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Serkis Calls For Narrative Investment in Games
Videogames are a massive storytelling arena in the making, according to the English Actor, director and author Andy Serkis.
In an interview with parents and lifestyle website Babble, Serkis was asked about his interest in games. The actor, best known (perhaps unfairly) for his portrayal of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, responded with measured doses of criticism and praise.
“Games – there's no heart in them,” he opened. “They're not about anything that is lasting. We put so much into the writing of film scripts and plays, but not into games.”
Serkis has previously provided mo-cap and voice acting for Heavenly Sword’s key antagonist King Bohan, working with the title’s development team at Ninja Theory.
In regards to the state of game narrative, Serkis added: “I think it's important to invest in that. I absolutely think that gaming is a massive storytelling arena in the making and now the technology has arrived to do that. It's a fascinating time. Games are where the audience is going to be. In the next generation of kids, you're going to see a lot of storytelling in games.”
Full interview can be found at Babble.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Hello fellow game fans, I'd like to throw in my dissenting opinion.
I've always loved games, ever since I started playing the NES when I was basically a baby. What drew me to them was their ability to make you feel like you're exploring a new world. What I've always loved about games is their narrative. And by narrative I don't necessarily mean dialog, text and plot, I just mean the relationship between the player/viewer/reader and the story itself. Narrative is just how the story is delivered to you.
I think Super Mario World had a FANTASTIC narrative. That game expressed to me what it feels like to run free wheeling over a slope made out of chocolate. The configuration of pixels, the weight of the character, the little splashing sound, it all came together so perfectly and joyfully. That's compelling narrative to me, the kind that I don't really get from any other medium.
I'm glad that modern games have big budgets and voice acting and long plots. That's great. But there's more to storytelling than just film techniques. I think the world would be a poorer place if all videogames had to aspire to was standard film making conventions. I love movies, there are some cinematic games that I think are fantastic, but there's also so much to love about the more abstract parts of games (the sense of placement, interaction, weight, the craftsmanship etc), even older ones from more "primitive" eras.
The original Mario and Zelda for the NES are fantastic odes to exploration and curiosity. Sonic the Hedgehog is a damn fine treatise on the joy of running head first into the future. Megaman is a great parable about the importance of planning and tackling your problems in the right order. Sure these games lack actors and large orchestral scores to dictate your feelings, but they more than make up for that by conveying very vibrant, lively worlds in very very abstract and creative ways. There's a real narrative there, and it's certainly not lacking heart.
The point is though, that we have to look back 10, 15 years to find the games that do this well.
I think there are still games with great narratives (cinematic and un-cinematic) being made today. Outside of the big studio mega-hits (Halo, GTA, Final Fantasy) or even the runaway indie hits (Braid) there are still lots of well made games. My feeling is that games don't have to be just like movies to be moving.
Hello peeps, this is my first post on Edge so I hope you'll all welcome me with open arms!
I agree pretty much wholeheartedly with E.Zach's comments. My faith in game narrative was partly restored after recently getting round to finishing Half-Life 2: Episode 2. That ending! It made all of what seemed like relentless exposition into a genuinely moving and shocking moment in a truly brilliant story (so far). It also reminded me of moments in the previous installments of exchanges between Alyx and Eli that whilst excellently acted out, could be perceived as being cheesy. However, the narrative combined with what is still amazing facial animation and brilliant voice-acting just made it all hit home much harder.
Personally, whilst I too believe that narrative is important in games, I think Valve understand that it isn't enough to just have a good story. For me, voice acting and good dialogue is the key, but that's a whole other debate. If a developer makes the commitment to quality on all fronts, as Valve clearly did, then the end result tends to be exemplary, deeply powerful and I believe many developers would be wise learn from them. The gravity gun I feel also fits in with E Zach's comment about weapons having context (or you might think it's all a bit contrived depending on your point of view) but it fits in with the story, and the gameplay that results from it is now almost legendary.
Will Heavy Rain be the next step forward? Only time will tell.
Agreed, good voice acting is as important as the words themselves. Gears might have had awful plot, but John Di Maggio is a fantastic voice actor, and carries it magnificently.
