Emotion in a Game

How much emotion can you put into a game? I know that since I've gone through more events in my life that have caused great emotion (death of my dad, my daughter's open heart surgery, etc) I want to make games that are more than just;

ZOMG KILL THE BAD GUY cause GOOD!

I want drama. I want the player to experience pain, loss, catharsis, joy.

How do you convey emotion in a game?
What elements do you find yourself putting in to get the job done?
What RM game did a good job of doing this in your opinion?

I think I may make a very small game with the sole purpose of trying to connect the player emotionally to the characters.

What are your thoughts?

Edit -

Link to short game intro. Trying to work in what's being talked about below.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t49qoqaifh70e64/Paths.exe

I'm into RPGs solely for the purpose of connecting with people I'll never see IRL
So far I have played no RM game which has given me that kind of attachment; I hear the more horrorish type of RM games are pretty good with this, but I'm not much of a horror person, so *shrug*.
To the Moon is probably a good start though, haven't played that yet either (ahh but Summer break is coming soon).

I agree with D&P3. To The Moon was absolutely dripping with emotion. Some sequences made you laugh, others made you cry, and there were a few that really made you think. It was tremendously well done in those areas and others.

Unfortunately, story and writing have never been my strengths, so I really can't say how I get the job done because, well, I honestly don't. Well, aside from the old "kill off a main character" card.

Emotion in an RM game is very hard to achive without bieng a skilled writer. It is much easier to convey emotion when you have voice acting/ cutscenes/ images that appear on screen.

I'd say to bring emotion to the table, play on some basic human emotions, fear sadness, lust, etcetc, then try to make the player "feel" them, appropriate music also helps. And I have yet to see any RM game that has very good emotion, but I hear to the moon is awesome.

Good luck, this seems like a great idea

I think putting in something that shows the characters failing somehow can be very emotional. They try to work towards a goal, but somewhere along the way they mess up and now their goal may be impossible. Hopelessness is a pretty powerful emotion.

The worst thing you can do when trying to convey emotions is to add specific, cliche indicators of how a person should feel. A rain does not automatically make something somber or romantic, and a laugh track does not automatically make something funny. You shouldn't tell people how to feel; they have to bring out their emotions themselves. Simplicity and subtlety will make emotion seem that much more natural, something that, as others have stated, To the Moon did very well.

That said, I'm probably the worst writer in the world, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Nothing more than a small introduction. Trying to develop tension without going overboard. (Should take 2 minutes to complete.)

How are the feels?

Edit -

*link removed. Check top of the thread.

That is what I want to achieve aswell.. I want the player to feel something when they embark on my journey, but as previous writers said.. Its really difficult to get it right. Looking back at experiences from your own life is a really great way to work with emotions I would say. Im really looking forward to see what you have going on

For me, there are some games that have been mindblowing when it comes to push on the emontional side. The most recent game that was overwhelming was The walking Dead

For me, Im still figuring out how I should put this into my game aswell.. Its really, really hard.

As for the RM games, I havnt played many yet.. but I have downloaded some games that I play now

Edit: I really liked the introduction, wanted to continue playing

I also liked it, however I encountered a few glitches and i was unable to deliver the package because it got ina  text loop with Ro

Yup. That was supposed to be a cut to the title screen because...

Dun dun fun DAAAA

That's all I have so far. I've tweaked the maps to make them no longer the standard fill-ins, but not much more beyond that.

My goal in this game isn't great graphics, cool battles, or newness. My goal is just to illicit an emotional response/connection.

Its working, I'm wondering about that alcoholic XD

The biggest thing I notice in RM Games, and am somewhat guilty of myself, is writing characters without any real character flaws.  It's difficult, if not impossible, to connect with a party of mary sues.

I think the most important thing, if you want to evoke emotion, is to write real characters.  Give them flaws, and I mean real flaws.  Flaws like, a vicious cruel streak; argumentative/arrogant; always having to be right; blaming everyone else for their faults; being miserly; dishonesty.  Give them an ugly side, make them real.

Clumsiness is not a flaw, especially in a cute girl.  Hot-headedness is not a flaw, especially in a Warrior.  You need to give them something that the player will hate about them.

Once you do that, make the events of the world realistic to the setting you're conveying.  This isn't to say no magic or world-saving, but that the characters you wrote as real people should react as real people.  Set up rules for your setting, and really think about how these characters would react within them.

World building is an art, a very complex one, as it requires that you think more about the world and how the world would react than just the main pro and antagonists.  This is why writing a good RPG is incredibly difficult.

