Narrative Content Conveyed Through Environmental Storytelling Techniques
By: John Bevis
Supervisor: Eric Walker
Masters of Interactive Technology degree conferred December, 18, 2010
Thesis / Project completed: December, 18, 2010

Many games have a story to tell, and designers employ a vast array of techniques for conveying narrative information in games.  This study focuses specifically on ways to tell a game’s story through its environments.  More specifically, this study examines what players consistently perceive and consistently miss while navigating a game environment.  By asking participants to re-construct a story about their environment, this study provides a measure of what types of narrative information communicate effectively as elements of a game’s environment, and, consequently, which might benefit more from traditional forms of exposition such as a cutscene, journal entry, or dialogue.  The results of this research suggest that gamers of all experiential preferences provide story-related feedback based on their environment, but the detail and nature of their responses varies greatly depending on their preoccupation with story or combat, and the timeframe of the stories involved.

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