FRAMEWORK
Architects have been interested in other spaces and other narratives especially since post-modernism. Archizoom, with No-Stop City, even goes so far as to start to destroy spatial differentiation in preference of narrative distinctions (this can be seen in the ways that undifferentiated spaces may become unique through use).1 Video games share a similar obsession with other spaces and the production of narrative through play. Games rely on the “tension between the narrative structure and the narrative sequence, or the conceptual ordering of the story and the temporal unfolding of the narration,” which is dependent upon the spatial dimension of narrative elements.2 The implications of game spaces ranges well beyond the scope of just the game studies discipline because, as Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman state, “Technology informs space informs design.”3
To expand upon the commonly held idea that architecture tells stories, Michel de Certeau writes in his Practice of Everyday Life that people, by occupying and altering spaces, create architectural narratives.4 This narrative potential of architecture is freeform and changeable, and, per the frameworks described through this essay, is worthy of investigation through the realm of narrative and space in video games.
Narrative analysis of video games has historically been written using frameworks developed in other media forms, primarily cinema. Janet H. Murray uses this strategy of cinematic analysis when she applies the concept of the multiform story and nonlinearity to video games.5 Both topics have been drawn from other storytelling media and used to describe and analyze the narrative characteristics of games.
Similarly, ideas of framing and point of view have been pulled from cinema and used in game analysis. Alexander Galloway, for example details the similarities and differences between the cinematic selective shot and the video game selective shot. In general, a selective shot is a degree of a point of view shot which places the camera as if inside the skull of a person performing an action.6 This viewpoint is used to achieve very different ends in video games than in cinema; as Galloway states, “In film, the subjective perspective is marginalized and used primarily to effect a sense of alienation, detachment, fear, or violence, while in games the subjective perspective is quite common and used to achieve an intuitive sense of motion and action in gameplay.”7 This perspective viewpoint has been the driving force behind the experiential qualities of first person games.
I also pull from Galloway’s use of the term diegesis—another word drawn from film theory into game studies—as a “game’s total world of narrative action” which includes both the onscreen and off-screen elements.8 Contrary to this are nondiegetic elements, or “gamic elements that are inside the total gamic apparatus yet outside the portion of the apparatus that constitutes a pretend world of character and story.”9 This terminology is used throughout game theory to recognize the importance both narrative and non-narrative elements within game structures.
Although these cinematic frameworks can be incredibly useful for understanding video game spaces, they often struggle to account for the interactivity of video games as a media. This is where narrative analysis of video games has historically fallen short when describing the video game. Thus, it is important to recognize the implications of gaming and play within video game structure. Play is understood as player agency within a game structure, it is meaningful, cultural, and draws from intuitive human characteristics.10
As Henry Jenkins describes in “Game Design as Narrative Architecture,” despite the relative infancy of game studies as an academic discipline, there has been an incredible amount of friction between theorists. One major point of contention has been which aspects of games are core to the medium or worthy of analysis. Thus, two major groups have developed within the field: ludologists, whose interests lie in the “mechanics of gameplay,” and narratologists who wish to analyze games through the same lens as other narrative media.11 This has been problematic in some respects because it enforces the idea that narrative and play themselves are diametrically opposed when the two can and do work seamlessly together. While games do not require narrative, many games employ narrative elements locally or tell stories as major structural devices.12
This background information is crucial to understanding video game spaces and the correlations which can be drawn between game spatiality and architectural spatiality. Comparisons have continually been drawn between game spaces and architectural ones, from Henry Jenkins’s use of architecture to describe game space in “Game Design as Narrative Architecture,” to Michael Nitsche’s model of mapping time in games which relies on architecture to make a point about the relationship between space and time in video games.13
The following video game examples are accompanied by a categorization of their spatial representation and narrative elements. These two categorizations are then cross-referenced to produce an analysis of how these elements may work together in games across different genres. The significance of this comparison lies in the translation of these elements to architectural narrative. This framework diverges from historical cinematic narrative analysis by shifting the emphasis towards the architectural game space. Games may tell stories, but they necessitate spatiality. Thus, game design offers the ability to rush and radicalize architecture and spatial design to test the boundaries of both game and architectural spaces.