The biggest thing I notice in RM Games, and am somewhat guilty of myself, is writing characters without any real character flaws.  It's difficult, if not impossible, to connect with a party of mary sues.

I think the most important thing, if you want to evoke emotion, is to write real characters.  Give them flaws, and I mean real flaws.  Flaws like, a vicious cruel streak; argumentative/arrogant; always having to be right; blaming everyone else for their faults; being miserly; dishonesty.  Give them an ugly side, make them real.

Clumsiness is not a flaw, especially in a cute girl.  Hot-headedness is not a flaw, especially in a Warrior.  You need to give them something that the player will hate about them.

Once you do that, make the events of the world realistic to the setting you're conveying.  This isn't to say no magic or world-saving, but that the characters you wrote as real people should react as real people.  Set up rules for your setting, and really think about how these characters would react within them.

World building is an art, a very complex one, as it requires that you think more about the world and how the world would react than just the main pro and antagonists.  This is why writing a good RPG is incredibly difficult.

Excellent advice! Thanks

Read more Shakespeare. If someone knew how to write a human character, twas Will.

Read more Shakespeare. If someone knew how to write a human character, twas Will.

On first name basis?

Also good advice. RPG's are really vamped up plays/stories right? Read more stories with good characters and emotions.

Nothing ruins RPGs like NPCs never noticing anything, NAMKCOR is right about that, I know there was an RM game I played at some point where the NPCs didn't react when an earthquake happened... "Don't worry, it's all good, this happens all the time", that's what they say to me.

I also have an irk for when a completely clear sky suddenly starts raining just to convey sadness in a character, though that hasn't struck me in RM

Read more Shakespeare. If someone knew how to write a human character, twas Will.

On first name basis?

Also good advice. RPG's are really vamped up plays/stories right? Read more stories with good characters and emotions.

Damn. People said what I was going to say. Yeah, my advice goes along with that: I stage the scenes in my game like plays. Heck, with the limited technological resources, you often have to resort to theatricality to express something in these RPGM games.

A good way to set up flaws with your characters is to have them argue and disagree. Make them rub each other the wrong way. Your characters will practically point out each other's flaws on their own (or, at least, it feels like that when I'm writing sometimes). Take a page from Bioware: Their games always have bad blood going on between your party members. And to take that a step further and make real drama out of it, have those differences result in real consequences. One thing I've always disliked about game stories is that the interactions between the protagonist and party rarely shape the story in any big way. I'd like to see more interpersonal drama between characters that links back to the major themes and imagery of the game's story itself.

Emotion is political. Its all "who does what to whom and why." Going off of my theatre training, I can advise that, when writing a character, do not just slap an emotion on them an expect that to convey anything real to the player/audience. Characters (and people) are emotional when motivated to do so. We don't INTEND emotions in real life, so the emotions of a character can't be backwards engineered from a desire to give them that emotion. You have to write their dialogue/actions from the perspective of what they wish to accomplish, and from whom.

We act on others to make THEM feel emotion, in very subtle, sometimes very overt, ways. If we can get others to sympathize with us, then we can In order to accomplish something, a character will try multiple tactics on others. It isn't as overtly manipulative as it sounds (unless you just suck at writing, or you're intentionally creating melodrama). Everyone in any situation (but especially when played up for drama in a work of fiction) is actively engaged in this, and they are pushing on each other. In order to make meaningful character interaction, you have to have each character PUSH on each other. It's that dynamic tension that creates interesting and compelling stories and characters.

Remember: every personality trait that we display is something brought out of us in response to someone else. It sounds simple, even obvious, like a lot of what I'm saying, but implementing it in a concrete and meaningful way will certainly prove challenging.

I also have an irk for when a completely clear sky suddenly starts raining just to convey sadness in a character, though that hasn't struck me in RM

Shakespeare seemed to like pathetic fallacy, so it must be good right?

It's not a bad thing to use as long as you use it right. Simply throwing up a rain cloud when a person is sad isn't the best or even right thing to do in every situation.

(Apologies: wall of text almost. I'm famous for that).

Don't forget that we will only feel emotion if we are somehow connected with the character(s) in question. Like NAMKCOR mentioned, believable characters who react to situations in believable ways (and not necessarily natural ways) is a good start. Try to get inside your characters' head - after all, you created them you should know how they think and what they would do - when you're planning out the scene.

If you aren't too familiar with writing emotional scenes (which doesn't mean melodramatic but rather appropriate to the character), then work on just making the scene believable and hope that the player/reader will respond appropriately. Once you get used to writing the scenes, you can then work on the best ways to connect the player to the characters so that their (the players) emotional responses are natural. Writing is never a once-you've-written-it-it's-done-with thing, it's a process that will require revision after revision after revision. Don't feel you have to get it perfect the first time, that comes with the experience.

