The vitality of visual storytelling in games

[Music] and thank you everyone for being here this is a completely different actually topic from the previous from number sleep arts and creative side of making games and what it means to actually what is the story and how a story can affect the players and and all in all sales so before ice how many creatives in the room we have and I don't mean about game art but writers any creative side excellent awesome because no no no no offense to theirs or or any other

development team publishing side marketing but we are now going to dig into the creative side and especially the story focused but yeah a bit about myself for those who don't know me I'm in the industry in Finland and abroad but currently the CEO and creative director of my tail my tail is a company that is making narrative driven mixed reality stuff so again you can pull me for sleep later and we can talk about that but now all you know we will talk about the visual storytelling so among the other things I'm also with regarding dangers I'm also teaching game design and game arts at University of Turku and this is why the topic of visual storytelling is extremely I'm very very passionate about and I work with my students very closely with this topic so

let's start when it comes to visual narrative basically there is nothing there's nothing new as a concept itself it's all this time it is always the kind of human expression when it comes to any sort of drawing any kind of like that when Homo sapiens started actually making something that was the moment when the visual storytelling came and also making from the image to story itself like the spoken story and other way around from this from the you know voice to image so now we are facing the opportunities in games because games are completely new medium of expression games are pretty much everywhere around us it's not anymore that just like being entertainment something that you sit and play I mean everything around us is gamified I mean you have your phone even your you know the regular tasks during the day are becoming so this is this is

where we live now and that is the future especially when it comes to what what we can do with games and how much effect the story has there and by story again I do not mean the walls of text I'm talking about how we can people players users depends what kind of product you're making because as mentioned games are everywhere meaning gamification is a very big thing and serious games and the whole future of learning is instant so so yeah basically when it comes to how we do it well from Wikipedia this is just like regular a explanation of what visuals yes but I said this is nothing new you know the throughout the history I mean not just history of art but but all the other disciplines of philosophy are very much into the visual that the the

visual analysis that how does the vision historical hand-in-hand I mean one of the most common examples that are closest to us when it comes to age is still let's say Church art because for those who don't well all these images frescoes in the churches would be the ones explaining like where your life will go if you're sinful and so forth but so that's kind of like we respond to images much stronger than any other senses when it comes to actually learning and adjusting and remembering because image stays in our mind so much longer than any other medium so um when it comes to games why do we play games we play games mainly to actually fulfill certain fantasy and it's it's pretty much connected to a fantasy personal fantasy yeah not talking limb case each game of course has their own fantasy world and all the world bending and whatnot but why do we

play game play games most of the cases at least that's my case especially when I was this mom is that I am avoiding reality I am avoiding being part of this world and everything else what's coming up so yeah this is our escape fulfillment that we see and want to achieve throughout the medium that is given to us and when it comes to story this is where we really get thick like the gamers the hardcore gamers are really really into because you have to very briefly go through the design process because design is going hand-in-hand of course with all the visual and and story and all other aspects because the game is all one mixture of every single what what makes the game as a result what what we want to go through as an adventure but so so the main aspect there the story is the

fantasy somewhere into do you want to be a knight or or whatever else a princess so to be saved or to save the princess either way like it's it's there for you and and you don't need again as I said wall of thing else throughout the visual ux design UI all the other stuff that you have there inside there the story itself is taking you forward throughout the game achieving your goals and so how does it work again nothing is new when it comes to this sort of like arty area so there is like books and and libraries are filled with those so and it's all free for you to go in and take the knowledge out now how do we implement that in games because for example well here we are here in London and London has one of the biggest treasures of the art worldwide so and it's all free again to see so for

example whole bandages here and this painting occurs itself can be written like three books about just like I'm not analyzing this like what's happening there when it comes to story backstory and and so forth so this is the is the discipline that is actually studying the meaning and it's based on the on the world's mostly on the language and then the same principles are adjusted or used in the individual analysis as well but I'm not gonna just say that I have only like 15 minutes so so it's really important the color there all the elements of the of the art piece itself is something that is actually creating this whole experience to you as a viewer of the painting but this is thing that happens in games because every time however no matter is it a 2d or 3d game no matter where you are turning around each time you have that one sequence you have that one sort of capture and the composition which is making itself and

