Interactive story

Plot

Story starts with a flashback of the main character in the army.

He is instructed by his general to kill many innocent people but refuses and leaves the army, much to his general’s disgust.

Modern time, starts with the main character working in his home and hearing shouts from outside.

He finds that a group of ‘bandits’ are killing his family and destroying his home, he tries to fight them but is overpowered.

The main character is taken to a large city and sold off as a slave to some rich men.

The main character does not want to fight but is told that one of his family members is still alive and he must fight in a tournament to save them.

He fights many fights and wins every one, fighting progressively harder enemies.

He learns from one prisoner that there is an escape route and decides to help some other prisoners escape, whilst choosing to stay there to save that family member.

At the climax, he is faced with one final challenge, which is someone he knows well. At the time, however, he does not know this, and almost kills them.

Before delivering the finishing blow he realises it is his brother.

The prisoners from before that he helped overthrow the guards and break the main character and his brother out.

The main character is confronted by the one who told him he must fight to save his brother – who it turns out is also his old general. We also find out that this general ordered his family to be killed and had set up the kidnapping of the character.

The main character is forced to fight one last time, with this general, who manages to mortally wound the main character.

Story ends with the main character’s brother holding the main character’s dead body, fading to black.

Character Name
Nigel
Full Name: Nigel McNails

Nick Name(s): Nige

Gender: Male

Age: 26

Birthday/year: 23^rd January, 1186

Marital Status: Single

Spouse: None

Hair: Brown, short

Eyes: 2, brown

Origin: Dwarf with a beard (as standard, of course) He seems like a shy, nice guy but when angered/angered he will fight and he is a very good fighter, with little room for improvement. Hails from a small town on a mountain in Scotland somewhere.

His family was killed and he was taken and made to fight for entertainment (a bit like Gladiator, except in a fantasy world (which means he could be against all kinds of odd  beasts and sub-human creatures)).

Language(s): Slightly Fractured English (but he doesn’t speak a lot)


Height: 3ft 4 inches

Weight/Body Structure/Distinguishing Marks/Traits: Around 10st 6lbs. Stocky build, being a dwarf. Has a fairly thin beard for a dwarf, too, and is balding already (at the age of 26).

Ethnicity
Caucasian

Parents /Guardians: None, were killed by bandits

Siblings: None, killed by the same bandits

Friends/Allies: None to start with, but as he shows his fighting skills, he gains respect.

Enemies: He does not wish to fight, but he must to gain freedom (although, he has a small, building desire to get vengeance on the original group of bandits). Everyone is his enemy, he must even fight some of his allies

Beliefs/Religion: Believes in justice and does not wish to kill innocents.

Career/Past Careers: Soldier for a few years, until one day he was instructed by his generals to destroy a village full of women and children. He refused and left. When he returned home he found his family had been massacred.

Dreams/Life Goals: To simply live happily, knowing his family’s killers have got what they deserved.

Hobbies: Practicing combat, similar to Shaolin Monks.

Likes: Relaxing, blacksmithing.

Loves: His family.

Dislikes: Bandits, fighting unarmed enemies

Loathes: Liars, cheaters, people that kill innocents.

Fears: Dying.

Strengths: Physically powerful, quick thinker, can forge things out of metal.

Weaknesses: Still young and fairly naïve.

Good Qualities: Thinks highly of justice and being fair. Puts in as much effort as possible for everything.

Bad Habits: Doesn’t wash often, may ignore commands and do what he thinks is right.

Talents: Brilliant at fighting with all sorts of weapons including swords, axes and even hammers. Fights only for good (but in one case, revenge) so one talent may be how influential he can be.

Research

Research - How Game Designers Use Story to Improve Gameplay Experience


A lot of the time, games designers use narration as a form of storytelling. They will start the game with a cutscene that is interesting to watch, which will have a narrator or the main character's voice speaking to explain current situations in-game, or the back story of the game's history. Sometimes, the story can be told by items picked up in game, such as in Resident Evil you can find journals which have nuggets of information in them. The way that the story is played can improve gameplay by telling you exactly what is going on and placing you squarely into the game.

The journals in Resident Evil. A screen comes up when you want to read them. In other games, the story is spoken whilst you are playing so it is possible to miss things. There are even still more ways, there could be sections in the menu specifically for learning the story, such as a 'library' to look through at various pieces of information.












