作者：Marc Kleinhenz

尽管从20世纪70年代开始，游戏故事就已经开始以不同形式呈现在我们面前，但是直到90年代，当CD的存储器功能进一步增强时，我们才算真正迎来成熟的叙述故事，角色背景，题旨，生动的配音以及完整的交响乐已成为几乎每款游戏必不可少的要素。

覆盖了如此广泛内容的游戏可为用户创造更完整且更丰富的故事体验，许多人认为重视“装饰”故事而非构建其核心内容，已成为当前游戏产业仍然存在的一大挑战。

游戏开发商Frictional Games（游戏邦注：代表作包括《失忆症：黑暗后裔》）的主程序员Thomas Grip说道：“我认为我们应该迈出的最大一步便是放弃所谓的‘所有电子游戏都必须具有乐趣’这一理念。”

“电子游戏同样也应该创造像《辛德勒的名单》，《肖申克的救赎》等电影所提供的体验。当然，现在我们并未在游戏中看到类似的体验，并且我也不敢保证是否很快就会看到专注于提供这类体验的高预算游戏，不过我始终对其报以希望。”

《传送门》（Valve Software）的故事作者Chet Faliszek和Erik Wolpaw在提及当前游戏产业的故事叙述水准时表示：“我们很难去概括游戏故事的整体质量。但是不管怎么说：它们都越来越优秀了。《堡垒》便是一个典型的例子。尽管情节并非特别新颖，但是它的表达方式却非常适合游戏。所以这真的是一个非常棒的游戏故事！”

作为Irrational Games和《生化奇兵》系列游戏的主要创意人员，Ken Levine也同意这个观点：“你会在此发现越来越多极简主义元素，并且我也认为这是一个好趋势。我喜欢《Limbo》中的极简主义，《堡垒》亦然。这两款游戏的叙述方式都体现了明显的极简主义色彩。如果哪一天，游戏不再强制性将故事加诸于玩家身上，或者不再使用之前所依赖的讲故事技巧，那才是真正令人兴奋的改变。”

失忆症：黑暗后裔(from gamasutra)

但是据Grip所述，游戏故事的发展也存在一大缺点：“即使游戏媒体呈现前进发展趋势，但我还是觉得它们有所退化。发行于10年前的许多高预算游戏（如最早的《辐射》，《骇客任务》以及《异域镇魂曲》）都为我们预示了一个更加光明的未来。但是现在，10年过去了，从游戏这种媒体的进化角度来看，当前行业甚少出现能够超越它们的作品。所以我要说，游戏从那时起已开始出现倒退。”

他继续说道：“部分原因是过去几年游戏开发预算大幅增长，大多数大公司都不敢直面任何实质性的风险。”并且他也指出这里的最大问题在于艺术愿景。“大型开发团队所制作的游戏总是会给人‘评委设计’的感觉，最终产品总像是在迎合所有人的需求。因此，实质性的创新多出现在小型或独立游戏领域。”

我们再看当代游戏系统时，会发现一个明确的信号，即被动且非交互式元素将缓慢且稳步地消失（游戏邦注：无论是前沿的独立开发者还是实力强大的大型发行商均呈现这种趋势）；有不少开发商经常提到的《神秘海域》便是互动式故事叙述的典型，其出色表现很大程度归功于它将情节，阐述，以及角色整合进原先传统的游戏玩法序列中。

Valve的创作二人组也表示：“游戏中的动作表现越来越生动了，甚至单靠这一点就能够提升游戏的故事体验。”

Faliszek继续说道：“现在的玩家越来越没有耐心看完过场动画，并等待着故事展开。”

而Levine也表示这是最重要的一点。他说道，对于开发者来说，他们现在的目标便是减少玩家从一个模式转向另一者的步骤（例如从玩家控制序列切换到对话树等）。避免像阅读小说时，不得不在中间段停下来，放下书，播放一个录音磁带然后再继续进行阅读。

“在叙述内容中切换模式看起来很奇怪，不过著名的百老汇音乐剧便是这种模式的典型例子。它们总是在场景表演与歌唱之间转换，但这也是你需要适应的一种模式。而与之相比舞台剧始终如一地发生在舞台上，不需要过多地考虑场景问题。”

游戏，以及游戏故事关注的是玩家的操作体验，绝不可与音乐剧相提并论。

生化奇兵(from gamasutra)

据Grip所言，游戏也不是电影。“作为被动的观众时，我们与主角的关系，与扮演某角色体验游戏时截然不同。我认为直接跳到过场动画会影响玩家在电影中体验到的共感。我认为游戏不可能带来电影那般强大的情感表现（尽管植入了与电影类似的过场动画）。所以为了进一步完善游戏这一媒体，我们需要采取其它方法。”

如果说过去时代的游戏侧重提供完整的故事，包括开头，发展和结尾，而这个时代的游戏专注于流畅的整体沉浸式表达，那么下个时代则将抛弃古老的媒体情感表达方式并采纳交互式动态特点。