Article 1
Space Invaders (Taito, 1978) is an early arcade game in which all ludic action occurs within one contained screen. This means that off-screen space is largely irrelevant and unused for the narrative structure. This very restricted spatial system contains a player-controlled gun at the bottom of the screen with left and right movement and one shooting direction: up. The upper portion of the screen contains alien invaders which the player must shoot in order to stay alive for as long as possible.
Space Invaders (Taito, 1978) is an early arcade game in which all ludic action occurs within one contained screen. This means that off-screen space is largely irrelevant and unused for the narrative structure. This very restricted spatial system contains a player-controlled gun at the bottom of the screen with left and right movement and one shooting direction: up. The upper portion of the screen contains alien invaders which the player must shoot in order to stay alive for as long as possible.
The limited spatiality of the game mirrors the limited, linear narrative. This narrative could be very simply described as an unending alien attack which, regardless of player skill, will inevitably defeat the player. The game cycles through levels getting progressively tougher until the player is hit. Because this game narrative is so short and simple, ludic activity is primary and the game has a very high replay value. This is an essential aspect of the arcade game typology along with simple rules, and quick play time. The game space of Space Invaders may not be incredibly useful to the field of architecture directly, but Space Invaders’s influence on later games is noteworthy.
Nishkado, Tomohiro. Space Invaders. Arcade game. Developed by Taito. 1978. Game.
Article 2
Ms. Pac-Man (Midway, 1981) is another early arcade game, but the maze-like game space utilizes the off-screen space in a new way, by creating wraparound spaces. Any of the ghosts, or Ms. Pac-Man herself, may exit the screen through one of the two openings on the left side and re-enter the screen through the aligned opening on the right side (or vice-versa) after a slight delay. Another important spatial element is the location of the power pellets in far corners of the maze. This encourages players to explore the entire map and time their arrival in each of these locations precisely to effectively capture ghosts. Again, as an arcade game, the narrative structure during play is rather simple, Ms. Pac-Man must eat all the pills on each level map and avoid being caught by any of the four ghosts.
Outside of this simple narrative, which repeats every level, the game also utilizes a linear narrative which is largely unrelated to the gameplay. This narrative is only disseminated to the player through short proto-cut-scenes, called acts, between every few levels, the first of which is titled “They Meet” and the second, “The Chase.” The third act, “Junior” shows a stork delivering a baby Pac-Man to the couple. These two narratives work together to produce an engaging game which encourages you to get through as many levels as possible to reach the next narrative moment.
Ms. Pac-Man (Midway, 1981) is another early arcade game, but the maze-like game space utilizes the off-screen space in a new way, by creating wraparound spaces. Any of the ghosts, or Ms. Pac-Man herself, may exit the screen through one of the two openings on the left side and re-enter the screen through the aligned opening on the right side (or vice-versa) after a slight delay. Another important spatial element is the location of the power pellets in far corners of the maze. This encourages players to explore the entire map and time their arrival in each of these locations precisely to effectively capture ghosts. Again, as an arcade game, the narrative structure during play is rather simple, Ms. Pac-Man must eat all the pills on each level map and avoid being caught by any of the four ghosts.
Outside of this simple narrative, which repeats every level, the game also utilizes a linear narrative which is largely unrelated to the gameplay. This narrative is only disseminated to the player through short proto-cut-scenes, called acts, between every few levels, the first of which is titled “They Meet” and the second, “The Chase.” The third act, “Junior” shows a stork delivering a baby Pac-Man to the couple. These two narratives work together to produce an engaging game which encourages you to get through as many levels as possible to reach the next narrative moment.
Atari and Midway Games. Ms. Pac-Man. Arcade game. 1981. Game.
Article 3
Super Mario Bros (Nintendo, 1985) is one of the earlier and most iconic one-axis scroll games which has spawned a franchise with numerous games since. The game space is sectional in nature and thus players control the character’s horizontal movement left and right. However, leftward movement is limited by the one-axis scroll; anything which has passed off-screen to the left of the character is no longer accessible to the player. Players control vertical movement by jumping to collect coins and power-ups as well as avoid enemies. They may also enter beanstalks and pipes which potentially act as short-cuts past certain worlds and imply a larger game space than what is visible onscreen. There is no implication of depth to the game: there is merely the foreground which includes the character and all action and the sky in the background.
