Notes on Creating Drama

Notes on Creating Drama


Hey, how's it going? Mortals.

I'm not gonna stop calling you that soon, I'm afraid; I want this to be a casual blog, and if that means insulting, then I will insult you to your face!

Well, I was gonna try and make a "funny" title about being on top of the most recently updated blogs list in the lesson on Tuesday, but I've decided that I'm probably not gonna publish this until after the lesson. Look, it's late right now, and I don't really feel like going through the long notes I took so that I can refine it down into this post, OK? I'm tired!

So, I literally just finished reading "Tools for Creating Dramatic Game Dynamics" by Marc LeBlanc. In fact, I've so only just finished reading it, I haven't actually read the last paragraphs!

Aaaaaand done!

Now, I'm really liking Marc LeBlanc from what I've seen of his work so far; he has extremely well conceptualised and refined ideas about video games, which he demonstrates beautifully in his Taxonomy of Game Pleasures. This article also shows his obvious intelligence, and thus makes for an enlightening read.

First of all, LeBlanc outlines the MDA theory of designing and playing games:

Mechanics - what is required to play the game at it's most basic form, including rules and equipment.

Dynamics - the behaviour of the game as it is played, such as popular tactics used by the players, which emerge from the mechanics.

Aesthetics - the desirable emotional reactions of the player or players.


Next, LeBlanc introduces us to the aesthetic of dramatic tension; he first defines what dramatic tension is:

"our level of emotional investment in the story's conflict; the sense of concern, apprehension, and urgency with which we await the story's outcome."

Finally, he gives us the dramatic arc as an example of how drama should build within a narrative:

Here, as you can see, the drama of the narative builds towards the climax, whereupon it suddenly  changes direction and fades away.

Now LeBlanc tells us how levels of drama are affected in games. It is important to understand that, unlike traditional narrative forms (such as movies or books), the game designer doesn't have total control over the aesthetics of the story as it plays out.

First, he splits drama into Uncertainty and Inevitability:

Uncertainty: the sense that the outcome of the conflict is still unknown.

Inevitability: the sense that the content is moving forward toward toward it's resolution.

Dramatic tension requires a combination of both of these factors; one alone is insufficient. If the game has uncertainty without inevitability, then the end seems far off and doesn't really matter. If the game has inevitability but no uncertainty, then there's no reason to be invested in the conflict, as the outcome has already been decided. It's worth noting that the narrative climax of the game occurs when the uncertainty and inevitability "intersect", and the outcome is realized by the player or players; the gameplay climax occurs just before this.

So, now that we know how to identify dramatic tension, how can we produce it in the design process? Well, dramatic tension (or at least the uncertainty part of it) is an aesthetic that emerges from dynamics that make the game feel close during the "contest" in the game. Closeness can be achieved in one of two types of dynamicss: force and illusion.

• Force - by manipulating the state of the contest itself, we can alter the level of a player's advantage or disadvantage.
• Illusion - it is possible to make the player believe the contest is closer than it really is by manipulating their perception of it.

A good way of employing these from a mechanics standpoint is through feedback systems; these take the current status of the game, works out how well each player is doing, and alters the game in some way (either through force or illusion dynamics) to make the game closer, or appear closer. For example, in a racing game, if one player is doing less well than another, the game might give the loser a speed boost to keep the game more even, and therefore less uncertain. 

Feedback systems can also be used in a number of different ways, to cause different effects. A negative feedback system will give the losing player an advantage, such as in the above example, or give the winning player a disadvantage. A positive feedback system will do the opposite, giving the winner an advantage, or the loser a disadvantage. The purpose for this is to give the game denouement, to let the players know the game is coming to an end, and this player has won; the dramatic climax where the outcome is decided is over.

So, we've covered uncertainty, but what about inevitability? Some good mechanics for increasing the sense of inevitability are "ticking clock" mechanics; these remind the players that the game won't go on forever, and that the end of the game is drawing closer and closer. A literal clock doesn't need to be invloved, as other mechanics can act just as well, if not better; the number of cards in a deck, the number of pieces left on the board, and so on. If a ticking clock is to be effective, it must be visible to the players; inevitability is entirely percieved, and to add to dramatic tension, it has to be percieved.

Once the climax has been reached, it can be argued that a game should end as soon as possible; once the outcome has been decided, the players become little more than spectators, which very quickly becomes boring. However, it is also arguable that there should be a period of denouement for the game, to let the players unwind, stop the game from ending too abruptly, and to let the winner celebrate their victory. This time should be kept fairly short, but it does need to be there. One way of doing this is a post-mortem of the game, such as a statistics screen, or an after-game discussion between the players.

Well, I'm pretty damned tired, I've learnt that I don't like Monster energy drink, and I need to catch a bus in under five hours. I think I'm done here.

Praise the Emperor.