What is story?

Through my blog I’ve been looking at narrative storytelling within films and video games. It’s a topic that has taken me from the historic background of game to film adaptation onto new technologies that are shaping the production of both industries and down into the exploration of new media concepts, before moving towards new ways of telling stories through innovative technology and remarkable narrative techniques.

It was just over four months ago that I started my exploration into this topic, but in that time there is one element of narrative storytelling I have yet to breach: what is story?

I set out to learn about, comment on and question the growing link between video gaming and film, but in doing so I ignored the ever-present gap between film and video game narratives – between linear storytelling and non-linear, spatial storytelling.

I recently spoke with Doctor Marian Ursu, professor in interactive media at the University of York whose interests and research lie in interactive narrative storytelling. Through our conversation we discussed the ways in which interactive narratives, i.e. those requiring user input and choice (effectively, every video game narrative), differ from more traditional, linear storytelling techniques. Whilst it’s true that mediums such as film and television are beginning to branch out into interactivity, the medium of video gaming is inherently designed around it.

I’ve talked about this type of storytelling before with my study of The Wolf Among Us and its focus on player choice, but in my talk with Marian we delved deeper into the basic difference between linear stories and interactive ones.

A linear story progresses in a straight line, along a single route. It’s the main type of narrative that we’re used to, seeing it in film, television, theatre and books. A story, then, is the progression of a narrative from point A to B along a set path.

A linear story path contains no user choice, it's a predefined journey

But, when a story involves choice and consequence – when it involves variables – it can’t remain the same thing. The entire basis on which the notion of story relies upon is changed.

Below is a representation of a simplified narrative space. What this translates to is the interactive sphere in which narrative interactions take place. In a game, for example, you may start at point A but then choose either point B or point C. From there you either reach point D, point E, point F or point G and so on. You are also, often, allowed to revisit a point, say point C, but your approach could now be from point E not point A.

In a spatial story 'sphere' there are multiple paths and journeys

Essentially, in an interactive narrative a story has to be crafted with multiple scenarios, choices and outcomes but these choices must also abide by continuity – point C must be reachable by point A, E and any other approachable angle yet still make sense to the player and their version of the story, however they choose to approach it.

A representation of how story points and end points can be visited from multiple approaches

As you can see by comparing the visual representations of a linear story to an interactive one, the difference is huge. Though the basic goals of each remain the same, in many ways they are completely different ideas.

Where then, does that leave us?

For me, it’s brought me to a place where to view a film and video game narrative as the same thing is entirely nonsensical. They are different in conception, structure and execution and require a different thought process. This may seem obvious, and I’m not stating here that until now a film or video game story was interchangeable to me, what I’m really driving towards is that any new technology (such as enhanced motion capture techniques), or any new media concept (such as transmedia storytelling) is perhaps missing this key difference.

We are, currently, living in the first wave of the new digital media age – second screens, internet streaming, on demand services, user control – these processes, technologies and systems are new and are being experimented with, written about and developed at an ever increasing rate.

I’ve been tracing these developments within this blog, trying to piece together how this changing landscape is affecting the convergence of films and video games, but I’m realising now that any connection, any link between the two is hindered by the innate differences of their narrative approaches and structures.

We may be, at present, content with our developing media ecosystem, but what I’m putting forward here is that until the possibilities of interactive narratives are explored and developed further, any system utilising one or any franchise merging traditional methods with new structures will never reach its full potential. At the moment, technologies, concepts and systems are developing at different rates, it will take a balancing of these elements to create a media network that can provide a fully realised experience to its users.

The Last Of Us film adaptation on its way

So, hugely successful and all round fantastic game The Last Of Us is being made into a film.

'The Last of Us', oozing cinematic potential

Usually, this would be seen as bad news – there is, after all, an historic trend of game to film adaptations being ruined in the transition from small screen to big; Tomb Raider; Max Payne; Mortal Kombat; Hitman; Prince of Persia; Final Fantasy… the list goes on and, frankly, gets a lot worse.

A small selection of failed attempts to re-create video games on the big screen

But, there is hope for The Last Of Us adaptation as, reportedly, the script will be penned by creative director of the game, Neil Druckmann. It’s unusual to see a member of the game design team take on such a prominent role in the film’s production, but it’s a welcome change.

The adaptation will be produced by Screen Gems (a subsidiary of Sony) in collaboration with Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures. Screen Gems president, Clint Culpepper, stated that “[w]hen I saw the quality of the storytelling, I knew the audience for this project was far greater than just the gaming community and that Neil Druckmann must write the screenplay” – sure, it’s a cliché press release, but knowing that Druckmann is in charge of creating a screen story out of Naughty Dog’s bestseller is a good sign; The Last Of Us had a narrative repeatedly praised as a breakthrough in video game storytelling, after all.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out, as it could potentially change the way game to film adaptations are handled in the future; should Druckmann prove his worth with the script it’s possible other studios will start to see opportunity in using game writers for film adaptations, and to me that’s definitely a good thing.