Super Mario Bros (Nintendo, 1985) is one of the earlier and most iconic one-axis scroll games which has spawned a franchise with numerous games since. The game space is sectional in nature and thus players control the character’s horizontal movement left and right. However, leftward movement is limited by the one-axis scroll; anything which has passed off-screen to the left of the character is no longer accessible to the player. Players control vertical movement by jumping to collect coins and power-ups as well as avoid enemies. They may also enter beanstalks and pipes which potentially act as short-cuts past certain worlds and imply a larger game space than what is visible onscreen. There is no implication of depth to the game: there is merely the foreground which includes the character and all action and the sky in the background.
The narrative structure of Super Mario Bros is again incredibly simple and linear, parallel to the linearity of player movement. A player chooses either Mario or his brother Luigi and travels through different worlds in the mushroom kingdom to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser. This narrative structure is disseminated through short dialogue pieces between worlds which state things like “Sorry Mario, but the princess is in another castle,” encouraging the player to continue exploring the world.
Miyamoto, Shigeru, Koji Kondo, Takashi Tezuka, and Hiroshi Yamauchi. Super Mario Bros. Nintendo 3Ds. Developed by Nintendo. 1985. Game.
Article 4
VVVVVV (Terry Cavanagh, 2010) is a relatively recent two-dimensional, two-axis scroll game which utilizes very simple mechanics to allow the player to navigate progressively complex puzzles. Players control the character’s movement left and right and may “flip gravity” to avoid obstacles, but they may only do so while on a surface. Akin to Super Mario Bros, players are encouraged to travel through the maps in a linear fashion, however this movement to complete a puzzle may be primarily in the x- or y-direction depending on the orientation of the level.
VVVVVV (Terry Cavanagh, 2010) is a relatively recent two-dimensional, two-axis scroll game which utilizes very simple mechanics to allow the player to navigate progressively complex puzzles. Players control the character’s movement left and right and may “flip gravity” to avoid obstacles, but they may only do so while on a surface. Akin to Super Mario Bros, players are encouraged to travel through the maps in a linear fashion, however this movement to complete a puzzle may be primarily in the x- or y-direction depending on the orientation of the level.
Before play begins, a quick expositional cut-scene introduces the player’s predicament: that the spaceship he lives and works on has malfunctioned and all his coworkers and friends have been teleported to a different location. More narrative elements are embedded within the structure of the puzzle maps and lend detail to the overall linear plot, but the primary focus of this game is still the solution of the complex motion puzzles.
Terry, Cavanagh. VVVVVV. Developed by Terry Cavanagh and Simon Roth. 2010. Game.
Article 5
Diablo II (Blizzard North, 2000) is an action role-playing game which utilizes the early three-dimensional tactic of isometric projection. All movement occurs in the x- and y-axes with no jumping mechanics. There is limited height change in the z-dimension other than those used to delineate spatial boundaries and the occasional staircase. Although the three-dimensionality produced in this isometric space is still not incredibly complex, Diablo II and its predecessor made impressive strides toward the realization of later three-dimensional game spaces.
Diablo II (Blizzard North, 2000) is an action role-playing game which utilizes the early three-dimensional tactic of isometric projection. All movement occurs in the x- and y-axes with no jumping mechanics. There is limited height change in the z-dimension other than those used to delineate spatial boundaries and the occasional staircase. Although the three-dimensionality produced in this isometric space is still not incredibly complex, Diablo II and its predecessor made impressive strides toward the realization of later three-dimensional game spaces.
Both the game’s narrative and spatiality are structured by the levels or dungeons which become progressively more difficult and populated by enemies. The primary narrative plot is linear as the main goal is to reach the last dungeon and defeat the final boss, Baal. There is relatively limited exposition throughout gameplay, but there are certain non-playable characters that players can talk to along the way who guide the narrative and add more detail if players are interested. Player agency within this narrative structure is greatly limited.
Brevik, David, Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, Stieg Hedlund, and Eric Sexton. Diablo II. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Blizzard North, 2000. Game.
