We often talk of stories and designing great experiences, but how does the medium we choose (book, movie, spoken-word, mobile game, etc.) influence the structure of the story. Why is it that you can predict the key points of a sitcom without knowing all the details of the plotline? Story structure in myths we've been told since before we could speak influence how we see the world and how we tell our own stories. The Transmedia Zurich meetup on June 27th, 2013 was all about how story structure can be identified and used in the design process, either as a basis for transmedia productions, or in smaller projects. Mark (Lost In Reality / idezo) gave an overview of basic story strucutre, and how it is applied to different media. Included are references to the work by Joseph Campbell (The Hero with a Thousand Faces) and how choosing a narrative can be used to target the emotional design of a product (film, game, book, etc.).

1. Transmedia Zurich
June 27th 2013
Colab Zurich
Mark Melnykowycz
Narrative and Story Structure
in Games and Media
1

2. Story
Narrative
• Story, a recounting of a sequence of events*
• An account of imaginary or real people and events told for
entertainment: "an adventure story"**
• A narrative (or story) is any account that presents
connected events***
• A spoken or written account of connected events; a story:
"a bare narrative of the details"**
*Wikipedia
**Google dictionary
***Oxford English Dictionary (online)
2

3. Horrible Definitions
Those were...
...what about humans, empathy and emotions?
3

4. Society
Emotions
Knowledge
Story
4

5. Shared emotions help form the fabric
of society
...storytelling is a vehicle used to combine
emotions and information
...and communicate those feelings and information in a
structure which gives us comfort or instills feelings of fear,
optimism, etc.
5

6. Emotions
Memories
Connections
Structure
6

7. Storytelling gives emotional
context to our linear lives
7

8. Birth Death
Physical time is
linear
Emotional memory
is non-linear
8

9. Story
Connect current events to good feelings from the past
Play out emotions we can’t explore in reality
Hope in the future and our confidence to meet challenges
9

10. Die Hard
...makes me feel good about my chances of surviving a
dramatic terrorist attack
...statistically it will probably never happen, but I’m sort of
mentally prepared if it does
10

11. How are Communication
Patterns Evolving?
11

12. Trends
M2M
Devices
Device
Fragmentation
Evolving
Communication
12

13. Evolution of Communication
Face to Face
Web
Static HTML
Blogging (active HTML)
Instant Messaging
Email
Social Networks
Location ServicesWriting
Printing
Copier
Telephone
MobileSMS
MMS
Fragmented
Lines
Push/Pull
Transmedia
13

14. Story Structure
What is traditional story structure?
Does it conflict with our fragmented communication
patterns?
14

15. Many different models of story structure for different media
15

16. The Basics
16

17. Hero Villain Conflict
17

18. ResolutionTransformationChallenge
Over-coming extreme odds...to succeed in the
end
18

19. http://www.musik-therapie.at/PederHill/Structure&Plot.htm http://wandertones.deviantart.com/art/Standard-Story-Structure-178276496
Linear Story Structure
Rising drama to an apex with essential plot points
19

20. Joseph Campbell
“Campbell explores the
theory that important
myths from around the
world which have survived
for thousands of years all
share a fundamental
structure, which Campbell
called the monomyth.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces
20

21. THE HERO IS INTRODUCED IN HIS ORDINARY WORLD
THE CALL TO ADVENTURE
THE HERO IS RELUCTANT AT FIRST
THE HERO IS ENCOURAGED BY THE WISE OLD MAN OR WOMAN
THE HERO PASSES THE FIRST THRESHOLD
THE HERO ENCOUNTERS TESTS AND HELPERS
THE HERO REACHES THE INNERMOST CAVE
THE HERO ENDURES THE SUPREME ORDEAL
THE HERO SIEZES THE SWORD
THE ROAD BACK
RESURRECTION
RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR
The Hero’s Journey
http://www.cs.uu.nl/docs/vakken/b2go/docs/hero_journey.pdf
21

22. 22

23. Why is the Hero’s Journey
structure so popular in movies
and media?
Fairy Tales, myths
Star Wars,The Matrix,
etc.
Do we like it because
we expect it and are
conditioned for it?
Is it inherent in our
minds and DNA?
Does it hold us back in
life? Must we be chosen
to do great things by
someone else?
23

24. Games and Story
24

25. Games
Confront a challenge
Understand your
progress
Play
Interactive with the
world
Interact with other
players
Actions have
consequences
Conquer small quests
25

26. MetalStorm
26

27. G.I. Joe storyline
I love playing MetalStorm because I
saw Top Gun and played After Burner
a few times in the 80‘s and liked G.I.
Joe.
Live out the emotions of a fighter
pilot risk free
MetalStorm
27

28. http://www.slideshare.net/gbanga/transmedia-and-mixedreality-gaming
28

29. ThankYou Colab Zurich
for hosting!
29

30. Mark Melnykowycz
@americanpeyote
idezo.ch
Lostinreality.net
30