Storytelling has been around for quite a long time. It first started off as people pointing in directions and howling and even acting out behaviours mimicking animals and basically what they saw is what they tried to show others that did not see the same things, not making much sense. So later on prehistoric people learned to draw on things, stories became popular and even educational. Although it was mainly used as warnings to protect things and areas it was also used to have fun and entertain each other.

Forms of traditional storytelling

Cave PaintingsThis is one of the oldest and first forms of storytelling as it was based on images and objects drawn on cave walls. Since there was no knowledge of letters and sentences, the people used objects to describe things instead of writing. Usually the images on the walls depicted previous events that happened in their lives and to educate others with their experience. That is how warnings were born so that they can teach each other of what is harmful and what isn’t.

Word of MouthAfter discovering that drawings are quite effective, groups often used to gather and communicate with gestures and through words, music and even re-enactments of events. As humanity evolved the ability to tell stories became better and better as stories changed over the generations as stories were edited and people added to it so it would be more exciting to tell others which later on became to be known as great myths and legends.

Literacy of Entertainment and HistoryEventually the art of storytelling has advanced further to stories actually being recorded in books and scrolls. Children's fable stories and other fantasy stories were also made along with many historical events that are still somewhat intact to the present day that can be both educational and entertaining. Modern technology allows stories to be told in many ways. As it first revolutionised storytelling by entertaining masses with Television and Radio and later followed by an amazing invention, the internet. This enables people all over the world to hear about stories and news of all types, versions and even style of storytelling with all the different categories of story available with adventure being the most common motive of a story. Games are the latest form of storytelling as it enables people to be able to interact with the story via physical controls. There are different types of stories in games that serve multiple purposes. For example detective games require the player to solve puzzles and progress only through succeeding of completing a task. Portal is an action adventure puzzle game that challenges players to solve difficult perspective puzzles along with quick reaction events. The story drives the person to survive the given challenges to continue further, sometimes even timed situations are required to solve puzzles.

Genres of StoriesGames are the modern era of entertainment and it comes in many types and styles. There is a large variety of genres to choose from, some of which it already have existed in the film industry such as action, adventure, romance and mystery. There are genres that simply could not work on film such as first and third person shooters, puzzle games and role playing games. The genre of a game heavily relies on the story as to how it is told. Some genres do not require a story at all but on the other hand some games have very little gameplay and its mostly a movie. For example simulation games such as Euro Truck 2 do not have a story since it is not what it was designed for and it serves the purpose of simulating a truck driver’s role in transporting goods but on the other hand an adventure/horror game such as The Walking Dead is entirely based on the story and the only gameplay there is just point and click and choosing dialogues. Every genre has its own specialty of storytelling and a way of enabling the player to interact.

Approaches to interactive storytellingStories are mainly composed of a beginning(Disturbance), middle (Struggle) and end(Resolution). The beginning of a game is usually the disturbance where the story kicks off for the player to solve and, it is used to set up the main story. This is where the character and the relevant NPCs get introduced and their relationship if they have any together. As the player progresses in the story middle often a plot twist occurs where certain aspects change and will keep the player interested to continue playing. After the plot twist the main character will struggle around the idea of solving the issues that have occurred. The middle part of the game is all about the journey the player makes to reach a goal. Whether it is to get a teenage girl that is immune to zombie bites to an army research facility or to pull off a heist with 3 of your characters to become ultimately rich, the story can vary depending on the genre. As the struggle to succeed does continue whether in a scripted or free style manor, it is very likely that the protagonist will only reach the end to the problem once a resolution is found. At the end is where the resolution is made thus achieving the goals and the story will either be finished or left on a cliffhanger possibly for a sequel... Just like the Half life series.

Character developmentThe character is a very important part in a story as it all wraps around the protagonist aka the main character in that world. Stereotypes are commonly used in characterization so that the player becomes more attached and involved with the protagonist of the story. The story reveals the character’s history as the player progresses.

Writing strategiesGames tell stories in a different way. One of the ways is that the player directly effect the story progress of a game just like in The walking dead where the game relies on the choices the player makes which means that events will occur only if the player chooses a certain path. Backstories are usually introduced through NPCs and sometimes even items such as audio logs and writings on walls Another way to convey story progress is by adding cut scenes where necessary. These are very useful form of story telling since plot twist are mainly shown in cut scenes and that’s where the player finds out what the next objective will be after the changes that took effect on the story.

Emotional Themes and Player Empathy

ConclusionOverall storytelling has advanced to the point where people can experience historical events, explore fantasy worlds, become the ultimate survivor or just be insanely rich and have fun all thanks to stories that keep humanity entertained. Stories can be educational and also be entertaining as long as the right genre is used. The next step in storytelling is going to be Virtual reality which will take stories to the very next level of entertainment.

Emotional themes are as important in stories as characters are. This gives the characters personalities and personal preferences. Another use of emotional themes is to give reasons and motivation for the character to do something. For example in the Last of Us game the protagonist looses someone very dear to him therefore a strong fatherly emotion kicks in when he has the chance to take care of someone similar to the person he lost. Emotions such as vengeance is very common in all stories as it is a strong emotional theme that can be used to give a character motivation in a story. Although emotions can drive a character to do things not all emotions are powerful motivators. Sadness or happiness would rather define a character and therefore the player can empathize and feel more emotionally invested with what is happening with the characters. For example in Skyrim the player can have a companion that follows and does quite a lot of things for the player but once the companion is to be fatally injured or even killed the player would feel sad and possibly re-log from a previous save point just to find an alternative route to save the companion.

References

https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Storytelling.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/11_16/storyteller/pdf/gen_notes_all.pdf

References have been noted by links, those will be added later.