Article 6
Oxenfree (Night School Studio, 2016), although developed very recently, uses the two-and-a-half dimension (2.5D) style which has a full x-axis and y-axis, but a compressed z-axis. This 2.5D game space creates very interesting movement mechanics where players may be controlling the character left and right to retreat or move forward along the z-axis since many of the pathways are angled spatially along both the z- and x- or y-axes. 2.5D spaces were an early way that three-dimensionality was represented in games, but is used in Oxenfree to produce a specific spatial and aesthetic effect.
Oxenfree (Night School Studio, 2016), although developed very recently, uses the two-and-a-half dimension (2.5D) style which has a full x-axis and y-axis, but a compressed z-axis. This 2.5D game space creates very interesting movement mechanics where players may be controlling the character left and right to retreat or move forward along the z-axis since many of the pathways are angled spatially along both the z- and x- or y-axes. 2.5D spaces were an early way that three-dimensionality was represented in games, but is used in Oxenfree to produce a specific spatial and aesthetic effect.
As a paranormal horror mystery game, narrative is nonlinear in two different ways. First, two stories are told in parallel: one is the backstory of the characters through their conversations and the other is the narrative adventure as the characters explore the haunted island searching for an escape. The game is also nonlinear through a branching plot which does not converge to the same ending, but instead explodes into multiple different endings. This creates a type of re-playability not seen in the previous games because this time the game is replayed to discover alternate endings, not purely for the ludic aspects. The branching is created somewhat like a choose-your-own adventure story where players decide what to say to other characters, where to go, and what to do; nearly all of these choices along the way are meaningful to the final outcome.
Riach, Kevin and Spencer Stuard. Oxenfree. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Night School Studios. 2016. Game.
Article 7
Tomb Raider (Core Design, 1996) is one of the earlier fully three-dimensional games, offering a high level of control over player movement. Lara Croft, the main character, is capable of running, jumping, side-stepping, swimming, and hanging from ledges. She does so primarily to navigate the puzzles and defeat enemies in her search for curious artifacts. The introduction of these more complex mechanics allows the puzzle spaces to take shape in all three dimensions, significantly complicating navigation and way-finding compared to many of its two-dimensional predecessors. The third person perspective used in the game allows players to carefully time and coordinate jumps and maneuvers through the puzzle landscape. Contrary to the complex mechanics and puzzles, the game is still graphically rudimentary and cubic in nature.
Tomb Raider (Core Design, 1996) is one of the earlier fully three-dimensional games, offering a high level of control over player movement. Lara Croft, the main character, is capable of running, jumping, side-stepping, swimming, and hanging from ledges. She does so primarily to navigate the puzzles and defeat enemies in her search for curious artifacts. The introduction of these more complex mechanics allows the puzzle spaces to take shape in all three dimensions, significantly complicating navigation and way-finding compared to many of its two-dimensional predecessors. The third person perspective used in the game allows players to carefully time and coordinate jumps and maneuvers through the puzzle landscape. Contrary to the complex mechanics and puzzles, the game is still graphically rudimentary and cubic in nature.
The narrative structure is primarily linear and told through short cut-scenes which act as embedded narrative between levels and as Lara explores the map areas. This storytelling acts as a driving force for level completion and explains the various locations that Lara must navigate throughout her adventure. Each map location is self-contained and once a chapter of the narrative is completed, she passes through a non-reversible boundary, reinforcing the narrative linearity. The labyrinthine and complex spaces guided by narrative are architecturally interesting because the puzzles are fully-realized spatially and do not rely on visual trickery or graphics to further confuse their navigation.
Gard, Tobi, Nathan McCree, and Paul Dauglas. Tomb Raider. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Core Design. 1996. Game.
Article 8
Borderlands (Gearbox Software, 2009) is a fully three-dimensional first person shooter game with multiple different maps connected at travel locations. These maps serve as different nodes of gameplay according to player level and associated missions. Players have free range of movement within this space which although complex fully-designed worlds require relatively little navigation and way-finding. This structure is due to the map and waypoint system which direct players at least to the general location of mission completion; since the game is not intended to be a puzzle game, players are rarely required to search the map for long.
