For our final week, we concluded this course by focusing on Fullerton’s experiences with creating games, how game designers are nowadays, and storytelling. In a video presentation, Fullerton tells us how she approaches narrative games, stating we shouldn’t settle for “formal, abstract, rational, challenging,” as it’s similar to playing safe or mainstream. We should instead strive and push for “dramatic, narrative, meaningful, sublime” types of games, meaning we should explore more of our innovative and narrative side. An example of this was when Fullerton worked on a game called “Cloud.” It originally had a complex narrative, but she chose to work on game mechanics first and the team ended up forgetting about the narrative. Her co-worker had to fill in the gaps with his own take, but it ends up being successful. From this experience, she states how gaps can be a good concept for games, starting with a light narrative framework and the freedom to add anything that’s needed, or let others/players fill it in. Instead of a simple hero story or set narrative, they want to focus on an open narrative and let players put themselves in it, tell their own narratives instead of the one provided.

Next, we looked at Fullerton’s game called Walden a game, based on a book about Henry David Thoreau living in the woods. We mostly just explored the environment, write down or read notes, and build equipment, which wasn’t much. When discussing over it, we see that the design of the game was intended and what Fullerton explained in her presentation. Rather than focusing on a heroic or cinematic story, we’re playing to experience emotions or thoughts and reflect on them. There’s no challenges or skills needed, just take in the visuals, narrative, and find the meaning of playing the game. This made me think of the games I usually play. While they’re definitely focused on skills or challenges, the narrative is always the most fascinating part for me. It makes you question why we’re doing this in the game, like fighting against aliens or what made the world post-apocalyptic. It’s even better if they let you explore it on your own, connect the pieces and feel a dedication to the story, characters, and the world created by the game.

Sources

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 4th Edition. 2019.

GDC 2014: Tracy Fullerton – “Breaking the Mold: Experiments in Evolving Game Narrative from the USC Game Innovation Lab”