CALLUM COLLINS:
Exegesis Working Doc
GAME AND SOUND DESIGNER
positioning myself as a design researcher
As a game designer, the primary focus is always the player. Understanding how the player interacts and engages with the medium is the primary focus of this research; More specifically, how the player engages with narrative elements and how they respond emotionally. Games as a design medium are not a passive experience, like that of film or animation; the player can influence the story and engage with as much or as little as they desire. Therefore, players engage with different narrative elements but ultimately should have a universal emotional response to the narrative as a whole.
​
Rapid Prototyping Workflow, From: LinkedIn.com
Creating games requires the use of a game engine. This research will focus on the Unity game engine as the engine is well suited to rapid prototyping, the critical method that will apply to this practice. Rapid prototyping generates multiple different results quickly, allowing for the development of stand-out concepts; this helps narrow down a broad concept; such as “Narrative” or “Emotion,” and allows for experimentation and implementation of other media types such as sound design. This rapid prototyping will focus this research on simply looking at the relationship between narrative and emotion and instead look at more specific narrative elements and emotions such as level design and tension.
Diagram of how different types of "fun" correspond to different emotions. From: http://xeodesign.com/assets/images/4k2f
The ideal outcome for this research is to design interactive narrative elements to elicit an emotional response, further engaging the player in the game.
Aims Planning
Keywords
Game Design
Interactive Narrative
Emotional Response
Player Engagement
Narrative Play
Psychoacoustics
My Aim
How can I design a narrative in a game to get an emotional response from the player?
MEthod Statement
The main method I use for my practice is experimentation, more specifically, experimental game design; where the goal is to create prototypes to address specific questions or areas of inquiry. It allows me to break down my research aims into small prototypes which I can iterate and reflect on. The goal is to not create a finished prototype but to continue developing the prototype until it furthers my understanding of the area in question. The other method I use is contextualization which is the basis for the experimental designs; before prototyping, I explore the idea with a historical context, finding previous works that will influence my experimentation. As the prototypes are developed, I can reflect back on the original influences to compare my results to the original inspiration.
My Aim Updated
How can I use sound design and interactive narrative in a game to emotionally engage the player?
My Aims
Learn:
Gain or acquire knowledge of or skill by study, experience or being taught.
Discover:
Find unexpectedly or during a search.
Revealed:
Make (previously unknown information) known to others.
Aim 1:
I aim to investigate how interactive narrative affects the player's emotional engagement.
What do you hope to learn?
I aim to learn how to design narrative in such a way that the player is emotionally engaged with my game using different game design elements.
What do you hope to discover?
I hope to discover a link between game elements and narrative that can be replicated to produce emotional responses in players.
What will be revealed?
I hope to reveal the importance of narrative design and how small changes in game design elements can produce a more emotional narrative.
How will this research impact other people?
It is my hope that other game practitioners will be able to take this information and make design choices that consider narrative as the critical focus for their games.
Aim 2:
I aim to investigate the relationship between interactive narrative and sound design in video games.
What do you hope to learn?
I am to learn how I can use sound elements such as sound effects, music and psychoacoustics in games to strengthen the emotional engagement of the player.
What do you hope to discover?
I hope to discover the effect sound design has on players and how sound design can affect the narrative of a game.
What will be revealed?
I hope to reveal how the same techniques for designing narrative with game elements, such as level design, can be applied to sound design.
How will this research impact other people?
I hope that my research will help me and other designers consider the effects of sound design in their games as a narrative device instead of just another game design feature.
Aim 3:
I am to use sound design, as a game design element, to create a narrative.
What do you hope to learn?
I hope to expand on my current sound design skills and improve how I use sound within the context of games and narrative.
What do you hope to discover?
I hope to discover how sound, on its own, can be used as a narrative device.
What will be revealed?
I hope to reveal the importance of sound design when designing interactive narrative.
How will this research impact other people?
I hope that my research will show that games do not need every element to produce narrative and can rely on a singular element, in this case sound, to create the narrative.
