Text based adventure games

Text based adventure games

"An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical (e.g. reflexes) challenge.^[1] The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of literary genres. Nearly all adventure games (text and graphic) are designed for a single player, since this emphasis on story and character makes multi-player design difficult.^[2]

In the Western world, the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1980s to mid-1990s when many considered it to be among the most technically advanced genres, but it is now sometimes considered to be a niche genre.^[3] In East Asia on the other hand, adventure games continue to be popular in the form of visual novels, which make up nearly 70% of PC games released in Japan.^[4]" 

                                                                                      (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_game)


The text based adventure game is a sub genre of the adventure games, as well as graphic, visual and puzzle adventure games. A few examples of text based adventure games are:

The Hobbit: http://www.twinbee.org/hob/play.php?snap=hobbit

Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_nolan.shtml

Zork/ Adventure/ Jigsaw/ Galatea: http://www.web-adventures.org/

Ye Dungeonman 1: http://www.homestarrunner.com/dungeonman.html

Scott Adams’ Back Catalogue (inc. Adventureland, The Count, Pirate’s Cove, etc.): http://www.ifiction.org/games/?cat=44

Quest (Editor’s picks): http://textadventures.co.uk/

I have also found this website ( http://textadventures.co.uk ) with lots of examples of text based adventure games categorised depending on their themes. I found this really useful as these are rather short and easy to follow games, with very easy choices to take when it come to the plot lines, but very elaborate outcomes depending on which path you take.

First game I have played from here, was "It's election time in Pakistan: Go rich boy,Go!" ( http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/44yzyx1xykcy0sv4ycz9cg/its-election-time-in-pakistan-go-rich-boy-go )

I found this very entertaining. I have played it a few times, each time choosing a different path, and thus being given different plot lines. This game is about a rich boy who decides to part part of the democratic process in Pakistan and go out and vote despite the imminent threat of bombings in the polling stations. He has multiple choices when it comes to who to choose to take with him: a girl he fancies, his best friend (an airhead), or his guard. With the girl he doesn't get very farm he earns some points for standing up to his beliefs, but gets beaten up in the end by her Dad and his guards, so doesn't get to actually vote.

By taking his best friend, he has to change his attitude, he needs to deceive him slightly, in order to actually get him out of the house and in order to get him to agree with his plans. So, by doing just that, he gets to vote, but on the way, they encounter all sorts of obstacles. First, they have to cast their vote in a polling station located in the worst area of the city, they have to drive for well over two hours, after which they need to walk through a very run down neighbourhood, they are being abused by the militia. But, they get to vote and get to return home. So, happy days for the main hero and his best friend, as well as me as I did get to finish the game.

Another game I have played, or...attempted to play, was Captain Jumbo http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/t1ai61mt20wtrffownebyw/captain-jumbo.

However, unlike the previous one. I found this one really difficult. It was really slow advancing through the level, as I kept encountering lots and lots of obstacles. There isn't a walkthrough, or I couldn't find one anyway, and I found it pretty frustrating, as it looks really interesting and am very curious to find out what happens and just simply couldn't...

7 conflict types in narratives - Person vs Society

For this exercise, we were split in two groups and were given the task to research and talk about the narrative based on either the 7 conflicts or 7 plots.
My group was given the 7 conflicts, and between us, we each had to chose 1 conflict to research in detail. My conflict is Person vs Society.

This conflict refers to a situation " When the protagonist’s conflict extends to confronting institutions, traditions, or laws of his or her culture, he or she struggles to overcome them, either triumphing over a corrupt society (I draw a blank here), rejecting it (Fahrenheit 451), or succumbing to it (1984)."
(http://www.dailywritingtips.com/7-types-of-narrative-conflict/)

http://www.storyboardthat.com/articles/education/types-of-literary-conflict

http://www.storyboardthat.com/articles/education/types-of-literary-conflict

A pretty good example of this kind of conflict would be in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We have actually 2 different characters fighting against society in this cartoon. The first one is Esmeralda, the gypsy girl,  fighting to change the society's take on gypsies, and, on a different level, she is also trying to change Quasimodo's attitude and preconceptions. He was isolated since birth, he was made to live alone in a tower, so his perception on life is not actually his own, his views are his "Master's" (Frolo). So, the second conflict, sees Esmeralda trying to change the society's views on Quasimodo, and through this, change their attitude towards the unusual, the different. We can actually say the Esmeralda is fighting against the society, in order to make them accept "the others" as part of the society as a whole. I know this is only a cartoon, but the layers of narrative are many and there are also many lessons to be learnt. Esmeralda represents the free spirit, unconventional mind teamed up with a strong character, giving her the power to fight and win the battle against the restrictive society.
On a different level, however, she is trying to convince Quasimodo, the product of this society, that he is just a normal human being, and that it IS OK for him to interact, to go out and be part of the society that has marginalised him for the simple fact that he was born different.

