Emotion in a Game

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!