Faliszek和Wolpaw认为这种转变将从开发团队的基本叙事方式开始。他们认为写作与游戏玩法之间的隔墙“更像是一种将写作人员排除在游戏开发团队之外的人为表现。如今越来越多开发团队都拥有自己的全职写作人员，所以他们所撰写的故事也能够更加自然地融入游戏中。”

Grip也对此产生了共鸣，他说道：“任何并不局限于玩法机制的游戏，都必须在项目动工之初融入故事设计。”但Grip同时也强调，如果故事理念并不能与电子游戏的独特动态属性兼容，那么这种做法也不一定管用。

“我并不认为‘故事’等于情节，即包含一定量的特殊事件。相反地，我认为故事是一种本质，一种主题，是任何创建出预期体验的重要元素。对我来说，创造故事就像在建造一个虚拟世界，让玩家能够融入于此，进行互动。所以，只要我们一开始制作游戏，也等于我们开始创造故事。”

这是《生化奇兵》开发小组始终牢记的基本原则。Rapture之城是游戏中最大的叙述驱动力，比起对话模式，它传递了更多关于故事背景和角色而非对话内容（而对话则是电影或电视惯用的叙事元素）。

Levine补充道，这是因为这些内容中“都具有各种各样的故事，而我们却没有足够的时间去阐述它们。这也是我们所面临的最大问题：即按照它所需要的方式进行表达。什么方法才能既不约束游戏也不带强迫性地在游戏中传递各种信息？”

他说道：“游戏故事写手经常难以招架如此庞大的信息量，他永远没有足够的时间写下所有内容；并且也不能撰写一个两分钟的独白，因为这将阻碍游戏操作。所以我能给与故事写手的建议便是，尽量压缩表达内容。”

对于如何创造下一代游戏故事，Faliszek和Wolpaw也给出了自己的建议：更好地发挥游戏角色的作用，而不只是让他们作为一种叙述道具。

“如果你设置了一个场景是一大群人围成一个半圆形状手舞足蹈地高谈阔论，那么你就算失败了。虽然现在我们很少能够看到这种场景，但是这种问题背后的理念仍然存在。你的数字演员也是演员，你应该发挥他的功效，让整个角色——不管是模式，声音还是动画，都能够阐述自己的故事。就像骑摩托车的人不需要每次都以‘当我骑着哈雷时’开始每一次对话。”

求生之路(from gamasutra)

Faliszek继续说道：“对于我来说，《求生之路》中的Nick就是一个很有趣的角色，你总能够不经意地感受到他的魅力——正是各种小细节组合在一起才创造出这个角色。”

而电子游戏也是如此，正是因为各种元素——包括图像，AI，用户界面，音效设计等组合在一起才能够创造出一个全新的媒体，并将这些原本不相干的内容组合成一个有序，合理且能够引起玩家共鸣的故事。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

The Generational Shift in Interactive Storytelling

by Marc Kleinhenz

Although stories have been used in games in one form or another since the 1970s, it wasn’t until the increased memory storage of CDs in the ’90s that full-fledged narratives, replete with character arcs and thematic motifs and burnished with voice acting and full orchestral scores became a de facto element of nearly every title.

So much ground has been covered since then that providing a fuller, richer storytelling experience — decorating the rooms of the narrative house as opposed to building its foundation — is what many believe to be the remaining challenge left to the industry today.

Or is it?

“I think the biggest step that needs to be taken is to give up on the idea that ‘all video games need to be fun,’” Thomas Grip, head programmer of Amnesia: The Dark Descent developer Frictional Games, says.

“There needs to be video games that provide the same sort of experiences for the medium as Schindler’s List, The Shawshank Redemption, etc. do for movies. Right now, we are simply not seeing these sorts of games, and while I am unsure we will see any big-budget titles with this kind of focus anytime soon, I do hope so.”

“It’s hard to make a sweeping statement on the general quality of game stories,” Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw, writers of the Portal series for Valve Software, said when asked about the current level of storytelling quality in the industry, “but here we go: they’re getting better. Bastion is a great recent example. The plot may not be earth-shatteringly new, but the way they tell it is perfect for a game. Really, really well done and well performed.”

Ken Levine, the creative force behind both Irrational Games and the BioShock series, agrees. “You see minimalist stuff coming in, which I think is great. I enjoyed the minimalism of Limbo and of Bastion, which are two excellent games which did a ton with narrative in a very minimalistic approach. I think that’s really terrific that they’re trying to tell their stories without taking the control away from the gamer and not using techniques which people relied upon before.”

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

There is a drawback to this general level of progress, however, at least according to Grip. “While there is a trend towards evolving the medium, I also feel there is sort of a trend backwards. Many big-budget titles released ten years ago — like the original Fallout, Deus Ex, and Planescape: Torment — promised a great future. Yet, 10 years later, nothing has really surpassed these games in terms of evolving the medium. I would even say that games have taken steps backward since then.