One thing I would suggest doing is reading up and researching the topic. There's really no one way to do it, no black and white instructions booklet. But there are techniques that can be used to help you craft your scenes. Have a look around for books or pdfs (you can find pdfs of books if you aren't wanting to fork out money) centred around writing drama and building characters and setting.

Another thing to do is analyse existing material. Don't restrict yourself to just emotional scenes of crying over the death of someone or the clichéd things: look at material that not only has emotions being drawn between the fictional characters, but also those which are directed at the reader. Figure out what makes those emotions appear. If it's between characters: what about those characters makes you feel that way, what were they doing, what do they mean to you. If it's audience targeted: why was it successful (or not - bad examples are also good material to work with as long as you know they were bad examples), what about the situation assists in delivering that emotion. Asking critical questions about what you see/read/hear is probably a very important thing to do if you want grow in understanding - which itself is key to being able to craft these scenes in the first place.

Also, discuss that kind of material with others, find out what their responses are. The same can be done for things you create too.

I'm taking a look at "Paths" too, I'll give you some feedback.

Edit:

Spoiler for Feedback:

For one thing, it does a good job of slowing itself up (which isn't a good thing). Until you talk to Ro about getting the rooms, you can't talk to the other two who obviously wandered off to do their own thing because they aren't even accessible/there. Once you've done that you can only find and talk to Sara who has suddenly appeared somewhere. And then you are transported to the Inn? I don't think she needed an escort to her room. It was distracting to say the least. And to find Lily, you had to go in a place that you were told you didn't need to go near because apparently Lily is an ex-(still?)drunk which we never really knew about.

Perhaps a hint about that might help. This is the bit that stands out to me the most. For example:

Jarett says, having jumped away from the pub's door, "No reason to go there...".

Well, that's great and all, but why? Maybe something like: "No reason to go there... not after that day that Lily..."

We know Lily having already been introduced at the start. So, now we see "Pub" and "something happened in one of those with Lily that Jarett obviously doesn't want to talk about." So we'll get the idea.

Then after talking to Sara, we just get told to find Sara. Well, how about if Jarett asks Sara where Lily might be found. Her response could be (as I assume these 4 are good friends):

Sara: "I'm not sure. But she hasn't seemed her normal self since that day..."
Jarett: "You mean since that accident?" (or some other major event that might lead to going back to drinking)
Sara: "Yeah. *sigh* I hope she's all right. The last time something like that happened to her, you know what happened to her drinking."
Jarett: "How can I forget?! *pause* I should check up on her, just in case, y'know... she falls back into that habit."

It's not exactly perfect, but that's why you always need to revise. And understand the situation you are working with (or situations if you're adventurous). We don't even need to be told she's in the pub, but alluding to the fact that she might be there despite the fact that the group talked about avoiding pubs/not having reason to go into them should be enough to give the player a good enough hint that also builds up character history and a connection (whilst small and only informative) about Lily with the players and the other characters is created.

Another observation is the fact the NPCs are just not appropriately behaving. Mother knows its bedtime for her kid, but lets them still run around screaming "WOOOOOOO!" to you? Old Man whose existence is weird. "Come by tomorrow"? I'm sorry, why is the old man standing in the middle of that central area anyway. Remember, characters should exist because they have reason to, not to simply fill the void or add the illusion of people living there. It's getting dark, we don't expect to see too many people, especially ones with no purpose. The guard, however, is appropriate. He's a guard, and he's doing his job. That we can believe. Old Man and Mother/Kid? give them a reason to exist or send them home.

Wall of text is right Marc. Logan. You.

Thanks for the thoughts ill certainly take all of that into consideration. I'm retreading it to make sure I presented things how I wanted then to come across.

Ill look at it tonight and repost the game. Thanks again!

When it comes to emotions and behavior, my tactic is kinda simple (maybe this doesn't work for everyone, but it's well-suited for a drama queen like me).

I just kinda put myself in that character's shoes while writing. I try to express them the way that would be a norm for them. In cases of extreme situations for them, I'd kinda break those norms, of course.

It's not always a smart way to do things, because there are times when I've gotten kinda sad while writing (i.e: making Haunted Turnabout made me a little sad at times). But typically I just get over it in a few seconds. o.o

Probably the game that moved me the most was Shadow Of The Colossus. That game struck me like a bolt of lightning. I'd certainly look to that one as an example.

