euniceandmii

[euniceandmii]

A New Language: Animal Crossing

So my question now is; what happens when the characters inside your favourite game don’t talk at all? Before gaming transformed from simple arcade games to fascinating and vast RPG’s that you can play in your home, characters didn’t used to speak at all. Instead, they beeped, they dinged, they tooted, and made just about every nonsensical noise you can imagine. However, despite the advancement of the game industry, some games still stick to this principle. Rather than all changing into ‘talkies’ like films had done, some games are beloved for the way their characters still call back to a simpler time.

For example, the adored game franchise ‘Animal Crossing’, which surged in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NPC’s (non-player character) relies on speech bubbles to communicate with the players. The characters speak, but in a language that is neither english or intelligible in any way. Varying in tone and pitch, each NPC has a unique voice and speaks in a jumbled up gibberish language, with no apparent words or expressions. Users would not be able to understand without the assigned speech bubbles which translate the ‘dialogue’. As this is quite hard to describe, here is a video demonstrating:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7-njGsKmTI

For example, the NPC ‘Rosie’ in this clip greets the user by saying, “Hey! I was just thinking about you! Hi there, my fabulous bestie!”. This expressive mode of talking connotes a friendly, welcoming tone to the game which matches the cute, toy-like visuals of the game. I found that the game largely reminds me of figures I would collect as a child, perhaps this is purposefully done, to give an innocent and peaceful tone to the game. In relation to the dialogue, this childlike feel is supported by the NPC’s language (apparently called Animalese, a play on the words ‘Animal’ and ‘Japanese’) as it imitates the way a child might imagine playing with their own toys. It is a true blend of human languages and animal-like sounds, allowing it to be both relatable and entertaining. I think this newly formed language is hugely beneficial as it allows the game to be easily accessible to players around the globe, as the speech bubble text can be translated faster than getting it speech-dubbed.

The game, in doing this, has made itself to be more accessible to a larger demographic; definitely aiding in its success.

Some would argue the game is targeted more towards children and so it doesn’t need proper spoken dialogue, as only older audiences need over complicated dialogue-heavy stories in their games. However, Animal Crossing overreaches across almost all age groups, which the pandemic proved. Users from small children to grown adults were sharing how much they enjoyed the game online, how it gave them a peaceful escape to the real world. The NPC’s Animalese may have been a contrast to the constant news, talking and chaos of the pandemic.

So why do game creators choose to not incorporate spoken English in their games? Because they don’t need to. A game is supposed to be a journey, a 2-way interaction (or system) between software and user. Therefore, as long as that system is able to continue, with the player understanding how to continue the game’s narrative, real languages aren’t necessary. I’m finding that games, because their audience is actively participating with the gameplay, have a more equal balance between visual storytelling and spoken storytelling. Films are not the same, as they can emphasise one over the other in relation to the purpose of a particular scene. Games have the challenge of being enjoyable and fully engaging at every section of the gameplay, as the structure of games allow users to pause and continue at any moment.

To explore this further I would analyse other games that use the same technique, and possibly films that also have characters who don't speak an intelligible language.

#animal crossing #tom nook #games #filmmaking

[euniceandmii]

Another video I found whilst researching, which explores how dialogue is used at times to replace gameplay and the impact of this.

#Youtube

[euniceandmii]

A great video which explores the most creative ways in which dialogue is utilised in games.

#Youtube

[euniceandmii]

Assassin's Creed, Game VS Film

We now know that strong dialogue and well-developed characters is what supports a story. However, I want to explore how dialogue translates over from games to films. A perfect way to do this is to use a game that has, in fact, been adapted to a feature length film. For this, I will explore Assassin’s Creed, the 2016 film and the original game (2007) of the same name. The Assassin’s Creed is a highly successful franchise that has grown an immensely loyal fanbase, with 12 main games, 17 spin-off games and a collection of short films. It is no surprise that the franchise also spawned a feature length film with a star-filled cast. Members of the cast include Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Brendan Gleeson. So as you can tell, there was a lot of pressure to ensure this film was true to the original game.

