Environmental Storytelling - Revision history

Staffan Björk at 06:55, 3 August 2015

2015-08-03T06:55:35Z

Staffan Björk: /* Relations */

2015-07-29T09:46:46Z

‎Relations

Staffan Björk at 15:02, 28 July 2014

2014-07-28T15:02:06Z

Staffan Björk at 06:49, 13 July 2014

2014-07-13T06:49:16Z

Staffan Björk: /* Relations */

2014-06-30T13:39:40Z

‎Relations

Staffan Björk at 13:39, 30 June 2014

2014-06-30T13:39:18Z

Staffan Björk at 12:52, 19 September 2011

2011-09-19T12:52:12Z

Staffan Björk at 07:38, 12 June 2011

2011-06-12T07:38:46Z

Staffan Björk at 17:01, 8 June 2011

2011-06-08T17:01:20Z

Staffan Björk: /* Narrative Aspects */

2011-05-05T13:55:39Z

‎Narrative Aspects

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 As said above, [[Environmental Storytelling]] is both a diegetic and narrative pattern. Besides providing [[Predetermined Story Structures]] integrated into [[Game Worlds]], [[Environmental Storytelling]] can also provide [[Clues]] and [[Traces]] to the players.
-When [[Environmental Storytelling]] is intended to be experienced in several different chunks, the use of [[Inaccessible Areas]] that successively are opened up can ensure that they are encountered in the right order.
+When [[Environmental Storytelling]] is intended to be experienced in several different chunks, the use of [[Inaccessible Areas]] that successively are opened up can ensure that they are encountered in the right order. It is probably more fitting to make use of the pattern, or at least use it more often, in [[Transport Routes]] than in other types of locations since players can focus on them there and these routes can otherwise be uninteresting areas.
 == Consequences ==
@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 [[Game Worlds]],
 [[Levels]],
-[[Resource Locations]]
+[[Resource Locations]],
 === Can Be Instantiated By ===

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 [[Optional Goals]],
 [[Puzzle Solving]],
 [[Storytelling]],
 [[Traces]]
@@ Line 53: / Line 52: @@
 === Can Modulate ===
 [[Game Worlds]],
-[[Levels]]
+[[Levels]],
 === Can Be Instantiated By ===

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 As an incentive to make players interested in the various pieces of [[Environmental Storytelling]] available in a game, the game elements used to tell them may be placed in [[Resource Locations]].
-When using [[Environmental Storytelling]] to provide [[Narration Structures]] in games, it may be worth considering to combine this with other ways, e.g. [[Cutscenes]] or through [[Dialogues]].
+When using [[Environmental Storytelling]] to provide [[Predetermined Story Structures]] in games, it may be worth considering to combine this with other ways, e.g. [[Cutscenes]] or through [[Dialogues]].
 === Diegetic Aspects ===
@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 === Narrative Aspects ===
-As said above, [[Environmental Storytelling]] is both a diegetic and narrative pattern. Besides providing [[Narration Structures]] integrated into [[Game Worlds]], [[Environmental Storytelling]] can also provide [[Clues]] and [[Traces]] to the players.
+As said above, [[Environmental Storytelling]] is both a diegetic and narrative pattern. Besides providing [[Predetermined Story Structures]] integrated into [[Game Worlds]], [[Environmental Storytelling]] can also provide [[Clues]] and [[Traces]] to the players.
 When [[Environmental Storytelling]] is intended to be experienced in several different chunks, the use of [[Inaccessible Areas]] that successively are opened up can ensure that they are encountered in the right order.
 == Consequences ==
-[[Environmental Storytelling]] is a way for games to have [[Storytelling]] integrated into [[Levels]] and [[Game Worlds]], and thereby have the [[Narration Structures]] of the game embedded in the game environment. Players have the [[Freedom of Choice]] to engage in these [[Narration Structures]] or not, but may have to do [[Puzzle Solving]] in order to figure out, or at least guess, what actually transpired. In this way, they represent [[Optional Goals]] for players.
+[[Environmental Storytelling]] is a way for games to have [[Storytelling]] integrated into [[Levels]] and [[Game Worlds]], and thereby have the [[Predetermined Story Structures]] of the game embedded in the game environment. Players have the [[Freedom of Choice]] to engage in these [[Predetermined Story Structures]] or not, but may have to do [[Puzzle Solving]] in order to figure out, or at least guess, what actually transpired. In this way, they represent [[Optional Goals]] for players.
-While [[Environmental Storytelling]] can be used purely to provide [[Narration Structures]] or help players locate [[Resource Locations]], they can also used to create [[Clues]] and [[Traces]].
+While [[Environmental Storytelling]] can be used purely to provide [[Predetermined Story Structures]] or help players locate [[Resource Locations]], they can also used to create [[Clues]] and [[Traces]].
 == Relations ==
@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 [[Clues]],
 [[Freedom of Choice]],
-[[Narration Structures]],
+[[Predetermined Story Structures]],
 [[Optional Goals]],
 [[Puzzle Solving]],

