Curiosity
They say that curiosity kills cats. However, it can also make great stories.
There’s an Easter tradition in the part of Poland where I live, where we pretend that the easter bunny (who is actually a hare here) hides small gifts—sweets, toys, books, etc.—in the garden for the children to find. And, if the hare feels so inclined, there may also be some gifts for the grown-ups. I found a very nice flavoured tea.
The gifts are part of the appeal, but another part, perhaps bigger, is the curiosity that drives the search. Where could the hare hide the gifts? Could it be behind this bush? What is in the watering can? Do I see a splash of color in the grass?
Following my curiosity, I walk deeper into the garden and let the story unfurl.
Journey
One of the most classic and acclaimed indie games, Journey, builds its whole storytelling on this sense of wonder and curiosity. With a minimalistic art style and flawless level and world design, it lures the players into a journey both physical and metaphorical.
During the journey, I felt (as a player) that I was just following my curiosity, and everything that followed was the result. At the same time (as a designer) I was impressed, how firmly and delicately the game made sure that I went the way the best experience awaited me.
Apart from the traversal, there’s a deeper layer of learning about the world, interpreting the discoveries, and asking the whats and the whys.
There’s symbolism and poetry, and those are left for us to find and experience.
If you’re interested in how Journey uses curiosity in its design, here's a good place to start.
Asking Questions
When we look at our working definition, that a story is the protagonist struggling with challenges to reach their goal, we can leverage every part of this definition to make our narrative more engaging.
In video games, where the player doubles for the protagonist, and agency is a crucial part of the experience, we can let the players set their own goals. But how to ensure that such a goal leads to a compelling story?
One way to do it is to set up a compelling mystery.
Mysteries
What is a mystery in the context of a story? The obvious part of the answer is that a mystery is something that the protagonist doesn’t know and wants to discover.
The less obvious part is that a mystery must be set up. The player must know that they don’t have full information, that something is amiss. Without knowing that we don’t know, there’s no curiosity, no drive to learn more, and so there’s no story.
A good mystery starts with a… well… mystery. Something that sparks our curiosity and suggests there’s more to the situation than we expected. We get intrigued and start asking questions: what’s going on? What’s that thing up there? What/who was it?
From a narrative designer’s perspective, the main dramatic question of the story becomes: Will the protagonist learn the truth?
Game Maker’s Toolkit has a nice video about using mystery in game design.
A sidenote: There are moments when the protagonist doesn’t know they don’t know, and the moment they learn they didn’t know is used for dramatic effect, but that’s surprise, a different beast altogether.
Search for Knowledge
In well-designed curiosity-based stories, we ask ourselves questions, and pretty soon get some answers.
But the answers only lead to new, more interesting questions. Our progress in the game and the story is our deepening/widening understanding of what’s happening. And, frankly, from a practical perspective, that’s all the story.
We set up a mystery, let the players ask questions, and find answers leading to more questions. When all the questions are answered and the last piece of the puzzle falls into place, the story ends.
In this short video, Jonathan Blow explains how The Witness ended up without a “story”. In other words–why the only story in The Witness is the one about understanding the world.
Curiosity-Based Narratives
I have my personal favourite when it comes to curiosity-based game narratives. I’m talking about Outer Wilds, a game about cute aliens exploring their solar system in makeshift, wooden spacecraft.
What makes the game stand out is that it merges an unparalleled freedom of exploration with a very defined story that you learn while playing.
If you haven’t already, go and play Outer Wilds, and then watch these two videos: about designing gameplay and story focused on curiosity.
This talk is focused more on system and level design.
This talk focuses more on the narrative side of the design.
Thank you for reading, and till the next time.