Good writing
Good music
Unique characters/non-stereotypes. Basically interesting character that I get invested in.
Subtlety
Dialogue
One thing I know about myself is that when I go back to the best pieces if media for a second time, I feel more emotion in earlier segments through knowing what the future has in store for them. For example, when I got back to see Ned Stark talking to Jon Snow when Snow leaves for the nights watch, I feel more emotion the second time because of the almost ironic sadness.

Good writing
Good music
Unique characters/non-stereotypes. Basically interesting character that I get invested in.
Subtlety
Dialogue
One thing I know about myself is that when I go back to the best pieces if media for a second time, I feel more emotion in earlier segments through knowing what the future has in store for them. For example, when I got back to see Ned Stark talking to Jon Snow when Snow leaves for the nights watch, I feel more emotion the second time because of the almost ironic sadness.

Why? Does something happen???

A lot happens.

The jokes get worse from here on out.

Edit -

Game updated slightly. Check it out.

I think emotions are carved a lot in darkness/contrast, for example- if a character says something inspiring after two hours of darkness , you would feel it more than if the game was constantly happy. In other words, emotions are earned. 

If you make a likeable character and then kill them off, that character will naturally be missed. Although that's kind of a cliche extreme, it works.

Emotions don't necessarily need to be that forced, but if you want to invoke a certain feeling that is the way to do it imo.

I think emotions are carved a lot in darkness/contrast, for example- if a character says something inspiring after two hours of darkness , you would feel it more than if the game was constantly happy. In other words, emotions are earned. 

If you make a likeable character and then kill them off, that character will naturally be missed. Although that's kind of a cliche extreme, it works.

Emotions don't necessarily need to be that forced, but if you want to invoke a certain feeling that is the way to do it imo.

Very few emotions involve death or darkness or fear. They are only a few of the many. I do agree, though, that you can't simply force the player to feel a certain way; they need to want to feel that way.

The issue with inspiration following a dark moment (although two hours of depression is more than I want to experience in a game) is that unless you relate to the theme of the dark moment you won't necessarily appreciate the inspiring sentiment. In a game which is light hearted in nature, you can still feel inspired and amazed by the things that characters may say.

Emotions are only part of the theme of the scene in play and they definitely don't have to reflect the whole scene. I can think of a few times where in an incredibly tear-jerking scene, I have still been made to laugh and feel warm, despite the fact that in actuality I'm crying.

The way to invoke emotion, is to draw the player in to the scene itself, the characters involved and their lives. The only way you will feel what you are supposed to, is to feel like you are part of their lives. You might not necessarily feel the same as the characters in question, depending on your view of them, but you'll definitely feel something.

I think emotions are carved a lot in darkness/contrast, for example- if a character says something inspiring after two hours of darkness , you would feel it more than if the game was constantly happy. In other words, emotions are earned. 

If you make a likeable character and then kill them off, that character will naturally be missed. Although that's kind of a cliche extreme, it works.

Emotions don't necessarily need to be that forced, but if you want to invoke a certain feeling that is the way to do it imo.

I think you have something of the right idea. This ties in to what I was saying about dynamic tension.

For instance, one of the reasons why an episode of Doctor Who can be so compelling is because the camp contrasts so expertly with the danger. They play off each other, so even jokes that aren't all that funny will stand out against the backdrop of a situation in which the show goes to great lengths to convince you that anyone could die in.

I think another good tip, since someone mentioned what the player is "supposed" to feel. I've been taught not hinge your bets to highly on what you think the other person is going to feel. Author intent is a thing, but the wonderful thing about art is that you never, ever know just how this representation of an abstract concept is going to affect someone else. Because of something that happened to them, or because of where they are in their lives, anything you present might have an impact in ways you couldn't have imagined.

I know this is vague advice, but it does me (and others I know) as an artist well to remember that I cannot control the other person's reactions. Well, you can, but then
you're just engaging manipulative storytelling (this is what commercials do). That's what we call kinetic art: commercials and some films, books, games that try very hard to MAKE you do or feel something. A film example of this would be Grave of the Fireflies, which shows you a lot of horrific things happening, but never do you feel as though you're witnessing something that comes from the drama of the characters themselves, or that there's anything you can take from the movie other than "this situation was terrible, yo, so stop being such whiny little snots and
respect your elders." The thing is, any thinking person would catch on to the manipulation and be turned off immediately.

Static art is more compelling on a deeper level. Static art exists merely to express. Even if its going to be political in nature. And compelling art is also political, again "who does what to whom". Try wrapping your head around that seeming contradiction. Not really something you have to understand, just be aware of.