Borderlands (Gearbox Software, 2009) is a fully three-dimensional first person shooter game with multiple different maps connected at travel locations. These maps serve as different nodes of gameplay according to player level and associated missions. Players have free range of movement within this space which although complex fully-designed worlds require relatively little navigation and way-finding. This structure is due to the map and waypoint system which direct players at least to the general location of mission completion; since the game is not intended to be a puzzle game, players are rarely required to search the map for long.
Narrative is built into this game space according to a clear story-mission and side-quest structure. This follows the cul-de-sac model of narrative in which the story-missions are linear and progress towards the end goal of finding a treasure vault. The side-quests branch off from the story-missions and allow players the chance to fully explore the map and level up before returning to the main linear plot. Thus, although side quests are optional, they are essential to the player’s total experience of Borderlands.
Armstrong, Matthew, Ruben Cabrera, and Jeramy Cooke. Borderlands. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Gearbox Software. 2009. Game.
Article 9
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios, 2011) is another fully three-dimensional role playing game with the option to play in either first or third person. One primary difference between Borderlands and Skyrim is the map layout: Skyrim is an open-world game without separate maps. The space can be explored freely and players may choose to take roads or walk through the wilderness to reach different locations per their own desires. In this way, Skyrim is by far the most realistic game to our physical world displayed in this exhibition and thus its narrative and spatial features are the most easily translated to the architectural realm. This also implies that Skyrim draws many of its characteristics from physical space design in its spatial qualities; while this may be the case, the ludic aspects of the game manage to produce different spatial opportunities than traditional architecture.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios, 2011) is another fully three-dimensional role playing game with the option to play in either first or third person. One primary difference between Borderlands and Skyrim is the map layout: Skyrim is an open-world game without separate maps. The space can be explored freely and players may choose to take roads or walk through the wilderness to reach different locations per their own desires. In this way, Skyrim is by far the most realistic game to our physical world displayed in this exhibition and thus its narrative and spatial features are the most easily translated to the architectural realm. This also implies that Skyrim draws many of its characteristics from physical space design in its spatial qualities; while this may be the case, the ludic aspects of the game manage to produce different spatial opportunities than traditional architecture.
Although there is structured narrative within Skyrim, players are also allowed to choose the narrative quests they take by selecting certain paths and talking to different non-playable characters. Players even have the option of disregarding missions and exploring the map at their own pace. Skyrim heavily utilizes branching narrative structure such that no two players will have entirely the same narrative experience. Additionally, the use of embedded narrative allows players to discover new missions just by overhearing certain conversations.
Skyrim. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Bethesda Game Studios. 2011. Game.
Article 10
Portal (Valve Corporation, 2007) is a fully three-dimensional puzzle-platform game viewed through first person perspective. The character utilizes a portal gun which can create two connected portals on any flat surface (floor, ceiling, wall, etc.). These portals utilize the concept of contingency, allowing players control over where they enter and exit a spatial cell, to navigate the complex puzzle spaces. Portals maintain character momentum which can launch the character over certain obstacles to help them progress through the level maps.
Portal (Valve Corporation, 2007) is a fully three-dimensional puzzle-platform game viewed through first person perspective. The character utilizes a portal gun which can create two connected portals on any flat surface (floor, ceiling, wall, etc.). These portals utilize the concept of contingency, allowing players control over where they enter and exit a spatial cell, to navigate the complex puzzle spaces. Portals maintain character momentum which can launch the character over certain obstacles to help them progress through the level maps.
The narrative in Portal is linear, which emphasizes the fact that complex spaces need not be accompanied by an equally complex narrative structure. Nearly any pairing of narrative structure to spatial structure is possible in video games. Much of Portal’s narrative is told through voiceovers by the artificial intelligence GLaDOS and is embedded during and between levels, although there is a final cut-scene which wraps-up the simple plot elements. Regardless of the feasibility of creating portals in physical spaces, the interesting (non-Euclidean and frankly impossible) spatiality of the puzzles and their fully-realized three-dimensionality tests the boundaries of space making in ways that architecture cannot at this point. This capacity of video games to explore impossible spaces holds incredible power and potential in the fields of game design, virtual reality and architecture.
Swift, Kim, Eric Wolpaw, and Chet Faliszek. Portal. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Valve Corporation. 1985. Game.
