ITEC820 Software Tools for Games and Interface Design

Tutorial 2.2 : Game Structure

by Dr Manolya Kavakli

The purpose of this tutorial is providing guidelines to write stories for computer games. In this tutorial we provide you a sample for the structure of an adventure game. This structure can be beneficial for writing game stories.

To do the following exercises, you need to explore the structure of the adventure game SAM SCRIBE designed by Larry Kay. At the end of the tutorial, you are expected to develop a structure (navigational map) for an imaginary adventure game and return it to manolya@ics.mq.edu.au. You are not expected to write the scenes in this tutorial. They are given only for your information so that you can understand the associations between the elements of a navigational map (locations, objects and their functions, missions and the actions of game characters).

The goals of the game:

To teach the player the use of limited resources in a virtual world,
To stimulate the player's creativity,
To improve the player's skills for building associations between objects and functions.

There are two topics that can serve to achive this goal. Please choose one of them to develop your game idea and navigational map for an adventure game.

Building a house in a tropical desert island
Discovery of a historical fortune burried somewhere in a tropical island

Please read "Sam Scribe" to understand the navigational map in detail and do the following exercises by drawing a navigational map for an imaginery adventure game.

Exercise 1: game idea
Write your game idea to achive these goals by using one of these topics. It should not be more than one paragraph long.
Define a framework outlining the following concepts:

stages: Define the important stages in this game idea. You may take the stages in hero's journey as a sample, but keep in mind that those stages are written for a typical action game, not for an adventure game.
locations: There must be specific locations that is required to be presented graphically. These locations are not necessarily used once. They may be used in different stages allowing the game characters to return back or move forward. You are expected define the locations in your story by taking into account what actions will occur in these locations.
plots: Define the plots corresponding to each stage and location. Plots are events in the story of a game. In plot cells, you are expected to outline the events.
missions: Define the missions corresponding to each stage, location, and plot. Mission is a particular task or duty undertaken by an individual or a group. You are expected to plan what task or duty will be undertaken by the game character in mission cells.

Exercise 2: navigational map
Draw a navigational map that indicates all different locations to which you can move the game character(s) in this adventure. You can represent these locations by boxes titled with a specific name for the location. You are expected to place important objects and actions in parantheses, that is associated with each location.