telling you the story of that particular angle so we as developers have actually a lot of pressure there I don't know are you actually aware of that but these are the things color shape size stone and many other elements of that are from the regular art production as in classical arts are essential in in in designing the world and in designing how the game will go and how you're gonna lead your player through your game yes this is nothing new and the Triple A games are doing that so lots of also in the games they're doing it but not much in mobile at least not yet some of course do with the premium but free-to-play is going to a completely different direction but however this is again one of the examples how you can see like this is the why we enjoy let's say horizon zero dawn esthetics like well why team spent seven years on creating this world with such magic and

and Satori that again there is a lot of course written and spoken and whatnot but there is so much story you have in the scenery in the stuff on the on each scene every single character every single trickling on it it's it's its own characteristic and that is the the the beauty and the power we have as game developers what we can deliver forward another example I just took the most obvious example I'm sure that you are all aware of horizon zero dawn and there's ex but but as mentioned there is the like it's going hand-in-hand with with the game development like how do you actually create that world a digital expression and so when you start with the game how do you are creating the game sort of like the most like this is very simplified but it's like you imagine the game you define how it works

describe the elements and convey information clear our or forward so these are all the things that you have to have in mind what your player again player has to know where he or she is what is the goal how to get there if it's not succeeding need some more equipment or what not how to approve how to get that and and go forward so this is also visually very important to highlight communicate to your player and yeah some different challenge modes because again different genres of the games different play modes require different approaches in the visual expression like how you're going to actually cut is used to let's say RPGs or we let's say first person or third person shooter first but you not you have to because the previous games already taught the player what and how

should behave in that or you kind of want to have that user experience there so it's really to knowing what type of game you are making that is going to lead your creative direction in most of the cases because you don't want to confuse your players and your core audience of course novelty is always great so if you find the better way and I will show some really great ways how they in few games recently they really kicked ass with the UI design like oh my god but yeah so otherwise you can always place your own stuff and these are some of the elements of how to and what to use from the regular artwork sort of principles of development to the game creative side and so again always always have in mind what the receiver / player is actually having so what do I see meaning like how it goes how is the world Horgan's because you have to whatever happens on the screen you don't

want to have competition between different apps to lead the player to know that this is priority that is prayer like then I go there then I could so with animation especially this is really important to have in mind how you are going to communicate the priorities also what happens on the screen because you have mess on the screen and for those who how many of you actually have concept artists in your team or work with concept artists I knew it yeah like three hands okay the reason why concept art is really important not because I'm started by my occupation but just really important is that it's cheap as [ __ ] you would you would be the concept artist solve so many development issues because you have an artist to put all these grand ideas from all the team around but on that and put all the team members on one page that's what we do you we solve your problems and this is something that still developers don't understand and and I really recommend

warmly get some free nothing else work with concept artists because you're gonna save so much money when your things are not working well yeah if you had stuff planned out properly and showed what 3d modeler or programmers are supposed to do and how it's supposed to look and do yeah you will save us mean time but in production of concept ARS it goes a bit different from the traditional creation so when you are an artist a painter let's say so you have an idea you decide kind of which elements and use and what mediums and so on so you create a composition and then after that you know like you can change the methods and so forth you convey your message through your art and then you have a goal like what your art piece is actually there what is it what you want your viewers to experience in concept art or in a game art per se it kind of goes out the way around because the team

comes or whoever is the designer whichever what there is a goal right you kind of we want you to make you know sexy chick fighting in the tribal setup fighting robot dinosaurs yep alright so that's a goal so you have a goal you start with that goal from that you go through the what is the message why I'm doing it what how is it go so that's where the story kind of starts clicking together and then you're creating this whole composition environment and so forth using all the elements that you can from the art production as a color scheme all that atmosphere creating the world itself and then you have to think about usability like is that actually functional because again if you create something no matter how cool it is if it's not actually gonna work in that world because you have to be whatever you how crazy world it is make sure that the rules of that world stay as that you do not change the rules of the world no matter how wonky it might seem or crazy it is but if those are the rules they're