ELABORATION
There is incredible variety in the ways that space is explored and created through video games, but a lack of direct dialogue and interchange between game designers and architectural designers. Many of the spatial techniques of video games, although difficult to directly translate to physical spaces (portals, for instance), still have unexplored implications in the physical realm. Thus, despite the video game’s clear potential as a landscape for testing new and different architectural spatiality, the two media are still disjointed. Even the book Space Time Play which attempts to compile an index of different architectural uses of games primarily does so by describing different gaming software and processes which could be used in the architectural design process.14 The book could have potentially speculated upon architecture which might utilize game space but instead remains relatively conservative in its pursuits.
The lack of physical testing of these spatial techniques can be attributed to game design’s inherently fast progress and ease of accessibility. Video game design is still in its infancy as a media, but has made radical leaps in representation, space-making and other fields in this time (for example, early games such as article 1 were two-dimensional, while more recent games such as article 10 generate game spaces that are incredibly complex spatially). Architecture, on the other hand, has been a conservative and slow process as evidenced by the continuity of types of spaces and the cyclical nature of architectural movements. Colin Rowe, in “Mathematics of the Ideal Villa,” points out this continuity of architectural spaces by comparing the logics of Corbusier’s designs to those of Palladio.15 Even modern architecture, which claimed radical change, is not so radical after all. Thus, the speed of video games as a media is critical to the media’s potential for spatial exploration. Many spatially creative video games could be produced in the same amount of time as one such architectural or physical pursuit at the building scale.
Additionally, although architecture has arguably been commodified through capitalism, it is still largely an elitist and inaccessible medium.16 Video games, although initially restricted by the lack of public access to computers have become relatively inexpensive and thus commonly owned and played. Even the creation of video games has become more accessible as some public schools and many colleges and universities are now teaching students game design and development. Nearly anyone can buy a video game, but not everyone can buy Architecture. This accessibility of video games is another benefit to testing space through video games because designers can quickly distribute games to large audiences whose reactions and preferences can be reviewed, again, allowing for rapid construction and revision of gaming architectural spaces.
The following paragraphs justify a framework which may be used to categorize game space design and game narrative structures. The intent of this framework is to allow for clearer video game comparison both within the discipline of game studies and across disciplines to architecture. Major aspects of these categorizations are drawn from different game theorists and will be cited as such. Although this exhibition pulls from multiple different game genres, types of narrative and spatial tactics, it is by no means comprehensive, but merely the beginnings of a comparative analysis.
Perhaps easier to categorize, we will begin with representations of game spaces. After games like Space Invaders (Taito, 1978) in which all gamic action occurs within one contained screen (artifact 1), we quickly see games recognize the potential of using wraparound spaces.17 This type of game space implies continuity of the screen, where characters or objects may pass from one side of the screen to the other by exiting the onscreen area (artifact 2).18 Another category develops around the same time as wraparound spaces which attempts to represent the continuity of spaces: one-axis scroll games. These games simulate movement in either the vertical or horizontal direction by scrolling the screen in that direction (artifact 3).19 Logically, the two-axis scroll game followed. This type of representation is typically still two-dimensional allowing players to view this movement from a perpendicular vantage point (artifact 4).20 While these games are classics and still enjoyed by some gamers, their flat perspective reveals limited use of the potential architectural space of video games.
In early attempts to produce three-dimensionality in video games we see multiple different approaches to representation. One type is the isometric view which draws from two-dimensional scroll tactics of two-axis screen movement but begins to represent information in the z-axis and occasionally simulate movement in this plane, although initially only very slight (artifact 5).21 Early perspective views introduced what is commonly known as the two-and-a-half-dimensional, or 2.5D game. This type of game is often somewhat perspectival but operates with a full x- and y-axis, and a compressed z-axis with limited depth (artifact 6).22
Following these early 3D spatial representations, comes the fully 3D space which allows players “full freedom of movement” both horizontally and vertically (artifacts 7, 8 and 9). Characters can now “look and shoot anywhere the game allows” and “fly or jump in the environment since the plane of movement is no longer limited to the ground.”23 These games frequently use the subjective shot, especially in first-person shooter games, but may also use a third-person perspective where the player’s character is visible during gameplay as though a camera is floating overhead of the character at a certain distance.