Draft Research Plan
Formative Assessment
Peer Feedback and Revised Formative
Paradigms
Paradigms are the summary of methodology, epistemology, and ontology. - Visualizing Research
Draft Paradigms:
Narrative Aim Paradigm:
I aim to design an interactive narrative
I believe players play games to experience narrative.
Many game designers don't consider narrative design and see narrative as a by-product of the design process.
Games need good narratives for the player to enjoy and engage with them.
World
Personal
Practice
I aim to use sound as a narrative device in a game
When I listen to music or soundscapes, I imagine the spaces and stories of these sounds.
Music in film is used to communicate plot and emotion in a linear way.
Music in Games is more about keeping the player engaged.
Musical notes in sequences can be thought of as events or characters in a story
In game design, sound can be overlooked. When a game is designed with sound in mind, the narrative is more emotional and immersive
World
Personal
Practice
Narrative Aim Paradigm:
I aim to engage the player emotionally, using sound and narrative
Growing up with games, I've always enjoyed the ones that challenge me mentally to think about my choices and those that tell stories in ways other than text.
​
Emotional engineering is a critical part of game design, it involves predicting how a choice or event will impact the player emotionally, and balancing that against the players "Fun". The game shouldn't be too boring or too intense.
Good games always strive to create meaningful choices for the player, but the scope of these choices tends to create problems. Games usually opt for the illusion of choice rather than real choice.
World
Personal
Practice
Emotional Engineering:
Research Methods
I aim to use sound and level design as a narrative device in a game
Aim:
Keywords:
"Sound Design"
Narrative
"Game Design"
"Level Design"
How will this aim be achieved through practice?
I will start by researching similar games that use sound to drive the player through the level. After collecting some references, I will begin prototyping by grey boxing levels in unity and applying the knowledge of rhythm groups I gained from "Launchpad" (2011) by Gillian Smith. Grey boxing is a fast way to iterate on the game level. Changes can be made without having to redesign artwork or lighting/effects. I will then use try to match the rhythm group of the level design to the sound design of the level, using audio to tell the player how to progress through the level. Some examples of this are;
​
Telling the player how high or far to jump.
Where to or not to jump.
Where the exit of the level is.
​
I will then evaluate the design of the level with playtesting, which is an important tool for seeing how other people interact with a game in order for the designer to make changes in response to things like;
​
Players not knowing where to go/getting lost.
Players finding the level easier/harder than the designer intended.
What existing worldview or existing framework situates this aim?
Gillian Smith describes Rhythm Groups in level design as; "a notion of rhythm and the timing and repetition of distinct user actions. Players strive to navigate complicated playfields full of obstacles and collectible items."
​
Fredrick Maus talks about the relationship between musical notes and narrative stating that; "Instrumental music consists of a series of events, and the easiest anthropomorphism is to treat those events as behavior, as actions."
​
There is a clear relationship between these two ideas; that the rhythm of the level design could be thought of as the notes in a sequence, and that the sounds of these notes can act as characters or events in a story. This is the inspiration for the prototype described above in the method section.
Aim:
I aim to communicate the relationship between sound and level design to the player
Keywords:
"Sound Design"
Narrative
"Game Design"
"Level Design"
How will this aim be achieved through practice?
This will take a lot of prototyping to achieve. My initial hunch is that I can use grey-boxing, which is a technique used to rapidly iterate on level design, to design the sound for my game. It's my hunch that developing the sound alongside level design instead of letting either the sound or the level design dictate the development of the other, will create a more polished and thoughtful level that will clearly communicate the relationship between sound and level design.
​
When grey-boxing, the level designer uses temporary assets (grey boxes) to develop the level for playtesting. I believe I can do something similar with sound, using temporary sound effects to iterate on the sound design quickly using playtesting. The only drawback of using temporary sounds is the possibility of creating a soundtrack that is generic or uninspiring. This happens in films where the sound design is left to the final stages of production and a temporary soundtrack has been using to develop the visuals; when the visual elements are completed, the temporary sounds become permanent and the new track being composed has to be very similar to fit the film.