Ironically, the film seems to branch off its own story but after watching the first 18 minutes, I finally found a scene that had similarities to the game’s initial introductory scene.

In the film, our protagonist, Callum (played by Michael Fassbender) is sentenced to death but wakes up in a research facility, his death faked by the company. He is put into a machine called the Animus, which unlocks his genetic memories.

The dialogue proceeds as: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Nv0V6U2Z8&t=21s

CALLUM: What are these?

SOFIA: Assume final preparations. Our regression, Andaluca, 1492. Record everything.

SCIENTIST: Arms ready.

CALLUM: What is this?

SOFIA: I’m sorry, Cal. This is not the way I like to do things.

CALLUM: Then don’t do it.

SOFIA: Insert epidural.

CALLUM: What do you want from me?

SOFIA: Your past. Listen to me carefully, Cal. You’re about to enter the Animus. What you are about to see, hear and feel, are the memories of someone who has been dead for 500 years.

CALLUM: Wait a minute.

SOFIA: You can’t change what happens, Cal. Engage scanner. Status?

SCIENTIST: Scanning DNA chains. Searching for time frame. First memory match locked.

In the game, the original scene plays out almost the same but with slight differences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmWOH5UdJeE&t=257s

Lucy: Are you okay?

Vidic: I told you he'd be fine.

Desmond: Bastards!

Vidic: Now, now. I just saved your life.

D: Saved my life?! You kidnapped me! Strapped me into that... thing!

V: Animus. It's an Animus.

D: I don't even know you people! Why are you doing this to me?!

V: You have information we need, Mr. Miles.

D: Information?! I'm a bartender for chrissakes! What do you want me to do?

Teach you how to mix a martini?!

V: We know who you are... what you are.

D: I don't know what you're talkin' about.

V: Don't play coy with me... there isn't time. You're an Assassin. And whether

you realize it or not, you've got something that my employers want. Locked

away in that head of yours.

D: But I'm not an Assassin. Not anymore.

V: Yes... your file indicated as much... something about an "escape." Most

fortunate for us.

D: What do you want from me?

V: For you to do as you're told. The Animus will allow us to locate what we

need. Once we have it, you'll be free to go.

D: I am not goin' back in there!

V: Then we'll induce a coma and continue our work. When we're done, you'll be

left to die. Truth be told, the only reason you're still conscious is

because this approach saves us time.

D: You're insane!

V: So what is it, Mr. Miles? Live, or die? Lie down.

A wise decision.

D: Whoa... where am I?

V: You're inside the Animus.

D: Which is...?

V: It's a projector which renders genetic memories in three dimensions.

D: Genetic memories...

V: Seems you'll need a bit of a tutorial... very well. Let's start simple.

What is a memory, Mr. Miles?

D: It's the... recollection of a past event.

V: ...specific to the individual remembering the event.

D: Yeah, sure.

V: What if I told you the human body not only housed an individual's memories,

but the memories of his ancestors as well? Genetic memory, if you will. (A

bird is shown.) Migration, hibernation, reproduction... how do animals know

when and where to go? What to do?

D: That's just animal instinct.

V: Now you're arguing semantics, Mr. Miles. Whatever you call it, the fact

remains. These creatures hold the knowledge absent the first-hand

experience. I've spent the last thirty years trying to understand why. Our DNA functions as an archive. It

contains not only genetic instructions passed down from previous

generations, but memories as well. The memories of our ancestors.

D: And the Animus lets you decode and read these DNA files.

V: Precisely.

Lucy: But there's a problem. This is the specific memory we're trying to

access.

Unfortunately, when we try to open the memory, your mind withdraws. You lack

the confidence to step into your ancestor's body. That's what happened

earlier. You got knocked out of the target memory and pushed back into a

more stable state.

D: Why?

L: It's your subconscious. It's resisting. We found similar reactions among

patients who undergo hypnosis to relive traumatic events. They can't jump

directly into the specific memory. You need to be eased in. Even then there

can be problems.

D: So how do we fix it?

L: We find a memory you CAN synchronize with. And we move forward from there.