The price of great voice acting though... every time Marcus talked, I couldn't help but think of Space Trucker Guy from Futurama hahah.
Game writing on the whole is quite poor. Whilst it's absolutely true that games don't need to have complex narrative (Left 4 Dead's plot being essentially 'here are some zombies'), those that attempt it really should do better. And even if you manage a well written and engaging story, how do you integrate it well into the game?
Army of Two might seem an odd game to praise in this regard, but quite a lot of the story is told through radio conversations between Rios & Salem, and Alice. These conversations take place whilst you are still playing, and so the action doesn't stop to allow the story to unfold, they move forward together. Of course there are cut scenes, but they don't really infringe on the gameplay, mostly they are there to show the transition from one country to another.
When I look at high quality writing, I tend to think back to Broken Sword, and Lucasarts various adventure games. That I instantly skip back that far suggests that games have a way to go.
Wow, some major over reacting in the comments.
Let's face it, the majority of game writing sucks. Just because you can stomach razor thin plots, shallow cookie cutter characters and generic settings, doesn't mean we all can. Some of appreciated well written games.
Now, that does not mean that games should be more like movies or have more and longer cut scenes, more dialogue trees etc.
Great writing can integrate seamlessly into the gameplay and enhance it. When was the last time you had context for the weapons you used in a game? When was the last time you felt that you should actually be in the world you inhabit? When was the last time you actually cared about the characters in the game and cared about what happened to them? When was the last time a game actually made sense and everything tied together and built up everything else?
If anyone has any concern about what great writing can do for a game, you need to get a copy of Swords and Circuitry and read it. You also need to watch the Dark Crystal and the accompanying Making Of Documentary. Pay attention to what great writing can do.
Yes there are games out there with great writing, just like there are action movies with great writing. But just like action movies with great writing, they are in the minority. The thing is with games, the action games are the majority. Can you imagine how annoying it would be if the majority of movies released were action? Nothing but Bruce Willis and Arnold Swarzenager movies? That's how it feels with games a lot of the time.
Nothing has to be sacrificed to bring in great writing, but there is plenty to gain by including it.
>>Wow, some major over reacting in the comments... Just because you can stomach razor thin plots, shallow cookie cutter characters and generic settings, doesn't mean we all can.
I figure you're replying to me as I'm the only negative person here hahah.
Do you believe games are heartless though? That there is no heart put into making them, or in playing them? Because that's what Gollum is saying.
Better narrative is great, better narrative in movies would also be great. But if I'm writing a movie I'm not gonna go say that all movies ever made before mine are heartless, yeah?
Do you believe games are heartless though? That there is no heart put into making them, or in playing them? Because that's what Gollum is saying.
The Majority of them, when talking about writing, Yes. Very few (yes there are some great exceptions) have well written story interwoven into the gameplay.
Most games are pretty cookie cutter though.
On the other hand, a majority (maybe not a sweeping majority, but a majority none the less) of games have been designed with heart. But that heart is spilled more directly onto gameplay mechanics, physics, levels built around multiplayer, graphics. But everything is built to make the game more fun to play as a group or just to give a player obstacles to get through to accomplish some task.
How much better would level design, art direction, gameplay, AI etc be with a strong writer giving it all life and meaning? A good director of sorts to keep everything in line with the story that was written for the game? Games can be so much more than what they are. We just need to get over this constant need to have a "sure thing" something that is guaranteed to rake in profit.
>>We just need to get over this constant need to have a "sure thing" something that is guaranteed to rake in profit.
but that's already the marketing method for selling games, saying they have a great deep story and playing it will be an emotional experience.
Halo uses music like an epic war movie. Halo 3 had those mock interviews with old men who once served with master chief. Halo sold millions
Grand Theft Auto IV sells itself like it's a Hollywood crime thriller, Grand Theft Auto sold millions.
Gears of War presents itself as character driven, 'destroyed beauty' is the theme. Gears of War sold millions.
God of War, its creator talks about how emotional he wants players to be and to feel krato's butthurt, God of War sold millions
These games all made massive profits, most of them were sequels continuing the story from the previous game. They are very much about lauding their story.