What existing worldview or existing framework situates this aim?
Denis, Zlobin. "Ludic and Narrative sound in games." UX Collective 2021. https://uxdesign.cc/ludic-and-narrative-sound-in-games-3fc52dbbfee1
​​
If I want to use sound design to direct the player through the level and communicate the relationship to the player, I will need to understand the uses of sound from a ludo-logical perspective and from a narrative perspective. Both sounds can exist in unison, however, there needs to be a clear distinction between the two.
Steve, Johnson. "The Sound Design of Journey." Gamasutra 2012.
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/179039/the_sound_design_of_journey.php?print=1
​
This text summarises one of my case studies and references other games and authors who have used similar techniques to communicate the narrative and level design to the player effectively. The sound in the game works with the level design in response to the games pacing and narrative structure.
Method Statement
The goal of this research is to create a series of prototypes that can be used as a toolkit for other game designers to use and reflect on when using sound for narrative focussed games. This research will use experimentation and contextualization to elicit the relationship between sound and narrative design to the player, resulting in a deeper, emotionally engagement. I will use the existing techniques of emotional engineering in game design and apply them to the sound design process to achieve this goal. The series of prototypes will be created in the Unity game engine and will focus primarily on the 2D platformer genre where grey-boxing and rhythm groups are critical in the iteration and ideation process.
Methods of documentation
My main form of documentation has always been text focussed, usually using blog posts as a way to reflect on what I have made and how I made it. Before I begin making, I usually create a GDD (Game Design Document) which helps me stay focussed on what I am trying to achieve with a particular project. I will also use mood boards in a similar way but for the art direction. For this exercise, I experimented with mapping techniques, something I have struggled to use previously, to ideate and concept the ideas surrounding a particular technique or aim of my research.
Methods: How to Write them
Name the method:
To achieve the aims of this project, I will be using level design.
Define:
Level design is the process of designing a game level that accounts for the core mechanics, game tone/mood and rhythm of play.
Where/When:
All games use level design, even those that are procedurally generated have a set of rules imposed by the designer to ensure the outcome of the generation is what the designer has planned, however, the approach that the designer may take to create a level will differ between games.
How:
The level designer has many tools that they can use to ideate and iterate; many of these tools are similar to the tools most design discipline will employ. These include:
Contextualization: "A level designer may want to understand how their level geometry teaches the use of new tools, so they decide to play a game that features this sort of construction, like Super Metroid." (Petri Lankoski. 2017)
Sketching
Paper Prototyping
Grey-Boxing
Playtesting
​
Advantages:
The advantages of level design are impressive. Without well thought out levels that engage the player with the core mechanics/themes of the game, the game will become boring.
Disadvantages:
The level design process is incredibly long. The pipeline is based around the use of playtesting and player feedback to slowly iterate and refine a level until both designer and player enjoy the level. This usually requires that multiple people playtest the level as the designer may be able to complete a level with relative ease after prototyping and designing it themselves; good level design playtesting requires the input/feedback of players who are not familiar with the design process.
Ethics:
As stated above the level design process requires the use of playtesting and the way a designer plays their own game will be different from the way someone outside of the design process plays the game.
Sources:
Petri Lankiski. Staffan Bjork. "Game Research Methods" ETC Press. 2015
Petri Lankiski. Jussi Holopainen. "Game Design Research". ETC Press. 2017
Week 8 Review
Working Title:
Sonic, not the Hedgehog: The Sound of Narrative in Games
Updated Keywords:
"Narrative Design"
"Emotional Engineering"
Sonic
Storytelling
"Game Flow"
Updated Research Question:
If games tell stories through visuals and interactive gameplay, how can I design a game using ludic and narrative sounds, in unison with the core gameplay, to emotionally engage the player in the tone/mood of a game?