Esmeralda fighting the representative of the Society

Esmeralda  protecting Quasimodo - the "odd one out", the one the society is rejecting, marginalising

 Guy Fawkes - fighting against society. He is trying to burn down The House of Lords in an attempt to make his opinions heard. The reasons for this attempt is deeply religious. 
After Catholicism was pushed slightly aside,... 

..."The situation deteriorated further at the Hampton Court Conference of January 1604. Trying to accommodate as many views as possible, James I expressed hostility against the Catholics in order to satisfy the Puritans, whose demands he could not wholly satisfy. In February he publicly announced his 'utter detestation' of Catholicism; within days all priests and Jesuits had been expelled and recusancy fines reintroduced.

Although bitterly disappointed, most English Catholics prepared to swallow the imposition of the fines, and live their double lives as best they could. But this passive approach did not suit all.

Robert Catesby was a devout Catholic and familiar with the price of faith. His father had been imprisoned for harbouring a priest, and he himself had had to leave university without a degree, to avoid taking the Protestant Oath of Supremacy. Yet he possessed immense personal magnetism, crucial in recruiting and leading his small band of conspirators."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/gunpowder_robinson_01.shtml

Guido Fawkes ( Guy Fawkes)

V for Vendetta

Another good example: Robin Hood stealing from the rich to give to the poor.  Is he right in doing that? He IS STEALING, does the fact that he is giving to the poor, make the act right?
This conflict, man vs society, is a very interesting subject to talk about, as is really depends which point of view you are telling the story from. Morality has an immense role in this conflict, as it depends a lot how much you are willing to forgive and bypass certain actions in order to accept the mindset of the hero.

While researching into man vs society conflict, I came across this great blog on the subject: http://www.paperwingspodcast.com/2012/05/man-vs-society/ 
The examples given in this article, are from movies, but I think they are just brilliant.

The devil wears Prada

The Help

Indiana Jones

Jerry McGuire

The American War of Independence (1775-1783)

Exercise: Structure the narrative in a film of choice, based on Syd Field's 3 act structure

Exercise: Structure the narrative in a film of choice, based on Syd Field's 3 act structure

For this exercise, we have been, again, split in groups of 3, and we have chosen to talk about Finding Nemo.

Act 1 

 The set up

 In Finding Nemo, the set up can be broken down in 3 acts as well, as Normality is being set as we are being introduced to Marlin and Coral, 2 clown fish, expecting a whole lot of babies. They are talking about normal things, like what to name their babies, as a barracuda comes and eats Coral as well as all but one eggs. At the same time, Marlin is being hurt and knocked unconscious, so this can easily be classed as a mini climax, or a mid point. But then, he realises that one egg is left, so life has purpose again, and he is determined to offer this one egg the best life he can. 

Another "normality" is being established as we are being introduced to the life Nemo and Marlin are living, as they get ready for Nemo's forst day of school

Characters

In a very short period of time we meet quite a few characters: apart from Nemo and Marlin, we also meet Mr Ray (Nemo's teacher), a few of Nemo's new school mates and also, we are beibng introduced to Dory who will play a key role in this whol adventure

Act 2

Inciting incident

The confrontation between Nemo and Marlin as the young fish ventures into the sea. Nemo feels like he needs to prove himself, while Marlin is trying with all his will to stop him from getting hurt.

Plot point 1

Marlin sets off to find his son, after he was picked up by a diver

Obstacles
Dory and Marlin encounter the sharks and then the angler fish as they are escaping the sharks.

Midpoint

Marlin realises that Dory can't actually help him due to her very short term memory.

At the same time, on the other side of the ocean, Nemo is trying to escape through the filter in the fish tank, in the Dentist's office.

( We encounter here, two stories happening side by side hence the situation where we have 2 midpoints)

Plot point 2

The turtles find Marlin and Dory and are pointing them in the right direction.

                                                             Marlin meets Crush

Act 3

Clinax 1

Marlin and Dory get to the dentist's surgery and see Nemo belly up in a bag - they think he is dead and give up the rescue

Climax 2

Nemo lying for dead at the bottom of the ocean after trying to save the fish caught in the net. 

