Christian Murphy
10/14/15
A game that used environmental storyteller extremely well was Battlefield Bad Company 2’s online multiplayer. Back before DICE and EA pulled all the environmental bullshit of BF3 and BF4… BF had fully destructable environments in the Bad Company series. This meant houses would lose walls, windows would shatter, trees would fall, and ultimately entire structures would collapse killing everybody inside.
This was immensely powerful for an online war game, because it showed the routes of battle. The game mode ‘rush’ has players defending bomb sites, while attackers went to set charges. Because the size of the map, parts of the environment would remain untouched while others would see heavy battle.
It was visceral to see how lobbing several grenades into a house would send bodies flying out, and simultaneously collapse the roof destroying the cover provided. It also added to the strategy of the game as snipers could crawl across the rubble and hide amongst the ruins using the dust to cover their advance. In the Vietnam expansion this was expanded with flamethrowers destroying jungle terrain, and ancient ruins being toppled by invading marines.
I thought this mechanic created near endless environmental stories. As you spawn into captured territories, the land is littered with rubble and destroyed gun emplacements. Even though bodies disappear for system performance, the landscape speaks to the struggles that players have overcome, the burnt out tanks, scarred roads, and ammo packs of dead soldiers.
I remember one specific time where this environmental technique was incredibly effective. We were raging an intense battle over the second last point in a map. Snipers had lined the ridge blocking any potential cover to get to the spawn point. Everything had been destroyed except for one house. It lay in a field of rubble as the other 5 houses had been leveled by explosives and tank fire. After we eventually counter sniped the enemy, but only had a handful of men left who took the point, the only thing standing was this one house. When we narrowly won the match and the camera flew around the battlefield, I was reminded of our close victory by seeing this structure. The battle could have gone either way.
Notes on Walking Simulator
What Happened Here? Talk on Environmental Storytelling
ecology of storytelling
item and enemy placement
Physical boundaries
Staircases, walls etc
restrictions create meaningful interaction
“The Imago Effect”, which covers the subject of how identity is in part performative and part shaped by context.
use player context to bring meaning to environment (booze, cash register, stripper poles)
“We’re saying that the game environment, which has been derived from a fictional premise, can communicate • the history of what has happened in a place • who inhabits it • their living conditions • what might happen next • the functional purpose of the place • and the mood.”
Images of environment makes player ask- what happened here?
Telegraphing: Foreshadowing gameplay elements by using the environment
blood leading to doorway
body electrocuted on fence
Important part is what environment alludes to that we don’t see
Child slave den for torture Fallout 3
interpretation is compelling
builds investment
provides closure
Process of making a good environmental narrative
- Create a discernable chain of events
- Ensure the event engages the player
- Create Characterization
- Minimize disconnects between player’s thoughts and scripted events
Echo: Relating to the larger societal construct of the world
Player leaving visual mark on world because of their action
