WEBVTT 00:00:05.340 --> 00:00:11.600 Hi, this is Mark Brown with Game Maker's Toolkit, a series on video game design. 00:00:11.600 --> 00:00:17.160 Sony's new PS4 game Until Dawn is billed as an interactive horror film, where 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:21.160 TRAILER DUDE: Only your choices determine who will survive 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:23.860 And I want to talk about that, but not about how 00:00:23.860 --> 00:00:26.460 much you can effect the story with your choices. 00:00:26.460 --> 00:00:31.250 Because, it's basically identical to the systems we've seen in games by Telltale and Quantic 00:00:31.250 --> 00:00:36.730 Dream. Yes, your decisions will make a dent in the plot, but it's also full of false choices, 00:00:36.730 --> 00:00:41.620 characters who can't die until the very end, branching paths that snap back to a central 00:00:41.620 --> 00:00:45.700 point, and that cute little indicator to tell you that this choice will definitely have 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:48.440 an effect on the plot, somewhere down the line. 00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:52.120 CHRIS: Boom, butterfly effect 00:00:52.129 --> 00:00:56.200 It does have some ideas that I haven't seen in one of these types of games before, though. 00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:00.829 Sometimes, you'll get a nice sepia-tinged flashback, to give you a better idea of which 00:01:00.829 --> 00:01:03.140 choices led up to the events onscreen. 00:01:03.140 --> 00:01:08.020 But don't be fooled by these screens which show how all your choices play out, and the 00:01:08.020 --> 00:01:12.479 incredibly granular meters that show your current personality traits and relationships 00:01:12.479 --> 00:01:16.700 to the other characters. They're all a bit smoke and mirrors, to be honest. 00:01:16.700 --> 00:01:21.090 And that's fine. As we talked about in this video, these games aren't about offering infinite 00:01:21.090 --> 00:01:26.789 story states. And simply making choices is often more fulfilling than seeing wildly unique 00:01:26.789 --> 00:01:31.649 consequences play out. Plus, games are expensive to make without considering a billion unique 00:01:31.649 --> 00:01:34.289 paths. Especially when they look like this. 00:01:34.289 --> 00:01:42.319 DR HILL: I believe that in our last session, you were not completely honest with me. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:46.869 So what I want to talk about, is the question of whether all these choices and their consequences 00:01:46.869 --> 00:01:51.479 - especially the more grisly, blood-soaked of the consequences - can actually lead to 00:01:51.479 --> 00:01:52.939 good drama. 00:01:52.940 --> 00:01:57.300 Because, while it is true that any story can become more meaningful and memorable when 00:01:57.310 --> 00:02:01.439 you're having a say on the proceedings. Much like how almost anything is improved with 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:03.239 the addition of cooperative play. 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:04.539 Or chocolate 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:08.660 Does that actually make the stories dramatically satisfying? 00:02:08.660 --> 00:02:13.660 And this question is especially important to Until Dawn as it wants to play out like 00:02:13.670 --> 00:02:18.650 a Hollywood horror movie. This isn't a naturalistic story like The Wire, where characters can 00:02:18.650 --> 00:02:22.730 be snuffed out seemingly at random. This is a horror movie, man... 00:02:22.730 --> 00:02:27.750 RANDY: There's a formula to it! A very simple formula! 00:02:30.260 --> 00:02:35.180 The game is heavily based on slasher movies. It's got a bunch of horny teenagers, getting 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:39.620 together in a isolated cabin in the woods, on the anniversary of some horrible event. 00:02:39.620 --> 00:02:42.980 And there's a psychopath, who wants to pick them off - one by one. 00:02:42.989 --> 00:02:47.379 It also has elements of psychological horror and torture porn and - well, I don't want 00:02:47.379 --> 00:02:49.879 to spoil things. So let's stick to slasher flicks. 00:02:49.879 --> 00:02:53.819 The thing about these movies is that there is always a very specific reason why some 00:02:53.819 --> 00:02:58.439 characters live, and others die. And sometimes, importance is placed on the sequence of the 00:02:58.439 --> 00:03:03.810 kills, too. In early slasher flicks, for example, it was all about morals. Sniffy, puritanical, 00:03:03.810 --> 00:03:06.980 thou shalt not morals, maybe, but those were the rules. 00:03:06.980 --> 00:03:13.010 RANDY: There are certain rules that one must abide by to successfully survive a horror movie. 00:03:13.010 --> 00:03:19.670 RANDY: Number one. You can never have sex. Big no no! Big no no! 00:03:19.670 --> 00:03:21.879 STU: You're dead Meg. RANDY: Sex equals 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:28.290 death, okay? Number two. You can never drink, or do drugs. 