like gravity or how the characters move that's the tender visual attitude there so keep it just don't break that because then you break the fantasy if you do that to play and then at the end most efficient because can that actually run on the platform that you're targeting so can this run on the mobile or if then can it run on a ps4 VR and so forth so this is the thing like is it actually usable so you have to make sure that it's as pretty as you you know promised to your team but also can you actually use it is it cheap enough so that's the concept art super cheap super cheap considering and all of these games no matter what you're making from I mean from kind of puzzles pac-man and so to triple A's they all have stories and this is something that why I mean pac-man story is really really sad but either way this

is what we connect to this is what keeps us playing these games and and going back and one of my favorite most favorite games to talk about especially regarding semiotics with my students is Thomas was alone that's one of the games that absolutely rocked my world back in a day with this sort of like has art historian slash well academically no I completely lost my mind with an analysis this this game it was it's absolutely brilliant so who didn't if you haven't played it please do one with many reasons and once again no matter what it is and what you do stick to your world that you're building the reason why Zelda for example is so let's say Unruh n't resist that the matter of how much the the progression has been gone and changes in they're all awesome graphics all of that has been still the world is

there when you play Zelda you know what you're gonna get they were they were consist and when it comes to the world and everything that makes you love Zelda so this is why be consistent no matter what world you make no matter how ridiculous it is or you are combining different things from the actual let's say fantasy horror whatnot it's fine to combine go wild but whatever you decided that that's the world stick to it like Nier automata for example I mean seriously with those awesome boots in high heels running through the desert ain't gonna work but and they are aware of it they don't even bother with that but it's it's cool it's fine like a no player has been complaining about how real it is or is it actually work no she's awesome there in the desert in her PVC boots fine so this is the thing please do and it's okay to be weird it's fine like just again keep that weird your culture in

that game but then there are some games that I didn't really do that well my opinion like Deadly Premonition and the evil within I don't think that they were doing that they were kind of changing things and it didn't really work I mean it's okay to I mean the games at the end are fine but I think that they fade this sort of visual storytelling and consistency so I'm not saying they're bad games I'm just saying that from this side and then how it is from 2d to 3d and how for example this when I said from concept art how do you go so this is something that is really really important to understand so from concept art creating the first version of the world and then creating it into actually 3d animation this is really tricky I'm not going to go through in detail because the time is running but it's really important to have what

animation happens when in order to not confuse the player again comes first second less what is the primary secondary and so like the priorities and yeah also for especially young teams concept art can sell your stuff to publisher and everyone else so please consider having this because I just do sell so if nothing else that will show that you're really you know like working really hard on your game idea forward and here are some examples of game called clay that we are working these are very early stuff so I just wanted to show a few things regarding clay and also regarding the but that's coming next in the diversity of working with a big IP or the own item there is a lot to talk about that but I would say that when you work with third-party IP is really important to follow across all

these rules and from the IP owner that you have to flatter hand make sure that you make your rules when you are making your game because these rules are the ones that will make you not float away and completely have a [ __ ] ton of feature creeps in your game so make sure that you have your rules for your team and yes so no matter what you do once again make sure the player to know what are the priorities where I am what am i doing what challenger am I facing did my choice make an action succeed or not do I have what is neat excessively am I in danger to lose the game am i progressing or not and how to sow expectations from the previous experiences regarding various types of genres these are just some of the games is actually easier for you also because if they know what they want that's a roguelike game yeah give them that

because then you don't have to reinvent the wheel but then there is some really good like outlast I know a journey and so on is and and audio in hell-blade which is basically whole UI is audio it's amazing stuff and here is clay so from the very simple concept stuff into the game which is a roguelike RPG post post apocalypse story driven game and here is the video of it and then that will be the end of my talk this is a very early stage to which we didn't with because we don't want to show yet things but are brewing inside but the team is working really hard and looks amazing in the current stage so I'm very excited to work like fully narrative driven experience is tailored for each player

as they want it and there you can go wild if I care I can do it so can you so basically from concept to results they did this with kids and so whatever you do with your ideas make sure you go through with it ship it and as artists light is your best friend so make sure that the use all the elements in in the art production in order to get the best out of it and don't be afraid to fail failing is a big part of becoming better next time so there thank you very much [Applause] [Music] you