You'll get used to it. This is the closest we can get. So it's where we'll have to start. I'm uploading the tutorial program now.

Already we can see that there is much more dialogue included in the game than there is in the film. The game script provides much more exposition and the dialogue is conversational, holding a much more casual tone in the language choices. For example, when the scientist is asked, “What do you want from me?” (a line that is said in both the game and film), the responses are different.

GAME: For you to do as you're told. The Animus will allow us to locate what we need. Once we have it, you'll be free to go. Then we'll induce a coma and continue our work. When we're done, you'll be left to die. Truth be told, the only reason you're still conscious is because this approach saves us time.

FILM: Your past. Listen to me carefully, Cal. You’re about to enter the Animus. What you are about to see, hear and feel, are the memories of someone who has been dead for 500 years.

The head scientist’s dialogue allows users to understand the power dynamic with them ‘to do as you’re told’ and providing the solution of ‘once we have it, you’ll be free to go’. This sets up the game with an assumed mission and end goal, which we would expect from games. The film’s response however, is a short and direct answer, ‘Your past. Listen to me carefully, Cal’. I find this interesting as the lack of dialogue appears to still serve a purpose. The imperative, ‘Listen to me’ establishes the head scientist Sofia as someone who is assertive and dominant, perhaps someone to be afraid of. It suggests that she is the one in control and expects everything to go her way. She is thus the film’s antagonist.

So, where the game focuses on setting up the game with an aim for the users to connect with, the film draws our attention to the binary oppositions (Sofia v Callum, authority vs the individual, good vs bad) that will carry the drama for the rest of the runtime. Therefore, we can conclude that the dialogue is adapted to suit the medium it is in.

We also see this pattern in the amount of dialogue there is. The game includes much more dialogue since it has an overall runtime of 7-8 hours, depending on how long the user chooses to play through each section. A game has more freedom to offer dialogue heavy scenes as these are used to carry the users through to the next 'section' of the game. The film, on the other hand, only has to build suspension to keep the audience's attention, which may be the answer as to why the dialogue is less expositional, providing mystery over information. Here we can see that films have the challenge of trying to maintaining the attention a passive audience, whereas gamers promise a more active spectatorship for their medium.

Overall, I have found that the nature of the script and language choices in the dialogue is very dependent on the medium it is in. The film attempts to build suspension for an audience who is already part of the fanbase. It is limited in runtime but relies more on visual storytelling to build intrigue. The game however, is more conversational, including the player more and making it an interactive, engaging experience.

However, despite this, I am aware that the film is reviewed very poorly. If I were to explore this further, I would question how this affected fans, if this was truly a successful adaptation of the game or if it strayed too far from the original tone to satisfy fans.

#assassins creed #filmmaking #films

[euniceandmii]

I'm GLaDOS You Asked

Kicking off with the most interesting game I've played in recent years (remember that I don’t usually play games), I want to comment upon the infamous narrator from Portal 2: GLaDOS. Portal 2, released in 2011 as a sequel to the 2007 game, is a game carefully balanced between narrative and interactivity.

GLaDOS is an incredibly fun character, who guides players through the game with her rude and sarcastic comments. Her name stands for: Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System and her primary role is to oversee the science centre in which players must make their way through (through the robot characters Atlas and P-Body).

Her dialogue is deeply expressive and feels inherently feminine, in her unfaltering and emotionless tone that she carries for the majority of the game.

When we first meet her, she says to us the following lines:

Oh... It's you.It's been a long time. How have you been? I've been really busy being dead. You know, after you MURDERED ME. Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster. I will say, though, that since you went to all the trouble of waking me up, you must really, really love to test.

With the lack of a proper greeting, she is shocked to see us, the very first word in the script being, ‘Oh’. This establishes the type of personality she has and as someone who has just been killed, this shows her (very reasonable) response to being murdered: annoyed. This annoyance is further established in her sarcastic line, ‘I’ve been really busy being dead’ which suggests that this was a big event for her character and will become an obstacle for the players. This is who GLaDOS is: a bitter female with an agenda to cause trouble.