Before turning to narrative categorization, the concept of navigation should be defined. Mark Wolf describes navigation as “a cyclical process which involves exploration, the forming of a cognitive map of how spaces are connected, which in turn aids the decision-making processes employed by the player to move through those spaces for further exploration.”24 Movement in these navigable spaces cannot be predetermined or severely limited; thus, the categories of spatial representation defined above vary greatly in their navigational qualities. One-axis scroll games for example, are generally simple in their navigation, since movement is so restricted. Fully three-dimensional spaces tend to require more complex navigation and way-finding skills and are also an aspect that draws game design closer to architecture than to cinema.
Wolf also introduces spatial cells, an area in which a player need not navigate, to further specify the activity of navigation as occurring between these spatial cells. Boundaries between cells may be subtle or obvious, physical or abstract, and passable or impassable.25 Perhaps more interestingly, however are the concepts of reversibility and contingency. Connections between spatial cells may only be one-directional, allowing passage to a new space, but not return to the previous one.26 Contingency introduces change and “refers to whether or not a connection always connects to the same place.”27
This creates potentials for very complex navigation which breaks Euclidean rules of space by allowing two spaces to exist in the same location or allowing the creation, movement and control of spatial cell connections.28
The diegetic aspects of games are our next point of categorization. Narrative often suggests a linear “chain of events linked by cause and effect which leads to a particular outcome.”29 Linear narrative may be an essential, structuring aspect of a game where gamic actions directly progress the storyline. Game stories could also be told through a “footnoting” structure where narrative information is provided in particular locations by, for example, speaking to a certain character. This often involves piecing together a backstory from snippets of dialogue and rarely involves much player agency.30
The diegetic aspects of games are our next point of categorization. Narrative often suggests a linear “chain of events linked by cause and effect which leads to a particular outcome.”29 Linear narrative may be an essential, structuring aspect of a game where gamic actions directly progress the storyline. Game stories could also be told through a “footnoting” structure where narrative information is provided in particular locations by, for example, speaking to a certain character. This often involves piecing together a backstory from snippets of dialogue and rarely involves much player agency.30
To introduce more interactivity with the narrative, a game may offer branching storylines which have the potential to either offer various endings, the explosion plot,31 or may converge “into the same situation or set of conditions.”32 Branching may also occur when a linear storyline has short narrative plots which draw players away from the main plotline temporarily; this typology, called the cul-de-sac plot is exemplified by linear storylines with side quests to complete (see artifact 8).33 Another type of nonlinear narrative is the multiform story which “presents a single situation or plotline in multiple versions,” and are typically re-playable.34 Lastly, parallel plots are those which tell more than one linear story at a time as separated by either time or space.35
As Henry Jenkins states, even though “some games, tell stories, they are unlikely to tell them in the same way that other media tell stories.”36 Thus, he proposes the idea of spatial storytelling which is unique to video games and “privilege[s] spatial exploration…held together by broadly defined goals and conflicts and pushed forward by the character’s movement across the map.”37 Narrative can in this model be “tightly integrated into the overall plot trajectory” or with spatial storytelling be episodic where events can be “compelling on its own terms without contributing significantly to the plot development.”38 The key term drawn from “Game Design as Narrative Architecture” embedded narratives, where narrative information is gained by traversing diegetic space. The distribution of this information controls when a player learns this narrative and how much they learn at each moment.
CITATIONS
1: Archizoom Associates. "No-Stop City: Residential Parkings Climatic Universal System." Domus, no. 496 (March 1971): 49-55. doi:10.2307/4047400.
Armstrong, Matthew, Ruben Cabrera, and Jeramy Cooke. Super Mario Bros. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Gearbox Software. 2009. Game.
Atari and Midway Games. Ms. Pac-Man. Arcade game. 1981.
Brevik, David, Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, Stieg Hedlund, and Eric Sexton. Diablo II. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Blizzard North, 2000. Game.
4: Certeau, Michel De. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23: Dariusz Jacob Boron. "A Short History of Digital Gamespace." In Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism, edited by Friedrich Von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, and Matthias Böttger, 26-31. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, 2007.