Denoument

Nemo and Marlin go back to school. Normal life is being restored, however, there is a twist, normality is slightly different than at the beginning of the film. As Nemo gets ready to go with Mr Ray, Dory shows up with their shark friends. "Fish are friends, not food" is being proven to be true for now.

The Hero's journey - Joseph Campbell

The Hero's Journey

The most basic mental picture anyone can form when thinking of a hero's journey is shown in this image

independent filmmakers best resources

So, any narrative starts with a sense of normality, everyone, and especially the hero, leads a normal life, run by routine. From that, we start to build a story following some basic steps. These steps have been used in movies, theatre, opera, games, books, anything that involves narrative.

Here are these basic steps.

1. Departure - the hero's journey begins here, he will depart from the ordinary world
2. The call to adventure - 
3. Initial refusal of the call
4. Acceptance of the call
5. Supernatural Aid and/or talisman
6. Crossing the first threshold and entering into the unknown
7. Threshold guardians
8. Allies/helpers
9. Belly of the whale

There is quite a lot to explain about each one of these steps, in order to make it clear as to what their significance is, but I have found a brilliant, in depth description of each one of the stages a hero will have to follow during a story. It is known as Campbell's monomyth.

http://davidrjolly.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/monomyth.jpg

Vladimir Propp's character led narrative

• Propp's theory is that each character has a particular role in a narrative.

• Opera is one form of art that follows Vladimir Propp's theory on Character led narrative very well.

• Star Wars has been called a "Space Opera" for the simple fact that it follows Propp's theory very well

A really important thing to mention, before getting into details about Character led narrative and theoretical things, is that: in order to break the rules, we first need to know what the rules are.

So, we need to first, set the scene and decide who the characters are:

1. The Hero - he is the one that drives the story, it keeps is going
2. The Villain - is trying to prevent the narrative from moving forward
3. The Donor - they are aiding the Hero (Fairy Godmothers, or Obi Wan Kenobi and Han Solo in Star Wars)
4. The Helper - they help the hero ( animals in Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, Droids and Leia in Star Wars). It is interesting to mention that some characters can be both Helpers and Donors at the same time.
5. The Princess - the one that needs to be rescued
6. The Dispatcher - the one that sets the hero on his quest, the one that takes the decision that the hero needs to do something about the situation ( the fathers of the prince and princess in Sleeping Beauty or Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars)
7. The false Hero - they look like they are capable of saving the day, but they are either incapable, or they are on the wrong side

Create a short narrative of choice

Character based narrative

• In the slums of the City, the Mob has got complete power over the day to day life of the people. Everyone needs to pay "protection tax" in order to be able to have a normal life

scene setting

• Zen, our hero, is a poor gypsy boy trying to create a better life for himself and everyone else around him. He lives in the slums of the City with his tribal family, in extreme poverty. He starts off as a pickpocket in order to help his family, in a Robin Hood style - He steals from the mobs and gives to his people in order to be able to make ends meet.

Zen - the hero

• One day he pickpockets the wrong person, he is the best in this trade at stealing and killing ( similar to "The Wolf" from Pulp Fiction)
• If Zen wants to save his family, he needs to create an alliance with The Wolf

The Wolf

• However his  family gets killed and he starts plotting his revenge

.... 4 years go by

• He is now trying to take over the mob.
• In this process, he is slowly drawn into the criminal life and gets corrupted. He has nothing else to live for, and it is very easy for The Wolf to see his vulnerability and turn him into a heartless criminal. The wolf gives him a sword

• While before he was restricting his activity to just scare tactics, he now starts hurting people and is on a fast track to killing as well
• The Wolf has his own plan to overturn The Boss and become the boss himself with Zen's help
• Zen agrees to help The Wolf for the selfish reason that he wants to become The Boss himself
• The Boss is a woman and Zen, knows that if he finds her weak points, he will be able to influence her
• The Boss is asking Zen to spy on the Wolf as she suspects something 
• The Wolf gets closer to Zen and considers him a friend and starts confessing some his plans
• Zen uses this friendship against him and is playing the Wolf and the Boss against each other
• Zen gets the Wolf and The Boss to have a confrontation in which they start fighting and while they are both half dead, they realise that this is all Zen's doing, and at this exact point, Zen finishes them both off and he becomes The Boss
• Zen is now The Boss, and normality is restored - people of the slums still have to pay their dues to the mob, but now the mob is represented by one of their own

As a player you will be able to play as The Wolf or Zen.

