Stories & Motivations in Games

What is a Motivation?

A motivation is the aim, the aim must be good enough to keep the player hooked and willing to play to find out how the game ends.

What is a Story?

A story is the path the game will follow. It tells you what is happening and what is going to happen next. A good story will keep the player hooked.

Genre;

Sci-fi/Action

What is the Motivation?

To invade Earth and avenge the death of your father.

Emotional Themes; Grief, Revenge, Justice, Peace, Bewilderment.

Beginning;

It was an early Tuesday morning in the year of 4289 on the planet of Uron, the only aliens that were not still tucked up in their chambers were Erina, the Chief’s wife, and her assistant, Mylon. Erina was anxious for the return of her husband and Chief, Nyclops, from Earth after an attempted raid. The hours dragged by in what felt like days to Erina and Mylon. The sun was starting to rise and more aliens were beginning to wake, including Erina’s three children, Tyrius, Orla and Pygon. The day went by and there was still no sign of Nyclops and his elite.

Three days later Nyclops’ ship appeared in the dead of night, battered and bruised aliens stumbled from inside. Erina dashed over in search for her husband, but he was nowhere to be seen. “He’s inside your majesty, he’s in a bad way” Came a voice from a bewildered soldier. Erina rushed inside, all three children in tow. Nyclops was lay in a hospital chamber, bruised and scratched from head to toe. He had been attacked by the Government on Earth. With his last breath he uttered the words, “They have killed too many of our men Tyrius, finish what I started and put an end to the human race once and for all” and with that he closed his eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks. Erina let out a loud cry, and in that moment the planet went into mourning.

Middle;

Five years passed before Tyrius became of age to take rule of his planet, on the day he took the crown Tyrius vowed to his people the same promise he made to his father whilst he was on his deathbed. “The humans took something very special away from me,” he began, his voice trembled in bewilderment “My father was a great man, a great leader. He will not be truly at rest until we complete his dying wish!” Tyrius paused and looked down at his race all staring up at him with glazed eyes. “The people of Earth will pay for what they did. My father asked me to take charge and to finish what he couldn’t complete.” Another deep paused allowed Tyrius to hear the silence of his fellow aliens. “The humans will pay, my father did not want to harm them all, but I, I want to end their race and finish what the great Nyclops started!” The crowd started to mumble, “EARTH SHALL BE OURS!” Tyrius shouted as he raised a fist in the air to a loud reception of cheers.

A few weeks passed while Tyrius put his plan in to action. For this to have happened he held auditions for fellow aliens to join his elite. Pygon wanted to join Tyrius and avenge their father, but Erina refused him to go. Tyrius had help from his two best friends, Yulo and Kika in choosing the two remaining members to join the elite. After deep negotiations Tyrius decided that Wasyl and Grimun would join Yulo and Kika in his elite to help him control the army that he would take with him to Earth.

Later that day Tyrius unveiled the next step to his plan. “I need men to help me fight, we will be holding a training camp on the northern side of the planet. Men must be at least 300 years old to sign up and they must be willing to fight to the death!” Tyrius took a deep breath and looked over to his mother, who was stood to the side with his brother and sister beaming with pride. “Who’s with me?” He shouted, “The first session will be tomorrow morning, 7am sharp.”

After weeks of intensive training, Tyrius and his elite and created the best army out of the best men on the planet. Tyrius then split up the army in to sections, creating different sized platoons. These platoons were named after the countries of Earth. The Russian platoon was far bigger than the Irish platoon, allowing more men to the bigger countries. “Each platoon will carry out their duties in different ways. This will depend on the location and size of their area, some platoons may complete their task in a few days. If this happens they will report back to me and I will reassign them to a new area to assist in the larger operations.” Tyrius looked ahead of him to the hundreds of aliens willing to sacrifice their lives to avenge the death of his father, “I want to thank you all for signing up for this, because Nyclops wasn’t just my father… He was father to us all, so let’s finish what he started and make a new life for our families on the planet of Earth!” The crowd fell silent, each alien removed his hat and bowed his head as a picture of Nyclops was projected onto the wall.

Almost six months after Tyrius became Chief of Uron his plan was ready to take place. Every alien had been trained, placed into their platoon, prepped and briefed and give a final week to spend with their families before lining up ready to take off for battle.

