Cinematic Game Design II: Storytelling

Speakers: Marty Stoltz, Richard Rouse III

Track: Visual Arts

Format: Lecture

Experience Level: Intermediate

Description: There are a million ways to tell a story. The clarity and power of cinematic storytelling techniques made films the dominant narrative medium of the last century, enabling them to tell stories as only movies could. As the newest of storytelling art forms, games are still developing their own language for communicating characters and narrative through gameplay. Instead of doing our storytelling through miniature movies (cut-scenes) grafted onto our games, we should be analyzing cinematic storytelling techniques and adapting them to work interactively, thus developing our own language of game storytelling. In this sequel to last year's popular GDC lecture, "Cinematic Game Design," a series of film clips will be shown that demonstrate different complex cinematic storytelling techniques, with each deconstructed to see what makes it tick. Then each technique will be assessed to see how it can be applied to interactive media, allowing game designers and writers to tell stories as only games can.

Idea Takeaway: Attendees leave the session with a better understanding of advanced cinematic storytelling techniques and specific examples for how they can be applied to game designs. Techniques covered include visual storytelling, picture-in-picture, foreshadowing, juxtaposition and symbolism.

Intended Audience: This session is suggested for creative directors, game designers, writers and anyone interested in telling better stories in their games. It assumes a basic understand of film techniques and game design principles.