Edge's review of Killzone 2 says it's gameplay is excellent, but story is poor, 7/10 and that's causing argument amongst commenters.
>>But everything is built to make the game more fun to play as a group or just to give a player obstacles to get through to accomplish some task.
>>How much better would level design, art direction, gameplay, AI etc be with a strong writer giving it all life and meaning?
Some writers write in such a way that they invite the reader to come to their own opinions of things. That is already a style of narrative in itself. The reader (or in our case, player) is also there to give it meaning. (coincidentally lots of Japanese writers tend to be like this)
Say in Metal Gear Solid. I have the option of not killing, but disabling by other means. I project my own narrative in the story- I am snake, I don't want to kill if given another option, so I do not kill. Lockers and corners are available to me for this story to unfold.
I come to a dilemma, there are many guards. It would be easier to kill them off than disable and hide them one by one. What does Solid Snake do?
There is no dialogue or cutscenes that tells me what to do, but the gameplay mechanics, physics, level design and obstacles influence my choice.
My concern is that, sure you can say "this game of mine, it is great, it has heart, it will make you cry!!", but will it really? Or talking like you're the first person ever to *think* "hay lets make a game with HEART BECAUSE IT'S NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE NOPE NEVER". The marketing machine has ramped up to Hollywood levels. Now we have a motion capture actor telling people what the next step in gaming is.
So will the next gen experience be getting honest feelings from a game, or being dictated how to feel by marketing?
You raised some brilliant points, EZK. It also answers a couple of things raised by the previous comment.
I agree that not all games need story, as defined by dialogue and all that jazz. However I do believe that almost all games need some narrative, by which I mean a coherent setting and journey for the player to embark on. How many games have been broken by ill-judged moments which snap you out of the immersive play and remind you you’re ‘wasting’ your time on a big, dumb game?
EZK your comment about weapons is so on the money. I’ve had a chat with a couple of fantastic games designers and a brilliant creative director where we all agreed that fiction in a game is not just the story, the characters and the dialogue. It’s the weapons, vehicles, the city streets, the leafy glade, the hulking derelict Starship, the way things look and sound. It’s everything. They all have to make sense in relation to one another. If a knight in shining armour suddenly pops out an M16, the game will fall apart very quickly. Other elements of the game that might have been forgiven suddenly get thrown into high relief. It’s amazing how players will stick with a game that’s broken if they feel they’re involved in the story being told.
On a related note… One of the things that will make fiction in games stronger is when designers understand, as the better ones do, that you can’t just throw any old stuff in and then hire a writer to patch it up with a story fix. Having the story say some knight stumbled across an M16 lying in a field, surrounded by burnt corn damaged by the heat of the gun falling through time, does not help the fact that it was a dumb idea in the first place. A shark-jumping moment will always be a shark-jumping moment. If a writer is involved early on, these things can be avoided. They don’t have to be in-house, just involved.
Oh, and Bioshock so ruled!!! >disengage fanboy mode<
The day videogames became more movies than games I'll quit, seriously. Narrative, storytelling, etc, are really overrated in videogames. If I am a person who really wants to play a game, I don't need any excuse or plot or whatever to just play and have fun. The real problem is that nowadays a lot of people have entered in this world and they have the feeling that videogames are just like films and they need to be satisfied in this aspect to buy the product: in other words, if a game has a crappy story, the game is crap.
I agre that some immersion does nothing bad to a game if the game is good, for example, Half-Life or Bioshock, but, ¿does a great game need a great story to excel? I don't think so, and from this point we'll have to start to difference between what we can consider videogames and what we can consider "interactive experiences" in a not-so-much-long term. Heavy Rain knocks the door.
Serkis is right, after a fashion. There does need to be an investment in storytelling in games. However, the concern is that the move will be driven by a desire, particularly amongst marketing lame-brains, to make games more like films. That will not, will not, will not work. You just need to look at Heavenly Sword for a perfect example of an utter failure to marry gameplay and narrative. To add another Serkis link, how about King Kong? Another failure to make narrative and gameplay work together as an integrated whole. I hope Andy, who by all accounts is a smart man, takes time to get involved in – and promote – more progressive narrative technology rather than just ‘cutscene-gameplay-cutscene-gameplay-cutscene’.