“Part of this,” he continues, “is probably because budgets have grown so enormous over the past few years, and most big companies do not dare to take any substantial risks.” The largest problem here, he says, is artistic vision. “Games made by large teams almost always have this feeling of ‘design by committee’ attached to them, meaning that the end product is sort of an average of what everybody wanted. Because of this, much of the real innovation has been happening among smaller, indie games instead.”

When looking back at the sweep of the current generation of systems, the clear rallying cry — whether among the cutting-edge indies or the well-entrenched mega publishers — has been the slow-but-steady erosion of passive, non-interactive elements; the developers Gamasutra contacted for this feature consistently listed Uncharted as an example of being on the bleeding edge of interactive storytelling, in large part thanks to its incorporation of plot, exposition, and, most importantly, character into what traditionally would have been purely gameplay sequences.

“The quality of acting in games is absolutely getting better,” the dynamic writing duo at Valve notes. “That alone can elevate the story experience.”

Not only elevate, but also integrate. “I think players have less and less patience for sitting through a cutscene, waiting for the story to unfold,” Faliszek went on to note.

And this is certainly something which is of paramount importance to Levine. The goal before developers now, he says, should be to try and remove as many jumps from one mode to another — say, from a player-controlled sequence to a dialogue tree.

It’s analogous, Levine says, to reading a novel and then, right in the middle of the experience, having to stop, put the book away, and play an audio tape to continue the story.

“Modal switches are strange in a narrative. I think the closest thing is probably Broadway musicals. They switch from acting out a scene to singing a song, and that’s a bit of a leap to make because it’s so different. It’s a form that you have to get accustomed to, whereas stage plays take less acclimation because they’re consistent.”

Games — and their narratives — should be a play and hardly, if ever, a musical.

BioShock Infinite

And, at least according to Grip, they should never be films, either. “There is a big difference in our relationship to a protagonist when you are a passive observer compared to playing as that character. I think the jump to a cutscene removes much of the empathy that you might have in a movie. Because of this, I believe games can never become as emotionally powerful as movies, even if the cutscenes are done exactly like film. This means that in order to improve the medium, other methods need to be used.”

If past generations concentrated on injecting a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end into their software, and if the current gen has been preoccupied with streamlining that holistic immersion, then the next gen will be dedicated to casting off old-media sensibilities and embracing the dynamic nature of the interactive space — or so our panelists hope.

Faliszek and Wolpaw think the transition will start simply, with a development team’s basic approach to narrative; the wall of separation between writing and gameplay, they muse, is “more of a leftover artifact from throwing the writer over the fence and not working with the game team. As more and more teams integrate a full-time writer, you should see story get more organically interwoven into the fabric of the game.”

Grip echoes this sentiment. “Any game that is not just about certain gameplay mechanics must have story part of the design process from the very start,” he states, but he also stresses this won’t do much good unless the concept of narrative is fundamentally adjusted for the unique dynamism of video games.

“I do not see ‘story’ as a plot, meaning a certain number of very specific events. Instead, I see story as the essence, themes, and other things that build up the intended experience. For me, designing story is about building a virtual world that the player can interact in and be part of. So as soon as work starts on the game, work starts on the story, as well.”

This is a principle that the BioShock team, of course, fully took to heart. The city of Rapture was the biggest narrative driver in the game, conveying more backstory and expressing more character than the dialogue — one of the main storytelling components of, say, film or television — often would.

This was because, Levine notes, they had “a lot of story to tell and we didn’t have a lot of time to tell it in. That’s always the biggest problem: getting it down to what it needs to be. What is the most expedient way to get that information across without tying up the game, without forcing things in there?”

“It’s kind of exhausting,” he continues, “being a game writer, because there’s just so much urgency to get information across. You just never have the luxury of time. You can’t write a two-minute monologue — that stops the action. If I have a rule I give to writers, it’s ‘it can always be shorter.’”

Faliszek and Wolpaw have their own advice for how to embrace the next generation of storytelling: use your characters for more than just repositories of exposition.

“If your scene is a bunch of dudes standing in a half circle delivering speeches to each other while moving both arms up and down, you failed. You see this less now, but the motivating idea behind the problem still exists. Your digital actors are just that: actors. Give them some business. Let the entire character — the model, the voice, the animation — tell their story. The biker doesn’t have to start every speech off with, ‘When I was riding down the 101 on my Harley’ while he sits on his Harley.”

Left 4 Dead 2

“For me,” Faliszek continues, “Nick in Left 4 Dead 2 is a fun character because you get these little glimpses about him, but we never spell it out — all the little pieces pull together to create him.”

Just as video games pull together a lot of pieces — graphics, AI, user interface, sound design, etc. — to create an entirely new medium, and just as gamers are now learning to appreciate, if not outright demand, the pulling together of all these disparate elements for a seamless, organic, and resonant story.(source:GAMASUTRA)