00:03:28.290 --> 00:03:34.530 No, it's the sin factor. It's a sin. It's an extension of number one. 00:03:34.530 --> 00:03:40.659 Break those rules and you'll be killed, leaving one last girl. An innocent, virginal, Final 00:03:40.659 --> 00:03:45.439 Girl. Early slashers were often criticised for being misogynistic. Which should make 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:47.930 them the perfect source material for video games. 00:03:48.609 --> 00:03:54.769 Anyway, the point is that in drama, people die for a reason. Whether that's a heroic sacrifice or 00:03:54.769 --> 00:03:59.650 in vengeance or to give another character motivation to do something, or - in horror movies - because 00:03:59.650 --> 00:04:02.499 they smoked pot, or chugged a beer, or were a total bully. 00:04:02.499 --> 00:04:07.760 But when interactivity comes into play, the rules can go out of the window. In Until Dawn, 00:04:07.760 --> 00:04:10.180 take Emily, who is a monster bitch. 00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:15.300 MATT: Let me think. EMILY: Don't think you idiot just get me outta here! 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:19.739 She would be killed in the most gruesome way possible in any horror movie, but can 00:04:19.739 --> 00:04:25.919 survive the entire night in Until Dawn, while her put upon boyfriend Matt is, uh, hung out to dry 00:04:25.919 --> 00:04:31.789 Or take Jess and Mike. Horror movie tropes say these sexpots should die, while innocent characters 00:04:31.789 --> 00:04:36.550 should live. But that's not how things work in Until Dawn. In fact, any combination of characters 00:04:36.550 --> 00:04:38.280 can make it to the finale. 00:04:38.280 --> 00:04:43.800 And you'll probably end with multiple survivors. If not all of them making it through the night, 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:50.120 even though that goes against the horror movie set up where just one person survives. 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:54.590 But even if you don't care about horror movie formulas. Or you revel in the idea of a horror 00:04:54.590 --> 00:05:00.460 flick that ignores them entirely, the interactive story can sometimes just be... a bit rubbish. 00:05:00.460 --> 00:05:04.500 Take Jess, for example, who gets killed in the game, but you don't see a body so of course she's going 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:09.340 to come back. And she does: hours later into the story she wakes up, alone, in the mines. 00:05:09.340 --> 00:05:15.750 And then, in my game, she walked forward a few paces, and was immediately killed. Oh. I think any script editor 00:05:15.750 --> 00:05:19.110 would put a big red circle around that scene. 00:05:19.110 --> 00:05:22.479 And that's the thing: while interactivity can lead to more memorable, more surprising, 00:05:22.479 --> 00:05:26.979 and more personal narratives, without the smart guiding hand of a director or a script 00:05:26.979 --> 00:05:31.870 editor, the story can fall apart. It can be desperately unsatisfying, or lack important 00:05:31.870 --> 00:05:35.990 elements like character arcs, poetic justice, and good pacing. 00:05:35.990 --> 00:05:39.199 And that's the way it will always be. Thanks for watching, please like, comment, and subscribe. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:44.639 Throw all your money at my Patreon - and, wait. Actually. Maybe we can fix this. 00:05:46.050 --> 00:05:50.849 You see, the thing I liked the most about Until Dawn is that you get to control eight different 00:05:50.849 --> 00:05:54.639 characters. That's much more than games like Life is Strange, Tales from the Borderlands, 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:56.669 and Beyond: Two Souls. 00:05:56.669 --> 00:06:00.979 Which meant that while I normally play these sorts of games as a kind and compassionate 00:06:00.979 --> 00:06:04.860 character, having eight different people to play with, some of them archetypical arseholes 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:09.460 and narcissists, I felt much more comfortable role playing them as jerks. And while I tried 00:06:09.460 --> 00:06:14.020 my best to save my favourite characters, like Sam, Chris, and Ashley, I was happy for the 00:06:14.020 --> 00:06:17.800 others to make dumb decisions and wouldn't really mind if they ended up as puddles of 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:19.880 bones and teeth. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:26.840 I realised that I wasn't really playing as the characters, but the as the director. Influencing 00:06:26.840 --> 00:06:31.889 who lived and who died, based on my own judgmental preferences. Suddenly, those horror rules 00:06:31.889 --> 00:06:35.840 were falling back into place and the story was way less disconnected. 00:06:35.840 --> 00:06:39.300 Perhaps you might want to try and subvert the most problematic tropes of horror movies. 