“Many of you think that this plan has taken me six months to figure out, but the truth is, it’s a lot bigger than you all think.” Tyrius paused, he looked over to his men on the right and then to the rest of his race on the left “2174 days I have been thinking of this plan, nearly six years I have waited for this day. Six years locked away in my chamber thinking of the best approach, thinking of the best methods, thinking of the best aliens to help me.” Tyrius paused again, “The time for thinking has stopped and the time to act is now.” Tyrius paused one last time allowing the crowd to cheer and clap. “If everything goes to plan we will be back in three months, until my return I leave my brother Pygon in charge!” Tyrius stepped down from his podium and walked over to his men, he took one final look at all of the aliens that had come to see them off, gave them a salute and ordered his men to board their ships.

It took Tyrius and his elite, followed by the two ships also going to the same location as the elite, two weeks to fly to Bogota in Colombia. Each of the elite were hard at work in their specific roles. Yulo and Kika were there for the protection of Tyrius, who better to trust your life with that the two people you have spent 375 years growing up with? Meanwhile Wasyl was head of communications, he would track where each ship was, as well as monitoring the number of troops injured and the number of civilians left on Earth. Grimun’s role was to ensure each platoon had enough equipment and resources available to them, if they ran low it would be his job to send them some more.

“Tyrius, Tyrius come quick!” shouted the voice of Wasyl from the tracking station. “It’s Germany, they’re fighting back! We don’t have enough men there to fight it off, what shall I do?” His voice was rushed and panicked. “Okay Wasyl, how are the men doing in the smaller countries?” Tyrius asked as Wasyl scanned the map. “The men of Monaco, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Malta and Grenada have nearly completed their mission!” Tyrius wasted no time in telling Wasyl to send them to Germany as soon as they have succeeded in their own missions.

“Sending more supplies to Russia, Chief!” came the quiet voice of Grimun from the opposite side of the room, “Very Good, make sure Germany have the best resources we have, make them priority until it is under control Grimun!” Tyrius replied as there was a loud beep from outside of the ship.

Yulo and Kika went outside to inspect what it was, “Wasyl, get us out of here! There trying to blow us up!” Came a cry from Yulo as they ran back into the ship. “Roger that,” Wasyl cried as he ran to the front of the ship and lifted them from the ground, “Chief, we’re clear. Where too next?” Wasyl asked as Tyrius turned his back and stared out of the window before calmly saying “Take us to Berlin Wasyl, that way we can keep a closer eye on the situation in Germany!”

Things in Germany seemed to calm down after a few days of profusely fighting back and Tyrius was pleased with the result. “Give me some stats Wasyl,” Tyrius demanded. “Yes sir, so out of 8 billion people who were alive when we got here 49 days ago there is 3.7 billion left. So that is an average of 75 million deaths per day.” Wasyl beamed up at his superior looking for his approval, “Very Good Wasyl, is there any platoons nearly finished their work?” Wasyl scanned the charts briefly before answering with “Yes Sir, there are four countries almost complete. Mexico, South Africa, Argentina and Portugal are almost clear… Where do you want them to go next boss?” Tyrius himself paused to scan the map, “Hmm, everything seems under control. Bring them here for a few days of rest, then we shall reassess the situation. Do this for all those who complete their task in the next two days Wasyl.” Tyrius walked away.

Another two weeks past and all of the aliens had made their way back to Berlin and the surrounding areas. The only country still standing was Germany.

End;

The end was near and Tyrius was hopeful to return home within the next few days, this was until there was a loud bang from the distance and Wasyl cried from the tracking station. “Tyrius, Tyrius, you need to get here quick, Tyrius!” Tyrius ran in, “What was that?” Wasyl took a deep breath, “They are all gone, every single one of our troops in Germany have been obliterated by another alien force!” He pointed to the tracker to show Tyrius the mass of red circles indicating the fallen men. “Wasyl, what is this?” Tyrius pointed to a group of purple figures moving quickly to the location of the Uronites, “That sir is the other alien force coming to obliterate us too!” Wasyl said as calmly as he could manage.

