~Narrative in Game~

For this class, we have learned about narrative in a game. Narrative means the non-interactive part of a game's story, the part in which the game designer tell the players things without letting him do anything. Narrative sometimes helps the player to  understand the flow of  the game by watching the narrative but sometimes it’s not because most of the player will be more excited to start the game than watch the narrative first.

It depends on how the game designer tells the story about the game. The narrative can be interesting, however if we had been watching it for a few times we might get bored. Most of the game that we played must have this narrative which sometimes we can skip but sometimes we must watch or read the narrative first before start the game.

“A story is an artefact you consume and a game is a process you enter into, and create the artefact.’’

~Greg Roach~

            The statement had been simplified and explained by our lecturer and it’s means like a story is a pre-constructed chunk of material, while a game is something more malleable and something that one helps to construct. Stories and games are very related but both of them have different meaning and role. So, as a future game designer, we must know how to create an effective narrative or story that helps the player in understand the game and enjoy while playing it.

            Here are eight tips that we learned about narrative in game:

1.      Goals, Obstacles, and Conflicts

2.      Provide Simplicity and Transcendence

3.      Consider the Hero’s Journey

4.      Put Your Story to Work!

5.      Keep Your Story World Consistent

6.      Make your Story World Accessible

7.      Use Clichés Judiciously

8.      Sometimes a Map Brings a Story to Life 


Example of Game that Have Interesting Narrative.

Alan Wake

Heavy Rain

Nominees