Writing Your Own Story Synopsis

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Del curso dictado por California Institute of the Arts

Story and Narrative Development for Video Games

654 calificaciones

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California Institute of the Arts

Story and Narrative Development for Video Games

654 calificaciones

Curso 2 de 5 en SpecializationGame Design: Art and Concepts

In this course, you will examine how storytelling acts as a vital mechanism for driving video gameplay forward. Looking at several historical and contemporary games, you will be asked to evaluate and interpret different story styles with the goal of identifying themes and procedures for your own game ideas. We'll examine traditional narrative story processes, such as three-act structure, and how they fit into game story flows and the strategic elements of gameplay. Ultimately, you will learn how to define character, setting, and structure to create a compelling game concept.

De la lección

Week 2: Game Story Structure

In this week, we will draw a parallel between last week’s discussion on rising action and how that relates to gameplay. Looking at a pair of contemporary games, we'll learn how to identify story structure and themes of rising action, just like we would with traditional stories and movies. Lastly, we’ll evaluate the role that primary and secondary characters come to play in the unveiling of a game’s story and discuss the importance of understanding how these games present their stories in the actual gameplay.

Writing Your Own Story Synopsis4:46

Conoce a los instructores

Dariush Derakhshani
Faculty, Character Animation
School of Film/Video

Now let's get to work figuring out how we can summarize stories.

You've read the story summary for Sleeping Beauty last week, and

you've just read the summary for Star Craft II, Wings of Liberty, and

these give you good examples of synopses.

So now, let's take a look at how you can begin to summarize your own stories

into a synopsis on your way to making it again.

First of all, what's a story synopsis?

Well, it's a summary of the story line in paragraph form.

It lays out the spine of the story.

It introduces and tells us about the characters involved, and

what they do throughout that story.

It also sets the tone and

the pace of the story, as you want to tell, it in a concise document,

that can be maybe a few paragraphs long to a maximum of a couple of pages.

The story synopsis summarizes the story best, I believe,

using the three act structure,

setting up where important points of the structure happen in your story.

You've gotta answer, what's the inciting incident?

How does the action escalate?

What's the final crisis?

How does the resolution come?

So as you summarize your story, think of the three act structure.

Think of that framework in defining the beginning, the middle, and the end.

For a proper synopsis, try to tell us the following eight points.

One, where are we?

Where does the story take place?

Two, who are we following?

Who is the protagonist and why is it them?

Three, who or what force is opposed to that protagonist?

Who stands in the way of the hero?

That's the antagonist, and, importantly, why?

Why are they standing in the way?

Four, what do these characters what to accomplish?

What's at stake for them?

Number five, what's the ensuing conflict, and why does it exist?

Number six, how does the action rise?

How do you keep things moving, and getting more tense as you go along?

Seven, what's the final crisis, and how does it play out?

And finally, the eighth point.

How do things resolve?

How do they wrap up?

Now in the previous lecture, you were presented with materials that summarized

the story behind the complex and narratively driven game,

StarCraft II, Wings of Liberty.

That was a story synopsis.

In this text, I gave simple paragraphs to describe what's happening in that story.

I tried to make sure to hit all the eight points that I just mentioned

that make up a good synopsis.

And even though the full storyline behind Wings of Liberty is much deeper,

more intricate in the game itself, that synopsis should be enough to draw you in,

and give you a clear idea of who, of what, and where, and

when, why, and how.

Can you point out those points in that Starcraft II synopsis?

[SOUND] Quiz.

So, summarizing a deep story driven game like that into a couple of pages,

for a synopsis, does make sense, but

how do you create a story synopsis for a much simpler game?

Let's go back to angry birds, and

take a look at how we can create a synopsis for that.

This starts with the story's spine, which we identified last week.

From that spine you embellish and you fill out the story, and

you make the major point of what happens, as you progress throughout the game.

Break it down into the framework of the three act structure.

Since Angry Birds is much simpler than the story in Wings of Liberty,

it doesn't need as much written about it.

But, make no mistake, writing it out as a story summary is just as useful, is

just as important getting your game's idea across to others in this design process.

In the next lecture,

you're gonna read an Angry Birds story synopsis as I've written it.

Make sure to look for and identify these points about what makes a good synopsis.

Because, basically, put, that synopsis, along with the spine,

is the start of you describing what your game is to other people.

Whether you're trying to sell the game, or looking for funding, or

just trying to find other people to help you produce the game,

just make sure it's simple, concise, and makes all the important points.

And anyone reading it will be able to see your vision more clearly.

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