Tyrius ran to the outside of the ship, “Everybody get on board a ship now! It doesn’t matter which ship just get to one and stay on it and await instructions from Grimun.” He shouted as the aliens scrambled to any ship they could get on.

“The Chief has ordered us to return home, we are being chased by who we believe to be our main opposition, The Yiman Army.” Grimun ordered the other ships.

Each ship scrambled their way into the air and they headed for Uron, “Each ship has a tracking system in the bottom room of the ship, five aliens on each ship should be down their tracking the purple mass that are following us, report back to the drivers! Gunfire will be necessary, be prepared! We have a bigger fight on our hands now.” Wasyl warned his fellow aliens.

Story Telling in Games, Tasks Two, Three & Four

Games that do not have a story
- It was hard to come up with even five games that do not have a specific story behind them. What I did find was that two of the four I could think of were puzzle games, being Tetris and Snake. The other two, Pac man and Flappy Bird are more maze games.
You could argue, games such as space invaders and asteroids do not have stories but they do have a specific aim. The aim in space invaders is to destroy the aliens, there is no intricate detail into why you are playing and what your task is.
In my opinion there are non-story based games, and they mainly fall into one era and category. Retro, most retro games do not have a specific story... however, this isn't wholly true with the likes of Mario, Sonic and Manic Miner.
With the conclusion of retro games, I have thought up some more non-story based games, these being Pong and Brick Breaker. Also, not falling into Retro would be games such as Mario Kart and Wii Sports,
With this in mind, the main people who would play these would be Retro gaming enthusiasts, purely because they are retro... I highly doubt it is due to not having a story, however this is not a proven fact.

What is the difference between a story in a game and a story within a book/film?
- A story in a game and a story from a film or a book can be similar but can also be completely different.
- Similar in ways that could be the game of a film, for example; for all eight Harry Potter films, there is a game. So you could argue that the story within certain games are that from a book. A story from a book, which was then tweaked and converted to a film to then be possibly tweaked further and making a game out of it.
- Completely different in terms of genre and circumstance. You could have a book set in 1916 about the first world war, this would be depicted completely different if it was made into a film and again if it was a game. If you were to have three people will write a script about the same thing then the likelihood is you would have three different takes on the same subject.

What is a Linear or Non-Linear game?

• Linear; A Linear game is a game that follows a certain path. A Linear game will have certain tasks that need to be completed, this means that you can only do these tasks in the game and not take your time and complete tasks in your own time.
• Non-Linear; A Non-Linear game is a game which has a story to follow, but it allows you to experience the game in your own way. For example; GTA V has a certain story to follow, but you can be Franklin and complete some smaller missions before you swap to Trevor and do a bigger, more game changing mission.

The impact that these can have on games is massive, most games are becoming more non-linear as it gives the player a certain freedom to do what they wish whilst completing the game in their own time.

Story Telling in Games, Task One

My Top 10 Games & There Stories: (Spoiler Alert...)

1. The Legend of Zelda The Windwaker
   There are many games within the Zelda series, however in my opinion the best game is The Windwaker. The story behind it is very gripping, you, as Link, must rescue your sister, Aryll who was taken by a big bird who mistook her for somebody else. Link then travels to a dark island heavily secured by many different enemies, this attempt to save his sister fails and therefore has to travel many islands where Link is to find the three pearl's of the goddesses. The way in which the story is progresses keeps the player intrigued as to whether Link will rescue Aryll and defeat the dark Ganon.
2. Crash Bandicoot WarpedWarped is the third game within the Crash Bandicoot series, it
   
   was released shortly after Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. An evil source, known as Uka Uka is set free. Uka Uka is Aku Aku's evil twin brother who was lock away to protect the world from his evil. Crash and his sister, CoCo, must travel through time and collect all of the gems to inevitably destroy the Cortex and end Uka Uka's evil reign of terror. Crash and CoCo revisit levels from previous games.
3. Call of Duty: World at WarAgain, in my opinion, the best Call of Duty game is World at War.
   
