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Do game developers use narrative patterns much like Jospeh Campbell's the monomyth?

JurgenJurgen
edited in General
Hi

Joseph Campbell's work has been used relating to the Star Wars movies. It would make sense if similar narrative themes have been used in any Star Wars game for that matter, although I'm not certain about Pod Racer.
The image attached below depicts the Hero's Journey (monomyth) as set forth by Joseph Campbell.

Kind regards

Jurgen
pdf
pdf
TheHero'sJourney.pdf
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Comments

  • FengolFengol
    The was a really good talk at GDC a couple of years ago, advocating that the hero's journey should be used more as a litmus test to help find potential weaknesses in your game's quest; i.e. does the hero have the right motivations and is he set sufficient challenges. The talk suggested following the hero's journey by rote wasn't a good idea because it's unclear if every step and every character is required.

    But to answer your question, yes, I think game designers do use narrative patterns as guidelines to manage player expectation; but I don't think they bind themselves by them.
  • JurgenJurgen
    edited
    Hi

    I reckon backtracking a certain games narrative for example God of War Ghost of Sparta would reveal it's narrative pattern.
    Following the narrative from beginning to end and writing down key points shall also reveal the pattern.

    I wouldn't be surprised if the monomyth featured then to some degree because it has such a wide application.

    Kind regards

    Jurgen
  • ChippitChippit
    It's pretty common, yeah.

    Journey, for instance, framed its story exactly this way and very consciously so. I suspect other times it's less conscious, but that it happens anyway is quite telling. Nearly every Zelda game follows the formula pretty well, with Twilight Princess doing it pretty much step-by-step. This particular pattern is definitely more prevalent in action adventures and RPGs, where it makes the most sense.
  • JurgenJurgen
    Hi

    I googled "monomyth in game narratives", searched and I found a 51 minute video where accomplished game designer and screenwriter Matthew Grau discusses the monomyth and how to use it to create epic and enduring stories in games:)

    Here's the link:
    http://thestorydepartment.com/the-gamers-heros-journeys-stuff/
  • TheFuntasticTheFuntastic
    What Chippit said about Journey. The entire game is a very deliberately and conscientiously structured around the tenets of the monomyth. Definitely worth a play if you can get yourself in front of a PS3.

    Also, seeing as monomyth is one of humanity's oldest narratives it crops up everywhere. Pretty much any fantasy that starts out with "newly discovered powers" will likely follow a monomyth structure to some degree.
  • Scratch17Scratch17
    To continue on what Chippit said, Extra Credits did a few videos on the hero's journey as seen through the game Journey.
    Part 1:
    Part 2:
    Thanked by 1hanli
  • hanlihanli
    The extra credits videos are excellent.
    Again, I would recommend the Jenkins as a starting point:
    Jenkins, H., Game design as Narrative Architecture. Available at: http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/games&narrative.html [Accessed March 10, 2011].


    This may also be useful:
    Delmas, G., Champagnat, R. & Augeraud, M., 2007. Bringing Interactivity into Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. In M. Cavazza & S. Donikian, eds. Virtual Storytelling. Using Virtual Reality Technologies for Storytelling. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 187–195. Available at: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-77039-8_17

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