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 == Consequences ==
-[[Environmental Storytelling]] is a way for games to have [[Narration Structures]] integrated into [[Levels]] and [[Game Worlds]]. Players have the [[Freedom of Choice]] to engage in these [[Narration Structures]] or not, but may have to do [[Puzzle Solving]] in order to figure out, or at least guess, what actually transpired. In this way, they represent [[Optional Goals]] for players.
+[[Environmental Storytelling]] is a way for games to have [[Storytelling]] integrated into [[Levels]] and [[Game Worlds]], and thereby have the [[Narration Structures]] of the game embedded in the game environment. Players have the [[Freedom of Choice]] to engage in these [[Narration Structures]] or not, but may have to do [[Puzzle Solving]] in order to figure out, or at least guess, what actually transpired. In this way, they represent [[Optional Goals]] for players.
 While [[Environmental Storytelling]] can be used purely to provide [[Narration Structures]] or help players locate [[Resource Locations]], they can also used to create [[Clues]] and [[Traces]].
@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 [[Puzzle Solving]],
 [[Resource Locations]],
 [[Traces]]

@@ Line 64: / Line 64: @@
 === Can Be Modulated By ===
 [[Inaccessible Areas]],
-[[Landmarks]]
+[[Landmarks]],
 === Possible Closure Effects ===

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 == Using the pattern ==
-While deciding on what story that should be told by [[Environmental Storytelling]] is not in the scope of gameplay design, the specific design elements are since they are also those that help create [[Game Worlds]] and [[Levels]]. The typical set of game elements available include [[Big Dumb Objects]], [[Diegetically Outstanding Features]], [[Environmental Effects]], and [[Props]]. [[Game Items]] can also be used, especially those that can contain information, e.g. notes, books, and computers. While [[Landmarks]] are [[Diegetically Outstanding Features]], they can usually not provide enough information to carry [[Environmental Storytelling]]. They can however modulate them by pointing players to other parts of [[Game Worlds]] and make it easy to backtrack to earlier parts of them. [[Scripted Information Sequences]] is the most active form of [[Environmental Storytelling]] since it may involve the actions of [[Enemies]] and [[Characters]] but it is still a form of [[Environmental Storytelling]] since it is located within [[Game Worlds]] during gameplay and players may have a [[Freedom of Choice]] to engage in the unfolding events or not.
+While deciding on what story that should be told by [[Environmental Storytelling]] is not in the scope of gameplay design, the specific design elements are since they are also those that help create [[Game Worlds]], [[Levels]], and [[Scenes]]. The latter of these can be virtue of not describing unnecessary parts make the [[Environmental Storytelling]] hard to miss.
 As an incentive to make players interested in the various pieces of [[Environmental Storytelling]] available in a game, the game elements used to tell them may be placed in [[Resource Locations]].