Uncovering a different kind of mystery: Playing ‘Gone Home’

I've been talking quite a lot recently about new technologies and the rise of spectacle as a narrative tool within video games, but that doesn't mean more traditional video game styles are being left behind, as I found out after playing Gone Home.

Side note: I'll be taking openly about the game 'Gone Home' in this post with various reveals about the story and ending - I urge anyone interested to download and play it before reading, it's a brilliant experience and not one to be missed
 
Gone Home is a first-person interactive story adventure game developed by The Fullbright Company. Set in 1995 you play as Kaitlin Greenbriar, a 20-something who returns home from a year of travelling in Europe to find her new house empty with no sign of where her family is.

'Gone Home' by The Fullbright Company

Kaitlin has never seen the house before, and coming to the front door on a dark and stormy night you find a worrying note from your sister, Samantha, who has vanished. Gameplay centres on your exploration of the family home as you try to uncover the reasons behind your sister’s disappearance.

'Gone Home' sees Kaitlin investigate her new family home, a mansion in Oregon

But, in a change from convention this mystery doesn’t conclude with a murder, betrayal or a supernatural possession (cleverly hinted at in one of the games red-herring subplots) but rather, with your sister’s discovery of her sexuality and her decision to run away and be with the woman she loves, Lonnie.

It’s a relatively short journey, with my play through coming in at just over two hours (and I stopped to smell all the roses), but it’s an extremely powerful one. As you walk through the eerie corridors and rooms, leafing through draws, bookcases, cupboards and more you uncover the lives of Sam and Lonnie, but also of your parents and their fractured marriage – detailed by letters indicating your mother’s rise on the career ladder and a possible affair as your father’s career as a pulp fiction author fades into cheap technology reviews, alcohol and hidden porn magazines.

You can, if you choose, simply rush through the house, picking out the necessary elements to complete before heading for the end goal – but, then you really miss the point. There’s no combat, no enemies or even other people to interact with; it’s simply you and what you choose to discover. As I said, I opened every draw, looked under every pillow and made sure to read and remember everything.

Not only is it a treat to uncover the main story, but absorbing all of the 90s references and nostalgia is great fun and also sets the tone – as you progress with Sam’s move from insecure teen to confident ‘riot grrrl’ as she embraces the culture of the time you feel that Sam is a real person, who has a real life and story. It’s a hugely different experience and as I discovered more about the life of my sister I wanted to stop and absorb everything yet rush on to the next clue. Fullbright can certainly be commended on crafting a story that is well written, engrossing and mature.

A plethora of 90s references and home styling help cement 'Gone Home' in its era

What’s interesting to me though (on top of all of that mentioned above) is that Gone Home manages to create a story that not only feels right at home on my PC, but that also challenges what video games can show us whilst simultaneously being more relevant and genuine than most film releases.

The topic of sexuality, specifically lesbianism, has come to the fore recently – most notably in the adaptation of the graphic novel Blue Is the Warmest Color into a feature length film. But, though a critical success, Blue also garnered its fair share of criticism for its depiction of lesbian sex. Author of the original graphic novel, Julie Maroh, found the film’s controversial sex scene ridiculous, stating that it was “a brutal and surgical display, exuberant and cold, of so-called lesbian sex, which turned into porn”.

'Blue is The Warmest Colour' found success as a feature film but was mired by controversy

Though just one example, it highlights the common tendency of films to turn sex into something more than it is; seemingly needing to be heightened, moulded and even, to a certain extent, constructed to appeal to an audience.

Gone Home avoids the visual aspect of this sexual exploration and, apart from a few narrated hints and written clues the subject of sex is largely avoided. The story isn’t about sex, it’s about sexuality and what’s important is the development of Sam as a person, her relationship with Lonnie as an all-encompassing, life changing event. In pushing these aspects to the fore (and in presenting them through the device of an eerie mystery) Gone Home manages to create one of the most honest and emotional representations of sexuality I’ve seen in recent times.

Powerful, unique and hugely captivating, Gone Home is a triumph both in its presentation and narrative. Not just a fantastic journey through one young women’s discovery of herself, but also a strong example of video gaming at its narrative best. Gone Home is proof of how far video games have come, and in some ways, is a stark reminder of how the more dominant medium of film can learn from this ever growing, ever improving and challenging art form.