Using Mechanics For Storytelling

I talk about using game mechanics to support and reinforce the stories you are telling in your games.

Videos I reference:

[Nastara]

I'll never forget the back of the box of Uncharted 1

"Just a normal dude"
Kills 1, 000 people for treasure

[trashcompactorYT]

I usually use them to fix my car but this seems way more creative

[PledgeBass]

Doubt you will see this, but me and my friend have been making games on and off together for most of our lives, starting when we were about 12 or 13. Recently, (we're 26 & 27 years old now) we've taken it a bit more seriously and are pursuing some indie dev, trying to actually make a successful game and hopefully support ourselves off of game development.

We've always bonded over our love of the fallout universe - I found your videos about a year ago and since then me and him have been studying them like it's the game dev bible. We're both self-taught - It's easy to teach yourself technical skills, but the information you share on this channel is stuff that I've never been able to find a good source for.

Any time we run into an issue that we can't land on a confident solution for, we check to see if you have a video covering something around the topic - And you almost always do. Just wanted to let you know how big of an impact you've had on him and I! And that your channel is, by far, the most underappreciate resource for game developers.

You've already had such a massive impact on the game industry from your dev work alone - But I think this channel will be looked back on as the start of something new, and the source of a lot of self-taught game-devs' knowledge and influence.

Thanks for all the content, hope you're doing well!

[nichan]

I like how Tim doesn't push other interviews he's doing that aren't relevant to the channel.
Not promoting 'his brand' or anything, just talking about game design.

[willr]

My favorite common example of ludonarrative dissonance is when an NPC tells you horror stories about mobs you’ve been killing thoughtlessly for hours. Genuinely love it.

[backup]

This is why for better or worse I still appreciate the Reputation mechanics in New Vegas. They weren't perfect, but when they made sense it really tied the role playing experience together very well and made the experience that much more immersive.

[DemienC.]

Once in Temple of Elemental Evil had surprising experience:
In local bar there was drinking contest. I presumed it's Constitution check. So I chose my Paladin for that.
After that contest my Paladin became Fallen Paladin (for breaking his oath)
I was shocked: "...Wait. ...They programmed that mechanics too?"😶

[liaminwales]

I can think of games where I am told to brake in to a building, I find a super sneaky way in by going next door and jumping around in to a window. Then I find the missions wont work, you have to go via the front door or nothing happens. That's the kind of thing that relay bugs me, after it happens once you know there's no point looking for options.
Also any game where the story says your 'kind' & in gameplay your kill count is massive, at times your doing more damage than the 'bad guy'.

[adz]

This reminds me of something Harvey Smith said in a lecture with Warren Spector. Deus Ex had a swimming skill in addition to biomods and items that allowed you to be “the swimming guy, ” and Invisible War had just one upgrade that consolidated all of those things. The gameplay was the same, and from a mechanical perspective this was an improvement, because it’s simpler and easier to understand. But it didn’t allow players to create their own fantasy about the character they were playing. You couldn’t plan out what skills to upgrade and which biomods to install anymore, since it’s now a matter of using just one single upgrade.

[proydoha]

I'm going to spoil the ending of Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas in this comment but its ending for me is one of the most beautiful applications of game mechanics supporting the story.

The plot boils down to you trying to get into casino vault that is full of gold bars.

But once you reach the vault events unfolding in the vault will force you to leave and you'll have only a minute to do so. The best part of this all is that you can only make it in time if you're not over encumbered. But the gold is very heavy. If you'll grab all gold bars from the vault you will simply never make it to the exit in time. It was beautiful moment of gameplay mechanics supporting narrative. When the end cutscene of the DLC hit me with "Finding it was not the hard part. It's letting go" I almost cried.

Very memorable, I will never forget that ending.

[ethai]

I love when games do this and more should. I think that's the actual power of storytelling in video games.

I'm glad you mentioned Bioshock because not only it's one of my favorite games but I think it's actually a great example of using gameplay for the story. The whole "Would You Kindly" part directly connects to actual gameplay itself and it works perfectly.

[jameswbii]

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was an excellent example of mechanics directly supporting the storytelling.

[archaeologistify]

What I always found useful and I've been doing it since I remember - in my D&D campaigns, I make the world interact with it self. People farm, gather stuff, transport it, trade, there are caravans organisations and as I'm working on a system in a next city, story starts forming around the mechanics and it's extremely satisfying when we play the story thats grounded in the world mechanics rather than having an isolated dungeon somewhere.

[itsfela]

I've been really thinking about this and about the fantasy we make on our mind about what the game would look, battling against starting a game with a genre or a camera perspective in my head.
For example, if we think to tell the story of a journalist, maybe really makes no sense to start with a template of space, to spend most of your time traversing a three-dimensional map to get to perform the fantasy of uncovering a plot. The idea of the epic climax falls short when you don't make up to moment-to-moment gameplay.
Maybe we try by default to gimmick Earth's many fronts. When we break down the fantasy of the game we make in our minds into steps, the resistance of the emotion we're trying to capture is revealed by what you do in those steps that make up that epic sample of space-time we imagine of the game. They should be consistent with your story, too.
It's always a joy to have your perspective, Tim. Thanks, as always.

[rsotuyo]

The prime example I always say when talking about this is "Papers, Please", its truly brilliant.

[Nlwalker]

lol I don't know if you read these, but I just finished Outer Worlds. I knew you worked on it but didn't know you directed it. Anyway, I loved it. I think it's top 5 for me. The marketing really did you guys a disservice. I've played it twice, and this time, I loved it. I can only contribute that to the marketing and my mindset. Idk I was a different person when that game came out

[colbymclemore]

I love love love the idea of how you approached wanting a party to have alignments that make sense, I feel that is something I can use in writing myself! Thanks Tim!

[VonDoogles]

One of my favorite examples of story and mechanics supporting each other is the ghost king coming out of the player's back to provide the second block in Shadow of Mordor.

[catiperere]

The color pallet is a real one for sure! I remember playing FO4 and feeling that the world was "too alive" and freshy looking for my tastes. I love the amber New Vegas, the arid, barren, unrelenting nature of a desert, painted all over the map. And then there's the impact of going to The Strip the first time, the colorful, bright and well kept nature of the place TOLD you that they were more powerful and wealthy than most.
FO4 everything is everywhere, so I don't feel as much of that contrast. The harsh environment wasn't there you know?
When I saw the video where Tim tells the story behind the blue vault jumpsuit, it all clicked together. So yeah, color choice is something that can steer playerbases!

[mcashed]

Not only were the little sisters really nice to you when you sparred them in Bioshock, but they also left gifts and extra stuff for you to find through out the levels. My impression has always been that you get more by saving them.