I know I'm throwing a lot of annoying aphorisms around. But try taking any in depth class in writing or theatre and you'll get pretty much the same. (Art can be difficult to write about, and so it often involves a fair bit of "feeling your way through it"). But if I may offer one more: When trying to create a specific aesthetic or character choice, try not to think of "how" they would do it, but "why".

Feel free to take this as useful advice or pompous bullshit. When I read what other people write about writing, art, and theatre, I feel a bit of both from the writing, myself.

I'd think a combination of the following would be effective:

• Characters with personality. Like others have mentioned before, make your characters feel real and believable. Not make them perfect beings. Also helps if you give the player the chance to get attached to your character. Like, don't expect players to care about your character 5 minutes into the game. Make it 5 hours into the game, and they might actually care.
• Good writing. Dialogue isn't really necessary if you want to evoke emotions, but if you do, your writing better be damn good. Bad writing instantly ruins anything you try to do with your emotional moment.
• Play fitting music. Should be obvious, but music plays a huge role in evoking emotions. It's extremely important to get your choice of music right, if possible time your scene to fit the piece of music you are using.
• The scene. I disagree with a previous posting that cliché indicators are bad (example to use rain for a sad scene). These are clichés for a good reason, that is because they work. No, they are not required to make an emotional moment work, but they will help if used well.

I think Emotions are best expressed with Animation, as opposed to the popular method of showing pictures of actors with expressions.  Langauge accounts for less than 10% of human communication, and games are no different.  What is said is far less important than HOW it is said.  But in games, we dont really get voices, but we can use Bold Text from time to time, subtle pauses, but most importantly, animate the characters during conversation instead of having them face each other and read off fifty pages of dialogue.  Thats not a game, thats a book.  And making a game with Emotion in it requires that the characters be animated in some way shape or form.

Another critical element is Background Music.  Most people dont notice the music unless really sucks, doesnt fit, or is so phenomenal that it gets stuck in your head (Chrono Trigger - Frogs Theme).  The Music is incredibly useful in that the mood that the music inspires and people dont consciously pay attention to has tremendous effects on their subconscious.  The more fitting the music, the more "Life" that the game seems to have, as it emotionally invests the player into the characters.

I tried to do the same thing with a demo I put up a long time ago.  Short, but gets the point across.  Grab that here if you want.

In short, avoid relying completely on Actor Portraits to express emotions, do use animated characters, and play the shit out of that funky music white boy!

What I tend to do to add in emotion is create the right setting. In Duskwind, I want to make people cry because dad dies... But I have to admit, even with visuals and sounds right, it's extremely difficult to get it right since you can't "tell" the story. It all has to be done with visuals.

I know it's possible to add in story telling through sounds but when people put the game screen in the background it keeps playing so it's not useful...

However, I always give my characters some flaws. Problem there is that they still need to be real. You can't give a person that is energetic, loving and caring a serious depression just like that. It would be a good thing to take care of the way you introduce them...

And as a last piece of my opinion on emotion...
Don't overdo it... If you stretch it in a way that you force players into emotions. They might get offended by  it or get a "what am I doing playing this?" since there is no room for interpretation...

Hope this was helpful

Sorry for possible spelling mistakes: smarthphone...

I know it is an old topic, but I have a challenge for you all.

Build a Cutscene and use ZERO DIALOGUE.  Tell a story using Animation ONLY.

I just want to see if anyone can pull it off.

I think I'll accept this challenge. Time line suggestion?

No time limit.  No other limits either, except, not a lick of dialogue.

The point of the challenge needs to be ongoing as it is supposed to help people write better stories without being too dependant on dialogue alone.  For example, kitty passes away.  That could be a whole five minute cutscene right there...

I know it is an old topic, but I have a challenge for you all.

Build a Cutscene and use ZERO DIALOGUE.  Tell a story using Animation ONLY.

I just want to see if anyone can pull it off.

I'm already doing that in my game. Kind of. Personally, I hate dialogue. Well, I don't hate it, but whenever I imagine a scene I might create, I find dialogue only bogs it down. As an actor, you're taught that the actual words themselves don't matter, that anything can be said with the right visual and vocal cues to get the needed effect. I kind of take that to heart and just throw dialogue out the window for the most part. That's not to say there is NO dialogue in my work, just that it's usually very sparse.

I'm going to have to turn your challenge down, because there are points where I feel dialogue was needed, but there are many events that don't include it.

This topic actually has some really good advice in it, and I enjoyed reading it. I'm not that great of a writer but I try my best. All this has got me thinking of ways to try and better my project and the flow of the story. Thanks guys!