This week, to conceive my story for the gameplay, I started learning how to write a story. I found several TED talks on Youtube and found them helpful.
How to write a story [John Dufresne]
The plot of every story: A central character who wants something intensely, pursues it vehemently, despite opposition, and ends in victory or defeat.
Two Choices of storytelling:
Scene - directly tell the audience what is happening (Vivid & intimate)
Summary - tell the audience what had happened (distance but effective)
If this is a story about troubles in marriage, then you don't need to talk too much about happy days.
All first-person narrators are unreliable, and if you want to show one's reliability and effort then this part needs to be narrated in the third person.
The mystery of storytelling [Julian Friedmann]
get a connection with the audience and character, and then you will begin to have control over the audience. At this stage, put your character into the worst situation, the audience will feel fear and when you released that situation, the audience will feel catharsis
the chemical will release (PEA - Phenyl Ethyl Amine, also known as happiness drug), example: when you eat chocolate before the movie, you will likely enjoy this movie
you have to have accessible characters that the audience will emotionally engage with
make the films more visual (avoid too much dialogue) & shorter (leave a gap to let the audience fill in)
When we as viewers are looking at the screen, we are not looking at the actors, the characters, or the producers. we are looking at ourselves.
The magical science of storytelling [David JP Phillips] - the talk that I enjoyed the most!
The magical science of storytelling | David JP Phillips | TEDx Stockholm
The Angle's Cocktail:
1. Dopamine (example: when a very interesting story stops at an exciting point)
Effects:
Focus
Motivation
Memory
How to increase Dopamine?
Suspense
Cliff-ganger
Storytelling
2. Oxytocin ( make you feel like a human)
Effects:
Generosity
Trust
Bonding
How to create Oxytocin?
Create empathy
I clearly remembered when I was doing some research for the other course project, I saw a 360° video about how cows were abused and used just for commercial advantage. The last scene was a person who used an electric shock to kill the cow because she is useless, I felt angry and empathetic. When the video finished, it comes out a page to encourage me to donate money. Due to empathy and some guilty feelings, I donated the money. This is a good example of creating Oxytocin I suppose.
For my game design project, I will also use this method, by creating empathy to bond the player with the character.
3. Endorphin
Effects:
positive
Creative
Reduces stress
How to create Endorphins?
make people laugh
The Devil's Cocktail: (can be created by some jump scare)
1. Cortisol
2. Adrenalin
Some horror games maybe use this function to attract players, but I was too scared of that so never dared to play a horror game...
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