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This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: etc.

Whether you love or hate BioWare, good stories always pay off.

In video games, it is very challenging to write a story. Sometimes humorous jokes designed by developers are difficult to hit the players' jokes, and game characters may not be understood, but good stories always pay off. Players like fascinating plots and are willing to play over and over again.

In a recent interview, Ben Jerinas, creative director, screenwriter and producer of Copychaser Games, an independent studio in Canada, talked about storytelling in games and what the company hopes to achieve with its new book, "Times & Galaxy."

How to find New Jerinas worked for BioWare for five years and participated in screenwriting for games such as Mass effect 3, Dragon Century: trial and quality effect: Andromeda. Shortly after leaving office, in April 2017, Jerinas and his friends founded Copychaser. The studio launched its first game, Speed Dating for Ghosts, on Steam in 2018, and took it to other platforms two years later.

Copychaser's games are mostly plot-oriented adventure games, which rely on dialogue and choice to advance the story. This kind of narrative game is also known as visual fiction. When it comes to the way Copychaser creates stories, Jerinas says he and his colleagues tend to study familiar topics in less common contexts. For example, most people associate death with ghosts, while they put ghosts in dating situations and develop the adventure game Ghost Speed dating. Jerinas also mentioned that since leaving BioWare, he can more easily find a new perspective of narrative. He believes that video games still have the opportunity to tell more stories, but we often see the same stories, prototypes and perspectives are repeated over and over again-especially in 3A games.

Is there something wrong with looking for a love in the underworld? Jerinas said that the larger the game development project, the more isolated the writers will be. "the more people on the team, the higher the project budget, which often means that there are more variables in the development process. Because of this, the edges and corners of the story are sometimes smoothed out. We also have a lot of restrictions in terms of game play, audio and fine arts. Now, besides writing, I will be involved in more other aspects of development work."

At Copychaser, Jerinas is the only full-time employee, and all the other members are part-time. The company not only develops its own games, but also provides outsourced services in story writing or art design, and has participated in the development of works such as "Gotham Knight" and "Control".

"We will also work with independent studios such as Laundry Bear and Sleeping Giant to provide key technical and art support. We don't have an office, and almost every member of the time and Galaxy team works at home or in shared offices in Edmonton and the Greater Toronto area. The whole team is very small but full of fighting spirit. Under all kinds of restrictions, we have made something with distinctive characteristics. I enjoy playing in a small box, knowing where my limits are, and having enough space to fill it and reach its full potential. "

Jerinas introduced in detail the news media-themed new work, the Times and the Milky way. This is a science fiction drama adventure game in which players embark on an interstellar adventure as a robot trainee reporter for the holographic newspaper time and Galaxy. Jerinas said the game was inspired by his background in journalism and his interest in science fiction. Compared with Ghost Speed dating, the new film is of a larger order of magnitude, and the team includes more screenwriters. He points out that Copychaser's narrative philosophy is to create distinctive, immersive and inclusive stories, with subplots and unforgettable characters, while putting players at the center.

The combination of journalism and games has created a unique worldview of Times and Galaxy. As far as the creation of Times and Galaxy is concerned, we will start with a common scene: in an almost absurd science fiction background, explore topics related to news reports. from art and sound designers to programmers, the first thing to do is to get everyone to agree with the tone of the game. "

"I encourage every colleague not to say to himself,'No, this is outrageous.'it's their job to move forward boldly and remind me if I go too far. But sometimes, if I get too excited about a bad idea, they stop me." "A lot of players are eager to experience a game in which the characters are very deep and have a lot of story details, but they don't have to kill other characters every 10 minutes," Jerinas said. "

Jerinas used to be a local crime reporter in Edmonton and often came into contact with three-class people on the street and listened to them tell all kinds of stories. Now, he wants to combine these experiences with the interactivity of video games. "but I also don't want the theme to appear too dark or real, which makes it difficult for many players to use, so I want to make a science fiction game, and news reports will provide players with a reason to explore a unique and absurd world, not the only core."

Jerinas learned a lot about human nature during his early career in the news media, which also helped his career as a game developer. Both fresh and familiar with the protagonist of "Times and the Milky way" is a robot. Jerinas explained that the reason for having a robot in the lead role is that it would be boring if it were a human or an alien-he prefers humans to be as strange as different humanoid species in time and the Milky way.

Robots often appear in science fiction and can provide players with a fresh and familiar perspective. In addition, I think it's time for robots to become heroes. Among the many iconic robot characters, most are just assistants or supporting roles. According to the background settings of those games, the robot still needs to do some heavy and humble tasks, so it does not become the protagonist of its own story-until your robot is off the assembly line. "

Time and Galaxy is scheduled to be released next year, and a trial version is already available on the platform. In time and Galaxy, the development team decided to let the player play a robot intern to familiarize everyone with the news reporting process. At the same time, being a reporter is also part of the overall narrative of the game and the personal story of the protagonist.

Copychaser also wants to create more stories based on real events and with science fiction elements, Jerinas said. " The game tells many stories, such as a toy exploded because it has been played for too long, an interstellar 'United Nations' is torn apart and its members kill each other, a group of conscious robots fight each other, and aliens hold graduation ceremonies. We had no scruples in our creation and finally finished a series of stories that I had never seen in the game. "

Although time and the Galaxy has a large number of bizarre stories, Jerinas stressed that the development team has been influenced by many well-known science fiction works, and players will feel intimacy when playing. " It may be a game for Star Trek fans, and readers of Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and Terry Pratchett (Disc World) may also like it. "

Another developing low-cost word adventure game, Slumber Clause, whose protagonist is freely available to players, said that Times and Galaxy is the most ambitious game Copychaser has ever created, but the studio's original intention has not changed. "the goal of Copychaser has always been to create games that have never been seen in game history, to provide a focused, low-cost narrative experience, and we want to continue to create those types of games." He also revealed that if time and Galaxy wins commercial success, then all members of the Copychaser team will be able to participate in the next project on a full-time basis.

"We are very lucky to have the support of the Canadian media fund and distributor Fellow Traveller, so we want to achieve enough sales to repay their support. When we develop the project budget and R & D plan, the goal is to spend as little money as possible to make the game-basically the equivalent of a low-cost horror movie."

Jerinas shared his thoughts on how developers should promote a narrative game to players.

"stories are a compelling reason for players to keep playing. There is always a story in the game, and completing a challenge is a story in itself. In addition, technology and the Internet can also help developers promote narrative games to reach a wider audience. Although narrative games have existed for a long time, in the industry, with the development of technology and social media, our exploration of interactive narrative is just beginning. It's an interesting topic where game narration will take us in the next few years. "

This article is compiled from: www.gamesindustry.biz/copychaser-games-blueprint-for-story-focused-titles

Original title: "Copychaser Games' blueprint for story-focused titles"

Original author: Jeffrey Rousseau

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