Update #73: Narrative Design: A Day in the Life, Companion Goals, and the Undead

[BAdler]

Update by Eric Fenstermaker, Lead Narrative Designer

 

Undead abound in Heritage Hill.

 

Hey everybody. I'm Eric Fenstermaker and I'm the lead narrative designer on Pillars of Eternity. Before this I held the same position on South Park: The Stick of Truth, so if the dialogue in Eternity ends up being a long string of obscenities and fart jokes, you know who to blame. You can direct all hate mail to my work email account, brandon.adler@obsidian.net.

 

I know we suggested last week that I was going to give you a lore update, but I thought, this is a crowdfunded project. Why not completely fail to deliver on what was promised and instead give our backers something no one asked for?

 

I have three things for you today - the first is a look at what my daily experience is like, then I'm going to talk a bit about some high-level goals we have for writing our companion characters, and finally I might just have some lore about Eternity's undead.

 

On the next episode of Pillars of Eternity: Josh Sawyer writes a class update about wizards and druids, and Adam meets a wacky goblin neighbor only he can see!

 

But what to talk about first? Being a narcissist, the answer is obvious.

 

What It Is Like to Be Me

 

Today has been busy and varied. I thought it might be interesting to take you through a typical day as a narrative lead person. I will tell it in second person so it feels like virtual reality. Most of this is somewhat based on real events - at least as much as American Hustle.

 

10:05 AM

 

You arrive at work. Take serpentine route to your desk to avoid being seen by anyone who would frown upon your five minutes' tardiness. End up accidentally passing all of them in the hallway anyway. Pass subordinate in hallway too. Shake your head at him to note disapproval of his tardiness.

 

10:10 AM - 10:25 AM

 

Watch internet video of intro to Japanese wrestling match featuring life-sized animatronic raptor. Dream of making it big as a game designer and having a raptor of your own. Someday...

 

10:25 AM

 

Deny your subordinate's purchase request for an ergonomic keyboard to help with her carpal tunnel. That is what stem cells are for. Back to work, slave.

 

10:30 AM- 11:30 AM

 

Brainstorming meeting: What kind of monsters can we reasonably use in an urban docks district along the shoreline that somehow have not worked the surrounding populace into a panic? Proposals: invisible giant crabs, giants with poor height genes from both parents, low-key mummies.

 

11:30 AM

 

Reminded for seventh time about backer update, which you knew about but have been deliberately putting off. Chastise producer for not reminding you enough.

 

11:50 AM - 12:00 AM

 

Called in to review cutscene animatic. Despite the storyboard being delivered exactly as asked for, you berate the storyboard artist to consolidate power. This is garbage, GARBAGE!

 

12:00 PM

 

Lunch alone at office desk, like every day.

 

So alone.

 

12:10 PM - 1:00 PM

 

Spend the rest of lunch on Facebook and Twitter making it look like you have the perfect life and everybody loves you.

 

1:00 PM - ??

 

Intermittent raptor daydreams.

 

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

 

Work with narrative designer on the design for a new companion centered exclusively on maximizing companion's potential to be spun off into a line of toys. Huge adorable eyes, soft plush fur, impressive physique, ability to transform into racecar, check, check, check and check.

 

2:30 PM - 4:30 PM

 

Passing off subordinates' ideas as your own. Crushing their spirit.

 

4:30 PM - 5:00 PM

 

Brainstorm barbarian clan names.

 

• The Large and in Charge Clan
• Clan Pizzaface
• The One-Man Clan
• The Passive-Aggressors
• The Doughmen

 

5:00 PM -7:00 PM

 

Annoy backers.

 

In Summary

I may have taken a few liberties, but some of that is really a snapshot as to what my role is.

 

Day-to-day, I spend a fair amount of time coordinating the efforts of narrative designers with level designers, so for example I really did have a meeting this morning to figure out how on Earth we could have a quest with some monster combat in a populated, more-or-less oblivious urban district without the monsters there feeling absurdly out of place. The game needs to be fun, first and foremost, with or without a story. It's ultimately my responsibility to make sure that the fun things our designers come up with have a cohesive narrative wrapped around them. Sometimes it's an easy fit, sometimes it's a puzzle to be solved. Fortunately I am backed up by some very talented designers whose ideas I can steal liberally - that part was all true, too.