Draft Paradigm:
The games that I engage with and enjoy the most are those that tell dynamic and captivating stories with vast amounts of text. It's refreshing to play games that convey narrative without the use of words and so that is where this research will be based.
​
[This needs to be formalized]
Ethics Statement:
This research project will not need ethics approval as there will be no people or animals involved in the research.
Method Statements:
Pre-Conceptualization
Pre-conceptualization is the process of recording the pre-production stage of the game design pipeline. It is focused on the recording of concepts such as case studies and mechanics, which are then implemented and tested in a prototype. The prototype is then evaluated and reflected on before moving to the production stage of the pipeline. Pre-Conceptualization uses various tools in an iterative cycle, usually following the order of; concept mapping, prototyping, playtesting and then evaluating/reflecting. The benefits of using pre-conceptualization are the refinement and development of an original idea. Using this method, a designer can record their decisions and reflect on their work multiple times, refining the prototype and experimenting with new ideas as they are generated through making. The main disadvantage of pre-conceptualization is the experimental nature of the making. While it excels at generating new ideas through making procedures, the designer can stray from the original idea without clear documentation or reflection, making the expected result unpredictable.
Evaluation/Critical Reflection
Evaluation of Critical Reflection is an important part of any design practice. In game design, this method is applied throughout the iterative design cycle; however, it is more effective at certain stages of the pipeline. In this research, the reflection will be applied as a method after the pre-production stage of development, evaluating the effectiveness of each prototype generated using the above pre-conceptualization method. A series of questions are usually used to judge 'effectiveness'. These questions are recorded, and answers generated through playtesting.
Updated Methods:
The methods above will not work for this research project. They are cumbersome methods that will not be effective in achieving the aims of my research. The reason for this is the amount of documentation I will need to produce after every design decision, while good practice and helpful, will take up too much time.
​
I decided to break this method down into a small iterative cycle and use each part as a method:
Concept
Prototype
evaluate
Iterative Design Methodology:
Conception:
This research will rely on conception for generating and documenting new ideas during the iterative design process. Conception uses mapping, sketching, and writing as tools for ideating potential game mechanics, art direction, and considering potential case studies. In this research, conception will feature before prototyping to form a game design document as a reference during production. Conceptualisation will then be implemented again after evaluation of the prototype to iterate on the realised mechanics of the prototype. Concepting ideas before prototyping them refines the ideas and allows the designer to think through the writing or drawing process, generating new ideas which generates new potential case studies. This process requires time to document and can easily be missed during intensive design cycles. It can also result in more experimental and unpredictable outcomes as the original idea can be lost through several cycles of reflection and ideation.
Prototyping:
Prototyping is the next step in the iterative design process. It involves taking the ideation from conception and realising it as a prototype. The goal is to have as many of the mechanics from ideation implemented, ready for evaluation in the next stage of the design cycle. This prototype will undergo many iterations as it is evaluated and new ideas are generated. Therefore, the initial prototype will be a simple draft with little refinement. While prototyping, playtesting is employed to evaluate small elements of the design. This is different from the method of critical reflection as this playtesting and reflection is rapid and in response to questions such as; can the player make this jump? These reflections do not require documentation. This is the most technical part of the design process and, as such, can result in failure. Depending on the results of the evaluation, the prototype will either continue through the cycle of iteration and refinement, or it can be scrapped. Scrapping of a prototype is still beneficial, sometimes more so than a successful prototype, as they fail early and don't make it to development. When a successful prototype fails in development, it is much more time consuming to fix.
Evaluation:
Critical Reflection or evaluation is a method that is employed and the end of the iterative design cycle; the results of which determine if the prototype needs more refinement (return to conception), if it needs to be scrapped (the prototype was a failure), or if the prototype is successful it moves to the production stage of the cycle.
Updated Aims:
I aim to define ludic and narrative sounds and assess the effectiveness of these sounds in communicating information and emotion to the player.
I aim to define what interactive narrative means within this research and discover how I can design narrative.