16: Eversole, Gary. "Never Trust a Situationist." Lecture, Slocum Hall, Syracuse, April 10, 2017.
6, 7, 8, 9: Galloway, Alexander R. Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
Gard, Tobi, Nathan McCree, and Paul Dauglas. Tomb Raider. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Core Design. 1996. Game.
11, 12, 36, 37, 38: Jenkins, Henry. "Game Design as Narrative Architecture." In Game Design Reader: a Rules of Play Anthology, edited by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, 670-89. MIT Press, 2006.
31, 33, 35: McMahan, Alison. "The effect of multiform narrative on subjectivity." Screen 40, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 146-57. doi:10.1093/screen/40.2.146.
Miyamoto, Shigeru, Koji Kondo, Takashi Tezuka, and Hiroshi Yamauchi. Super Mario Bros. Nintendo 3Ds. Developed by Nintendo. 1985. Game.
5: Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck. New York City: MIT Press, 1997.
Nishkado, Tomohiro. Space Invaders. Arcade game. Developed by Taito. 1978.
13: Nitsche, Michael. "Mapping Time in Video Game Spaces." DiGRA 4 (September 2007): 145-51.
2: Psarra, Sophia. Architecture and Narrative: the Formation of Space and Cultural Meaning. Abingdon: Routledge, 2009.
Riach, Kevin and Spencer Stuard. Oxenfree. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Night School Studios. 2016. Game.
15: Rowe, Colin. "Mathematics of the Ideal Villa." Architectural Review, March 1947, 101-04. August 18, 2010. Accessed May 6, 2017.
3, 10: Salen, Katie, and Eric Zimmerman. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2010.
14: "Serious Fun: Utilizing Game Elements for Architectural Design and Urban Planning." In Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism, edited by Friedrich Von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, and Matthias Böttger, 322-409. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, 2007.
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Terry, Cavanagh. VVVVVV. Developed by Terry Cavanagh and Simon Roth. 2010. Game.
24, 25, 26, 27, 28: Wolf, Mark J. P. "Theorizing Navigable Space in Video Games." In Logic and Structure of the Computer Game, edited by Stephan Günzel, Michael Liebe, and Dieter Mersch, 18-48. Potsdam: Potsdam University Press, 2010.
29, 30, 32: Wolf, Mark Joseph Peter. The Medium of the Video Game. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2001.
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16: Eversole, Gary. "Never Trust a Situationist." Lecture, Slocum Hall, Syracuse, April 10, 2017.
6, 7, 8, 9: Galloway, Alexander R. Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
Gard, Tobi, Nathan McCree, and Paul Dauglas. Tomb Raider. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Core Design. 1996. Game.
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5: Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck. New York City: MIT Press, 1997.
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13: Nitsche, Michael. "Mapping Time in Video Game Spaces." DiGRA 4 (September 2007): 145-51.
2: Psarra, Sophia. Architecture and Narrative: the Formation of Space and Cultural Meaning. Abingdon: Routledge, 2009.
Riach, Kevin and Spencer Stuard. Oxenfree. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Night School Studios. 2016. Game.
15: Rowe, Colin. "Mathematics of the Ideal Villa." Architectural Review, March 1947, 101-04. August 18, 2010. Accessed May 6, 2017.
3, 10: Salen, Katie, and Eric Zimmerman. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2010.
14: "Serious Fun: Utilizing Game Elements for Architectural Design and Urban Planning." In Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism, edited by Friedrich Von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, and Matthias Böttger, 322-409. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, 2007.
Skyrim. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Bethesda Game Studios. 2011. Game.
Swift, Kim, Eric Wolpaw, and Chet Faliszek. Portal. Microsoft Windows. Developed by Valve Corporation. 1985. Game.
Terry, Cavanagh. VVVVVV. Developed by Terry Cavanagh and Simon Roth. 2010. Game.
24, 25, 26, 27, 28: Wolf, Mark J. P. "Theorizing Navigable Space in Video Games." In Logic and Structure of the Computer Game, edited by Stephan Günzel, Michael Liebe, and Dieter Mersch, 18-48. Potsdam: Potsdam University Press, 2010.
29, 30, 32: Wolf, Mark Joseph Peter. The Medium of the Video Game. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2001.