00:06:39.300 --> 00:06:43.629 Have the ditzy, slutty blonde survive the ordeal, stop the black guy from getting 00:06:43.629 --> 00:06:48.360 killed first, or have the archetypical Final Girl bite it at the last moment. 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:52.789 And you do have some ability to influence events in a specific way, because the deaths 00:06:52.789 --> 00:06:57.330 often follow some internal logic. Characters can get killed if you screw up quick-time 00:06:57.330 --> 00:07:01.789 events. Messing with those relationship meters can lead to at least one death. And if you 00:07:01.789 --> 00:07:06.210 ignore the tropes of the genre - like wandering off from the group to investigate a spooky 00:07:06.210 --> 00:07:10.430 noise - then perhaps that character deserves to get killed for not watching enough horror movies. 00:07:10.430 --> 00:07:14.270 And then there are these totems, which is another clever mechanic. Find one of these 00:07:14.270 --> 00:07:17.599 and pick it up, and it will show you a clip of one of the characters getting killed or 00:07:17.599 --> 00:07:22.539 surviving an attack. They're vague, but you might be able to use them to help guide later choices. 00:07:22.550 --> 00:07:27.879 But not all deaths are so easy to foresee. Understandable, of course, as Supermassive 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:31.590 wanted to surprise you. And the legions of YouTubers who have made this game famous. 00:07:31.590 --> 00:07:36.430 So, your choice of how to deal with this flare gun, for example, is an almost entirely opaque 00:07:36.430 --> 00:07:39.819 decision but will have huge consequences for Emily and Matt. 00:07:39.819 --> 00:07:44.669 And that's only if, like me, you were even trying to tell a specific story. Until Dawn 00:07:44.669 --> 00:07:48.830 doesn't give players any instructions, and while the trophies - which reward you for 00:07:48.830 --> 00:07:53.050 finishing the game with certain combinations - could push you to try and get a specific 00:07:53.050 --> 00:07:55.390 outcome, they're all hidden trophies. 00:07:56.620 --> 00:08:00.780 So how about this for an idea. And, before I go on, I want to acknowledge that maybe I am trying 00:08:00.789 --> 00:08:04.780 to make the game into something that it's not. And, for the record, I really enjoyed Until 00:08:04.780 --> 00:08:09.600 Dawn and would recommend it. But, what if the game was actually about being the director. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:14.700 Similar gameplay, but at the outset of the game you would be told who must live and who must die 00:08:14.700 --> 00:08:19.180 and maybe even in what order. And then, you'd have to force the characters to act in different ways 00:08:19.189 --> 00:08:23.879 to ensure their death or survival. For those who are fated to die, you must act immorally 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:29.150 and say nasty things to force the big baddy to enact poetic justice on their guts, or 00:08:29.150 --> 00:08:33.669 play into obvious horror cliches and get them split up from the rest of the group. 00:08:33.669 --> 00:08:38.080 The game could be a lot shorter, but designed to be replayed over and over again with different 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.630 instructions each time. It would also need some random elements, to keep you on your 00:08:41.630 --> 00:08:46.210 toes and also ensure that those jump scares and creepy moments don't become blasé. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:52.900 Because here's the main issue that nags at Until Dawn. On the one hand it, it wants to 00:08:52.910 --> 00:08:58.790 be a horror movie where characters get killed in increasingly gruesome ways. But on the 00:08:58.790 --> 00:09:02.540 other hand, it's a video game, and video games are there to be won. 00:09:02.540 --> 00:09:07.140 Games teach us to make the smart dialogue decisions that will give us the best outcomes. 00:09:07.140 --> 00:09:10.300 When buttons flash up on the screen, we've been taught to hit them as quickly as 00:09:10.300 --> 00:09:15.130 possible. And systems, like the totems that warn of potential deaths, are supposed to 00:09:15.130 --> 00:09:17.070 be solved, right? 00:09:17.070 --> 00:09:22.330 Until Dawn the movie wants everyone to die. But Until Dawn the game wants everyone to 00:09:22.330 --> 00:09:25.720 survive. Something's gotta give. 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:31.100 That conflict is somewhat solved when you put yourself in the director's chair. And 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:36.880 try your hand at being Wes Craven or John Carpenter. But without that push, and reliable 00:09:36.880 --> 00:09:42.820 mechanics, many players could miss out on Until Dawn's greatest pleasures. 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.780 Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed the episode - if you did, please give it a like 00:09:49.790 --> 00:09:54.670 on YouTube. Plus: how would you make an interactive horror movie, or did Supermassive get it right? 00:09:54.670 --> 00:09:57.010 Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.