   The detail into the story is better than no other. The story begins with you as Marine Private C. Miller witnessing a fellow marine being tortured by a Japanese soldier before being rescued by a platoon of Marines. The story then cuts to two years later at the start of the Battle of Peleliu. After a series of tasks the story shifts to Private Dimitri Petrenko on the Eastern front. Private Petrenko meets Viktor Reznov who helps him through various missions before the story then shifts back to Japan with Private C. Miller. The story shifts from story to story until the final mission as Petrenko and Reznov, where they end the war.
4. Super Mario Bros. Of course there was to be some Mario games within my list. This specific
   
   game I am referring to the DS version. The story goes as normal, Mario and Princess Peach are walking through the Mushroom Kingdom when something happens to take Mario's attention elsewhere, leaving Princess Peach vulnerable... She then gets taken by Bowser Jr. Mario must then go through various levels, within eight different worlds, to rescue his Princess. The story is the same, or similar in many Mario games but it still becomes an addictive game. The plot itself grips to player to try and rescue Mario's Princess.
5. MinecraftThe only story in Minecraft is the one you make yourself. There isn't a set story,
   
   however there are many things that the player can do within the game. There is creative mode where you have unlimited resources in which you can build whatever you wish. Survival mode you have to craft all materials and try not to die as well as mining for coal, iron, diamond, gold, Redstone and lapis lazure. The gameplay, in my opinion, is still of good quality without a set story.
6. Mario Kart Double DashAgain, this game doesn't have a set story, however it does follow
   
   in the Mario series so you could argue there some form of a story there. For me, Double Dash is the best Mario Kart game to date. I used to always play this with my sister on our GameCube. The thing I like most about this is the fact you can have two characters, I don't know why I like this, it may be because it was the first Mario Kart I played and that is the game I refer back to most when someone mentions Mario Kart.
7. Grand Theft Auto VGTA V, or GTA 5, is the latest Grand Theft Auto game to be released.
   
   The story starts of as a group of men doing a bank robbery. Then you become Franklin, a young gang member living in the suburbs trying to make ends meet, until he comes across Michael, a middle aged 'retired' criminal. The pair often team up to do jobs to earn money. Trevor, Michael's old buddy, then comes to town to confront Michael, who he believed died in the bank robbery at the beginning of the story.
   The trio then work through the remainder of the story working for the corrupt government. You are then, as Franklin, faced with the decision to either kill Trevor, or kill Michael. There is an alternative to go on a 'Death wish'. Throughout the game you can swap between characters to do various side jobs.
8. FIFAThere are many different FIFA games, all of which do not have a story.
   
   The game is based on Football. There are various game modes, career allows you to either play for a team or manage a team. You could also just play a game with any team you choose against another team. In more recent games you can also play Ultimate Team, where you create your own team with some of the best players in the world.
9. League of LegendsThere is a story within the League of Legends, many stories to be honest.
   
   Each playable character has a different story. In terms of gameplay there are different maps to play which have different aims but the only forms of story is within the characters themselves, which is pretty awesome.
10. The Sims 3The most well known simulation game in the history of
    
    gaming. The story is one you make yourself. You create families and houses and you control them in their everyday lives. Or you can choose a premade family and/or house but they are still under the players control, which is kind of cool.

Sound for Computer Games... Part 1

Theme Music & Sound FX's in Games

 

Super Mario Bro's, Theme Tune: The theme tune to Mario is an upbeat melody of different sounds coming together as one to create a catchy tune that is instantly recognizable. The song itself starts upbeat, with some more mysterious sounds in the middle before becoming even more upbeat than when it started. The music sets the mood to be a happy sort of environment but with the heir of mystery surrounding it.

The theme tune also has various sound effects throughout the track. These being the ding of coin collection, 1up or the jump and boing of Mario. These add to the upbeat side of the song and create a good atmosphere. The producer, Koji Kondo, wrote six pieces to fit in with the game series... I, however, am talking about the most recognizable one.

This piece of music was used in a very fitting way, it sets the mood and tells a story without even looking at what is going on in the game... If I were to write the music for Mario I wouldn't change it at all, its an instantly recognized tune that has been around for many years. I think Kondo got it spot on!

 

 

Pacman, Sound FX: Pacman uses many different sound effects, all of which work in a very effective way. On the clip below there are multiple different sound fx you would hear whilst playing Pacman. Sounds such as dying, chasing blue ghosts, been chased by colored ghosts, coin/pill collection. The sounds all fit in with the game adding to the atmosphere of a retro maze game.