>>In the next generation of kids, you're going to see a lot of storytelling in games. ”
Rockman has to stop the robot masters.
Ryu wants to become the greatest warrior in the world
Mario has to go save the princess.
How many of you, when you were little after playing Sonic, Contra, Street Fighter, anything, just start drawing that character all over the place, in the margins of your homework?
Did these games grip you because they had shallow characters and poor narrative? There was something that made these characters stick in your mind, right? They were right in their setting. Maybe it's nostalgia, but so what? There's still a reason you liked and enjoyed what you did.
These people have to stop pretending that videogames didn't exist until they discovered them. There's always been gripping narratives, there's always been deep characters, there's always been complex moral choices and all that.
Unless the only criteria of storytelling is more dialog, more cutscenes, or more of something that resembles a movie. I guess if I was an actor, I would think that too.
The only difference now is there's more marketing and more of a mainstream audience. Video games are new to many people, their first game being Halo instead of Contra. Because many now don't have first hand experience with these past games, it seems wrong to just throw out the past like that.
AndyLC said:
There's always been gripping narratives, there's always been deep characters, there's always been complex moral choices and all that.
I'd like you to mention titles that justify this statement! I've cried watching movies, but haven't with videogames, games are soulless in that sense.
Well, do you consider SMT: Nocturne to a be a soulless/heartless game then?
Seconded.
In terms of games that have evoked a personal emotional response... through gameplay and narrative, through being engaging
Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land ( an excellent RPG that combines gameplay mechanics with the theme and setting. Really the ultimate 'dungeon crawl')
Final Fantasy 4
Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy 7 is quite popular for the "I totally cried when [spoilereveryoneknowsbynowitsa10+yearoldgame] died ;_;" moment
Secret of Mana-
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (oddly compliments Wizardry, about going up a hole instead of down and another example of gameplay and narrative being together)
Grim Fadango- Manny Calavera, what a name.
Games also create worlds, worlds that you explore and interact with:
Sonic 2- responsible for many animals-with-attitude knockoffs, hmmm maybe that's a negative...
Shinobi 3
Super Mario World
Street Fighter: A fighting game, what does it have to do with narrative? A fighting game needs engaging characters. People are drawn to qualities of characters that appeal to them (appearance, fighting style, background, how it all comes together). The little cutscenes that follow beating M.Bison or Gill, as short as they are, explores each individual's personality.
These games were made with heart, they have soul, they evoke emotion.
I think games like Team ICO's output were heading in the wrong direction. In general a lot of stories serve their purpose, every Zelda game has had virtually the same good vs. evil tale and it does the job without being anything too meaningful. Writing needs to be improved, but I thought GTA IV was pretty much peerless in that respect, and in the craft of its storytelling.
So are you saying GTAIV is more meaningful than a Zelda game with its storytelling? How?
How did GTA go in the right direction while Shadow of the Colossus was the wrong way?
I agree with Andy Serkis, narrative in videogames are very, very poor. Developers take a back seat approach when it comes to Narrative.
The only two games that did it for me in terms of narrative were: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Shadowrun on the Super Nes. Mainly because the narrative was well thought out and excellently executed when contrasted next to the gameplay.
How is that different from narrative in movies though?
Chances are Gollum hasn't played SMT:Nocturne or Shadowrun, and lumps them in his "heartless" category.
The difference is: Movies main element of entertainment is "narrative", games on the other hand (at the moment) is gameplay.
Developers have yet to master gameplay, combined with excellent narrative qualities, hence why i named both SMT:Nocturne & Shadowrun as examples as these games have both these elements.
I would say both have an element of being 'engaging'
A game can have nice gameplay, but suffer from poor art direction or a bad story. Likewise a game with a good story can have mediocre gameplay.
What is narrative in a movie. Is it just the script? Or is it some combination of the actor's ability, director's direction, costume designers, lighting, sets, etc.
Would a high school production of a shakespeare play have great narrative because it is shakespeare? Or do other factors come in to determine that.
So yeah, tell me what you think narrative is.