Gone Home An Experimental Narrative Game - PowerPoint Presentation

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Gone Home

An Experimental Narrative GameSlide2

The Premise

The story follows Katie, a college grad who is returning home after a year of traveling. However, she discovers that no one is home when she gets back. You explore the house from Katie’s perspective and discover clues in the form of notes, that fill you in on what has happened in the last year. Slide3

The narrative

Unlike traditional narratives, there is no set storyline. How the story plays out depends entirely on your interactions with the environment. There is of course certain plot points you must uncover in order to finish the game. However, since the game allows the player to put themselves into the story, the narrative changes depending on the person controlling Katie. Since there is very little description of Katie in the game, you are free to act however you wish without “breaking character”. A meticulous person may uncover all the little family secrets, while an impatient player may only care about Sam’s story. Slide4

Narrative - continued

Similar to traditional narratives, most of the events happen in the past, and we are being told the story after the fact. In the game, we discover the story along with Katie. However, there are certain game elements that separate us from her. Similar to recounting stories in literature, the reader/player knows more than the actual characters. We can hear Sam’s journals before Katie discovers them at the end of the game. Therefore, a lot of objects in the house have significance to the player, but not to Katie. Slide5

Setting

The game is set entirely within the family’s house. However, since the house is so big, you can subdivide it into several parts. Certain areas of the house are locked, which forces you to discover certain plot points before others. In this way, the setting drives the story. Unlike traditional narratives, the setting plays an extremely dominant role in the overall feeling of the story. The darkness of the rooms, the constant thundering, and the expansive space all contribute to a feeling of distress and tension. This appears in literature as well, but not nearly as pronounced. Since we are also interacting with the environment, the setting can changes as we move through the house. Turning on the lights in each room parallels our discovery of the family’s story. Slide6

Character

Characters aren’t exactly developed in the same way as traditional narratives. There is no narrator to give us descriptions of anyone, so in the beginning, we simply have the roles of “Mom”, Dad”, and “Sister”. Through discovering bits and pieces of their stories, we slowly get a sense of who these people are. Also, since these characters never actually appear in person, we get a pure, untampered version of their problems and their personalities. Slide7

Action

The only real action performed in this game is searching through the empty house. Therefore, the story plays out similar to a retelling of events that have already happened. The most important actions are in the past, and we are now trying to make sense of the consequences. Therefore, a lot of the action in this story is actually implied. We never hear the fights between Sam and her parents, or see the father working late nights over an unsuccessful book. But, we can assume that these happened based on our observations. Slide8

Story time

Similar to traditional narrative, many of the important events in the story have already happened, and we are now hearing about it in the present. However, there is another layer of story time, which revolves around Katie discovering everything that happened to her family. Since this story is happening in real time as you play the game, story time depends entirely on the player. The discovery of plot points may be completely out of order, and finally make sense when put together at the end. Slide9

Game, Narrative or story?

In my opinion, Gone Home is more of a narrative/story than a game. It is simply told in an interactive manner. Games generally have some sort of challenging aspect, a way to stop players from finishing. Gone Home is designed to always lead you in the correct direction. There is no goal other than to find out more about what happens in the story, which is the same as reading a book. Instead of flipping pages, we are searching through a house for the next plot event. Slide10

Game-playing experience

This was definitely a game worth playing. However, I don’t think the concept is particularly unique. More and more, games are incorporating a very detailed background story element. Usually, players may choose to ignore notes and letters due to the hassle of reading them, but they often contain very interesting information about the characters you interact with. This information may not help you kill the bad guy, or save the hostage, but it gives games a layer of depth. Gone home simply stripped away all the action to allow you to focus on the story alone. The story telling was definitely well done. I felt a very deep connection to Sam as I played through the game. The combination of journal entries and random memorabilia contributed to a deep understanding of Sam’s struggles. By the end, I felt a mix of emotions that I don’t usually experience from playing a game. I wished that the game continued, so I could find out how Sam was doing after she ran away, or see the parent’s reactions when they finally got home. I felt completely immersed in Katie’s world. Slide11

Synergy

Gone home is pretty successful in combining exploratory and traditional narrative. The game guides us in a way that we can see Sam’s story unfold, but at the same time, allows us to explore and discover at our own pace. In this way, the plot elements seem well placed, and well timed. Nothing seems too rushed. The lack of cut scenes and forced perspective also ensures that we are completely engrossed the entire time we play. It really seems like we are finding out all of the story details on our own.