Depending on the character, you will follow different paths of action and have different quests

You can switch between characters mid play.

Mini group project - pick a few games and explain why the narrative works

For this mini project we were split in groups and asked to come up with a few videogames that we think have got really good narrative and explain why we think that.

In our group, beside me, there were Tom, Owen and James. Between us, we came up with The Last of us, SpecOps: The Line, Grand Theft Auto the series and I supported Dear Esther.

The last of us:

To support our choice, I will just show a few comments from people that have played the game.

"One of the most moving and evocative games in memory. They break through a lot of clichés that plague gaming, and do so with a raw, gritty, unforgiving storyline. " ( Heychrisfox on metacritic ) 

"A masterpiece, that breaks the self imposed barriers of gaming narrative and ensnares the player with intelligent gameplay and brilliant A.I." (SpazioGames on metacritic )

  

So, in very few words, The Last of Us has a really well built story, linear, but very interesting and engaging. The voice acting makes a big difference to the game play as well. The player feels somehow responsible for the 14 year old girl that they need to rescue (Ellie) and as you get more and more immersed in the whole story, it is very easy to identify yourself with the main character, Joel, which comes to prove that the Narrative works really well in this game.



Dear Esther:

Dear Esther is a beautiful first person game, that immerses the player in a sad story told by a very talented voice over actor (Nigel Carrington), through letters read out. It is not everyone's choice of game, as there are no missions to be solved, no score cards,or enemies to fight, but from my point of view, the way the narrative, linear as it is, works in this is game, is sublime. "An argument has been raging among the judging panel of the Independent Games Festival. The flashpoint: whether the moody mystery narrative of Dear Esther constitutes a game at all." (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-14-dear-esther-review

However, in the same article, it is mentioned that : "Dear Esther is a first-person experience and uses many of the narrative tricks familiar to Valve's games, silently building a story through the careful drawing of the world around you."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-14-dear-esther-review

I find that Dear Esther is somewhere in between a text game and an audio book, not extremely interactive as gameplay goes, but very relaxing, and very engaging, a game that will draw your attention once you start listening to the story and will stay with you for a while after you have finished exploring the island.

SpecOps: The Line

One of the characteristics of a good, engaging narrative, that I have mentioned previously, was for the morality system to be central to the game play and be implemented in such a way, that the player feels that his/her action have got real implications, and the decisions taken will further affect the story line. One such game is SpecOps: The Line, " a provocative third-person modern military shooter that challenges players' morality by putting them in the middle of unspeakable situations where unimaginable choices affecting human life must be made." (metacritic)
It is quite a shocking game for the soft hearted player, as it exposes the reality and truth that only real life soldier would experience, and by this I mean, reaching "The Line" - "that razor's edge known only to men who deal in war. It is the line they cross when death and duty become one and the same. It is the end -- of self and sanity -- when their duty is done and only they remain". (metacritic )


Grand Theft Auto  - all series

This is a game where the narrative is showcased at its best, as it has all characteristics that I have initially mentioned for it to work. 

It is surprising and it goes beyond stereotypes in the most engaging way. It is a parody of modern life, and if you miss this point from the whole aspect of the game, you might have a completely different opinion. The narrative works brilliantly with the mechanic of the game. Being an open world, even though you have missions to accomplish, you have quite a lot of freedom to explore the environment. Morality system is really well built, but, with the game being a parody, it does not coincide with the real life morality system, that is a completely different concept.  The architecture and landscape are amazing, you get to explore entire cities, go into the darkest corners, and there will always be something for you to do and see. The extras are absolutely amazing! The radio stations supporting the entire game play are just fantastic and so emerging that quite a few times I was driving for the sake of driving and listening to some good music or a crazy radio show ( fernando martinez - emotion 98.3)  To end my opinion on Grand Theft Auto, I will quote an article from the Guardian related to this game: "Last of Us says more about humanity in five minutes than GTA V does in its 70-plus missions. Five stars for such a troubled proposition? That'll confuse and anger a few people, I know it. But no one constructs worlds like Rockstar and this one is worth many, many hours of exploration. It is fun, so much guilty, ridiculous fun. It is beautiful to look at, it is jammed with ideas" (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/16/gta-5-review-grand-theft-auto-v). 
This is a game different that any others, in a class of its own, hence the controversy around it.

Introduction to narrative for games

NARRATIVE FOR GAMES

What is narrative for games?