 

 



 

The Legend of Zelda; The Windwaker, Theme Tune: The theme tune to this game is very upbeat. It almost sounds like there is a group of Scottish men, or women, playing the bagpipes in your ear. There is an heir of mystery within the music... It starts of very jolly, then gets slightly more tense picking the jolliness up towards the end again. It's almost explaining what happens in the game... having come close to completing this myself the music that you hear before you press start almost tells the story for you. Again this was composed by Koji Kondo, with both the Zelda and Mario games being from Nintendo this came as no surprise. 

 



 

Assassin's Creed, Soundtrack (Entering Jerusalem): The soundtrack, Entering Jerusalem, starts off very slow and mysterious. Sounds of choir singers and wind set the atmosphere to be delicate but important. It then kicks in with what sounds like a man singing in a language that sounds like it could be Latin. The mood that this song sets is that there is a mission and you must complete it, almost like it's a matter of life or death.

 

Halo 3, Soundtrack (One Final Effort): One Final Effort starts, like the others, very slow and gloomy but builds into a grand orchestra of mysteriousness. Towards the middle the sounds gain more upbeatness to them, then to drop back down to slow piano keys and violins. Having only played this game a handful of times I can still tell you that this fits in well with the game and what is asked of you.

 

 

Why is Music and Sound FX so important within Games Development?
It goes without saying that to really set the mood within a game you need music, or at least sound effects. Many games developers research for weeks or months good sounds to add to their game. These sounds must fit with the game and the atmosphere you are trying to set. There is no point having a fighting game and playing sounds that you would find in a game such as Hello Kitty, it just doesn't work.
Some games require few sounds as the scene may set itself, however sounds always help to get the atmosphere and the motive of the game across to the player.

What is Waveform?
Wavelength; A wavelength is the distance between two waves of energy.
Amplitude; The amplitude is the distance between the top and bottom of a wave. Frequency; Frequency is the number of times a sound wave is produced within a short period of time, often a second.
Pitch; The pitch of a sound is how high or low the sound is, for example a piano has heavier keys and lighter keys, each key has a different pitch.

Hertz (Hz); Hz is a unit for measuring a cycle of sounds within a second.
Decibel Level (dB); A decibel is how loud a noise is, again a unit of measurement.
Sound Generator (Loudspeaker); A sound generator is a piece of equipment that changes electrical signals into sounds.

 

What is Foley?

Foley is the use of sound FX, often recorded separately and added into a video or a game. For example, if there was to be a sound of someone being punched it may be done by punching a slab of meat and then being edited into the game or video.

 

What is Timbre?

Timbre is a quality of sound that makes musical sounds or voices sound different from each other. Timbre can mean even similar sounds come across as completely different but still distinctive.

Games/Films That Use Sound For Information

 

The Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker
 The Pirate Charm allows Link to communicate with Tetra whilst she is elsewhere on the Pirate ship, it is a heavily modified Gossip Stone. This is used to give Link useful information. It is activated by a sound that is pretty hard to explain, it's almost like a cry or wail. To hear what Tetra has to say you press the 'A' button, which will be flashing when active. It is used also by the King of Red Lions. When you have pressed 'A' Tetra doesn't talk to you, she makes noises in some parts but it is mostly dialog.



The Pirate Charm is shown within the first 37 seconds of the video, the rest is irrelevant... unless you want to watch how to do this part of the game.

 

The Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker (again...)

Opening a chest within the wind waker is an exciting thing. This is amplified by the noise. This also uses good lighting to identify something important. It symbolizes you finding something that is going to help you, whether or not it seems pointless at that point.

The sound that you have opened a chest with something inside.

 

 The Karate Kid

Now, I am in agreement with the vast majority of people that the original Karate Kid movie is better than the more recent version starring Jaden Smith.

However, this clip shows how the music intensifies within the final fight.
This is using sound to inform the viewers of what is going on.
It symbolizes the danger as well as the importance of the fight through sound.

 

The final fight scene in Karate Kid (2010)

Video Walkthrough's

Below are both video walkthroughs for my respective games.

 

The Diamond Hunter

 

Maths Maze Game