Depending on the style of the game and the player's preferences, certain games and types of games may appeal more. To a first-person shooter fan, a game like Call of Duty (which is a first-person shooter or "FPS") would be ideal and on that basis alone it would probably be enjoyable for that person, sometimes regardless of the quality. However, if a person does not have any preferences when it comes to games, then the game's style has no impact on whether the player will enjoy it. It is then up to the game itself to be a good game of its kind.
It is still true, however, that a game can be so unenjoyable that the player would rather play different games even if this unenjoyable game is their preferred type of game.

Sometimes in a game, there are many background images/scenes and objects that do not particularly influence the game directly, but do enhance the gameplay. If a game has well-drawn or painted backgrounds, the player may feel as if they are more 'into' the game than if it was sloppily drawn. Also, if a character looks better and more detailed, the player may subliminally think higher of that character (or lower, depending on if the character is good or bad). An example of good artwork in games is the Street Fighter franchise. They are known for their artistic approach to the characters and scenes. This may not seem like the main pulling power, but it is definitely one of the iconic parts of the games.

This is an example of artwork of the Street Fighter games. Very different to other fighting games.







Some games like to show emotion. In a game, it can be hard to show emotion, as to convey emotion you would need to hear a voice clearly, see a face's reactions, and see any hand gestures they may make. This can be hard or tedious to programme into a game, so it may not be worth it in some developers' eyes.

Writing Exercises

FIRST IMAGE

Fiery, Hot, Monotonous, Grey, Chaotic, Crazy, Pointless, Old, Abstract, Illogical, Dangerous, Powerful, Strong, Meaningful, Unnecessary?, Brave, Odd, Mad

SECOND IMAGE

Sitting calmly, Waiting patiently, Thinking crazily, Talking quietly, Speaking meaningfully, Sitting stupidly, Chilling peacefully, Chatting inappropriately, Sadly waiting, Sitting unacceptably, Relaxing oddly, Smiling happily

DREAM

I was sat fearfully in a misty opening one night. All of a sudden, a humongous avian creature charged forcefully through the thick, concealing air that surrounded me. This large purveyor of fear bared its powerful talons and managed to pick me up off the floor.

I tightly grabbed one of the massive creature’s talons and bent it sideways, with haste but lacking in logical thought. This gargantuan beast then proceeded to release its tremendous grip on me from the precarious height at which I was being held, causing me to let out an exasperated scream. As I fell, the ant-sized landscape below slowly shifted into a wasteland of vast proportions.

As I came closer and closer towards it, I realised I was dreaming, mere seconds before hitting the ground.

Then I woke up.

ADVERB: RED

ADJECTIVE: BLUE

DREAM

I was sat in a opening one night. All of a sudden, a avian creature charged through the, air that surrounded me. This purveyor of fear bared its talons and managed to pick me up off the floor.

I grabbed one of the creature’s talons and bent it sideways, with haste but lacking in logical thought. This beast then proceeded to release its grip on me from the height at which I was being held, causing me to let out an scream. As I fell, the landscape below shifted into a wasteland.

As I came closer and closer towards it, I realised I was dreaming, mere seconds before hitting the ground.

Then I woke up.

“Man sticks camera in mouth of tiger shark as he survives attack”

By Elliot Fenton, 24/1/12

An eccentric man survives a deadly attack by a tiger shark whilst taking photographs on Cat Island.

Nigel McNails, 26, from Inverness, Scotland, said this of the attack “I may be lucky to be alive, but I enjoy taking these photographs too much to stop”. While this isn’t advised, because it is very dangerous (as we’ve seen), it looks like Nigel will continue with his favourite hobby of photographing sharks.

McNails explains that sharks have a certain method of finding out what is what. He says that “sharks bite things to find out what they are” and it looks like one shark in particular took an interest in McNails. As the shark was swimming towards McNails with its mouth, he knew it wanted a piece of him.

With some quick thinking, he managed to thrust his camera forward and take a lifesaving photograph at just the right time. The shark bit the camera, giving Nigel the important few seconds to get away from the shark.

Nigel McNails claims that he goes shark photography on Cat Island at least three times a year alone. “I go whenever I can and work allows it – usually once near Christmas time and a couple of times during the summer.”

“I enjoy taking pictures of these sharks because it’s kind of like an adrenaline rush, like riding on a rollercoaster, except in this case I get to keep the photographs afterwards.”

McNails’ claims of it being an adrenaline rush likely come from the fact that it puts him in danger, which as we know increases adrenaline. The only difference between what he compared it to, a rollercoaster, is that with a rollercoaster the danger is never real danger, as it is in a controlled environment for which to keep safe.