We were not given a definition as such,  for the word narrative, however, we have discussed and debated in class, the concept of narrative in games and there were quite a few good ideas thrown around. Even though everyone seemed to have a slightly different opinion, added up, they all made a pretty good dynamic definition.

So, based on that, we all agreed that narrative

• can be used to motivate and immerse the player
• creates a connection between the past and/or present and/or future and
• has a beginning, middle and and end.

But now, there is another essential question to ask ourselves as game designers. And this is:

When does narrative work in games?

This is a very interesting question. The common opinion is that a game is only there to be played, with no personal implications, as it basically has no real life consequences. (Even though, it must be added, that especially lately, there have been a lot of buzz around the idea that games HAVE GOT real life implications, through the simple fact that
players are trying to replicate in-game behaviour in real life, and a lot of nowadays crime has been blamed on videogames.  (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/violent-video-games-incite-kids-to-crime-says-scipione/story-fn7y9brv-1226443402160 )

But this is a completely different subject, and it would need too much  of a debate to include in this session.

However, in most cases, games are an alter reality, where the player will play as his/her alter ego, where he/she would experiment with ideas or behaviours frowned upon in real life or not accepted by the niche of the society they belong to.  Some players like to act totally the opposite to what they are in real life ( a highly educated professional will very often play the role of a gangster or a soldier in games, just so that he can briefly experience what that life would feel, and so on.) As a society, we are automatically slotted in certain niches, and as a professional, you would probably interact with other professionals, as a gangster you would be surrounded by gangsters, so this, in a way narrows your vision and outlook on life, as it makes it really difficult to understand the others and the other way of life.

fig 1

And that's where narrative comes in and makes the story interesting, if well constructed, it keeps the player immersed and makes him believe that he is the actor who's role he is taking in game. If the narrative works, keeps you, the player, engaged and makes you want to come back. (fig 3)

"My body releases endorphins while I'm playing video games. There is such a thrill about knowing I'm in control of life and death situations in a virtual world that my body responds as it would if I were in actual danger.

As I use the controller to jump chasms and fight attackers, I feel my heart beat faster and the blood rush through my veins. My palms start to sweat, and once I get out of virtual danger, I feel high.

Some people ask me why I would put myself through this when I don't have to. I love the feeling of having accomplished something, even if it is imaginary. I love the rush of endorphins I get from pretending it's real. (cloudel Post 9 - http://www.wisegeek.org/what-kind-of-activity-releases-endorphins.htm)

         

chocolate, as well as exercise and videogames release endorphines (en.wikipedia.org) 
fig 2

fig 3

It is really interesting how in today's busy society, most of the people have to concentrate on the survival/financial side of things, while happiness is a marginal subject, talked about, but not achieved by many. Most people live lives that don't make them happy, have jobs that do not fulfil their aspirations, and feel trapped, in general, with no clear idea of how to escape. Video games are the way out for them, the escape to a dream life, to being and behaving as a hero or a villain. Video games can release the stresses of day to day life and can release the endorphins, giving us the feel good state we are all trying to achieve in various ways. (eating chocolate - fig 2, exercising - fig 1, etc). "Endorphins, also known as endogenous morphine, are an arrangement of amino acids known aopioid peptides. These chemicals function as neurotransmitters that help regulate moods, sleep patterns and the way one responds to pain and stress. When present in the body, endorphins act as a natural painkiller and are able to provide a sense of comfort, wellness and happiness." (http://www.wisegeek.org/what-kind-of-activity-releases-endorphins.htm)

So, in this sense, narrative in games, works when:

• it's surprising, it goes beyond stereotypes
• it makes you think about things 

• it works well with the mechanic of the game
• it has an inbuilt  morality system that is central to the way you navigate through the game (the moral decisions you, as a player, take while playing, affect in a big way the way the way you play and navigate through the game. Some of the strongest narratives are the ones where the moral implications are shown, are obvious. 

 

• the architecture and landscape are well blended within the game mechanic and narrative, as it influences how you play ( in-game environment makes a big difference to the narrative)
• all the extras that come with a videogame (radio stations, objects to collect, etc) make the narrative more engaging.

fernando martinez on Emotion 98.3

To conclude this subject, of what makes narrative work in games, I personally believe that if it provides the feeling of escapism, if it manages to get the endorphins released and generate a feeling of satisfaction, then narrative has achieved it's purpose. 

If narrative is really well built and integrated in the game play, some might even go as far as saying that:

bananascoop.com