She doesn’t try to hide her spite either, eventually breaking the cool-girl act and exclaiming, ‘...you MURDERED ME.’ which plays out as a very comedic line for players. Additionally, it also reveals a deep hatred that will act as a narrative catalyst.

This is a pattern that we see throughout the game, in which she reminds players of the former wrongdoing done against her. For example, not soon after her reintroduction, she says, ‘Be careful not to trip over any parts of me that didn't get completely burned when you threw them down here’. This sentence starts off as a polite instruction and switches halfway through into another attempt to guilt the players, directly addressing them with the objective singular pronoun ‘you’. We infer her anger with the alliteration, ‘threw them’, which creates a sound that imitates the action, and suggests that she is spitting these words out with intent.

These attempts to guilt the players and add a comedic tone to the game is sandwiched in between shorter pieces of dialogue, in which GLaDOS simply commands the player (a.k.a Atlas or P-Body) through easy tasks like ‘There it is..’, ‘There should be one in the corner’ or ‘This next test involves discouragement redirection cubes’. Despite these pieces of speech just acting as instructional, the language used is very casual and human for a robot character. All of these elements help to elevate her characterisation and the human-like dialogue connects her to the users more directly.

This characterisation is what makes GLaDOS such a memorable aspect of the Portal games. I would argue that this character type, the “angry female” has grown exponentially in popularity over recent years. With the rise of feminism and the modern discourse around mental health, topics surrounding the female experience, more specifically Female Rage, are explored more in media products. It has become evident that directors are no longer shying away from representing the full spectrum of female emotions. By this I refer to emotions of anger and indifference when mistreated by men or by other women, in opposition to being passive and meek. Examples of these characters are: Furiosa (Mad Max, 2015), The Bride (Kill Bill, 2003), Amy Dunne (Gone Girl, 2014), Cassandra (Promising Young Woman, 2020).

What unites all of these female characters is that their stories, similar to GLaDOS’, are centred around revenge; the desire to get back at whoever hurt them, by any means. A majority of them lure men in with their sexuality in order to trap them, which calls back to the archetypal character of the “Femme Fatale” that we see back in the days of Hollywood’s Golden Era. I think of Gila, the titular character of the 1946 film.

In fact, this has become such a popular trend for recent films, that viewers have created a meme which circulated across multiple social media networks, pointing fun at the “good for her” theme.

GLaDOS definitely fits within this trend, though she does not necessarily succeed within her own aims, her rage is well communicated to players through her scripted dialogue and makes for a thoroughly engaging game. The game is based around a series of tests which writes off the opportunity for a cinematic three-act structure narrative, but it is undeniable that GLaDOS is the perfect narrator to guide us through the story, rage and all.

#portal 2 #glados #filmmaking #gaming #gone girl #feminism

[euniceandmii]

Talking About Games

As someone who has always been enthusiastic in the study of communication and the English language, I consider scriptwriting as a holistic art form in and of itself. When you talk to a lover of film they'll immediately reference a line from their favourite film. The iconic one-liners, the great monologues, the stories condensed within carefully crafted language.

Scriptwriters spend hours upon hours, hunched back, wondering what their characters should say. This is what it is all about: Characterisation. How can you build an immersive and engaging fictional world without characters that have as much personality as the audience?

And so, we have personalities from Citizen Kane to Sigourney Weaver filling our screens, the dialogue doing as much work to establish their characters as the other elements of performance.

How much of this quintessential cinematic aspect then transfer into games? Complex narratives and artistic intention are now arguably what defines a good game. Is it the same for gameplay dialogue?

Do games talk differently? Are they less cinematic and more instructive? How are the scripts written? More importantly, throughout the history of games, how have they transformed from short non-sensical beeps from the monitor to voice-acted commands by famous celebrities?

In the following weeks, this is what I'll be exploring, hopefully offering some unique perspective as someone outside of the gaming community. With a new game to analyse each time, I will explore the scripts of games, the influence they have on their players, and how this varies between different types of games.

#gaming #scriptwriting #filmmaking