job of the narrative designer easier, as they have to convince the audience of less up front before the story can begin. Visceral gameplay is simply gameplay that is interacting with the world of the game. It’s NOT storytelling, it’s the result of a proper story previously being set up for the player now to enjoy. It takes artists and designers thousands of man hours to design and create these visceral worlds, and not every studio can afford those kinds of man-hours.
Again, bringing it back to the realm of possibility, I’m sure that every designer would love to see gameplayer merge seamlessly with a well built world fused with story. This possibility hinders on millions of dollars of design and asset creation and the literal ROI on that aspect of the game.