 

It's also on me to try and make sure the story is being told properly in-game, so there was in fact a meeting with a storyboard artist to look through one of our game's introductory cutscenes. Our concept artists' stick figures look better than the most realistic human portrait I could ever draw.

 

And I have to curate lore, though that's a responsibility I share with Josh Sawyer, our project lead. In general I prefer this to be a decentralized process where designers come up with things that make their quests and areas and subplots cool, and then we find ways together to work them into the overall scheme. But there was also a good amount of up-front central planning, dating back to before I was on the project. In this case, today I did have a long conversation with a couple of our level guys about the names and personalities of a set of barbarian-ish tribes.

 

Skeletons...

 

What's missing from the above is that on some days, when I am fortunate, I get to do some writing for the project, which is really fun. If you are a narrative lead you get to claim all the choicest dialogues for yourself. It's a great privilege, which is one reason why so many narrative leads are murdered by the narrative designer who is next-in-line.

 

So Alone

 

Companions may be my favorite things about RPGs. Long after you've finished the game, looking back, if they're done well, they feel like old friends. Lately we have been ramping up our companion writing. (We really did have a discussion about one of those designs today, and did some iteration on it.) As such, I've been giving a lot of thought of late as to what our goals should be in creating the companions for Pillars of Eternity, and I thought they'd be worth sharing with the people we're designing them for. These are a few of the benchmarks I want us to try to hit:

 

Interactively Dynamic

 

It's common in most types of fiction for major characters (or the protagonist at the very least) to follow an arc, in which their character begins a certain way and ends up being changed by the events of the story, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. But for a video game, that's not really taking advantage of the medium. This is a story about the player's character, told by the player's actions. It stands to reason that the ways in which a companion would change should be dependent on what the player does.

 

So we have an arc for each of our companions, but each arc has multiple potential endpoints, in just the same way that the plot has multiple endings. Which endpoint the arc ends up at will be, in one way or another, determined by what the player does - whether it's something they say or an action they take or some other choice they make. This was an approach we last took in Fallout: New Vegas and I thought it was something to definitely keep.

 

Unique, Varied, Relatable Ambassadors

 

Chris Avellone touched on this in a previous update, and it remains a core goal for us. Pillars of Eternity takes place in a brand new setting. Most players won't know their boreal dwarf chanters from their hearth orlan ciphers. Getting to know companions that run the gamut of races, classes, and cultures will help the setting come alive and hopefully become a place players will find themselves wanting to stay awhile. Each companion, in a sense, becomes an ambassador for his or her race, culture, and class.

 

And we only have so many companions. So they can't all be snarky elves (or can they?) - they need different characterizations, different voices, different struggles. As a designer, you never know what's going to strike a nerve with a given player. Rarely for our games is there a universal favorite companion - almost always there seems to be an even distribution for how many players like each character. In some ways that's maddening, because how do you adjust for that, but it's also one of the best things about writing companions - as long as you write a character that is authentic in its humanity, somewhere, somebody is going to identify with it, and that will be the character they enjoyed spending time with the most. By varying widely the particulars of each companion's persona and struggles, the hope is that while not everybody will necessarily love every companion, most will find at least one that means something to them.

 

Lanterns to the Themes

"Why should the player care?" is a question we try to ask ourselves for all aspects of the narrative. When it comes to plot, the question is answered by its themes - they make the plot about something more than a physical struggle.

 

But again, our narrative is interactive. The themes shouldn't be predetermined morals. There should be many facets to them, and it should fall to the player, not the designer, to decide what his or her perspective winds up being on the theme. To take a well-worn example, if the theme is about the struggle of good vs. evil (don't worry, it's not), the ending shouldn't simply assert that good always triumphs over evil. It should ask the player what he or she believes, given everything they've learned on their journey. Maybe they even surprise themselves with their choice.

 

That's where companions come in. If we're designing them well, their struggles should tie into the themes on some level. And the resolution they come to, which, because of the interactive dynamism discussed above, is influenced by the player, gives them a distinct perspective on the theme. The goal is that in the process of helping the companions resolve their conflicts, we give the player something to think about for what that might mean in the context of his or her own character, and in the long run, that gives the themes personal meaning when it comes time to resolve them for the player character.

I'd be interested to hear, what do all of you think? Not so much specific characterizations, but more, what are the abstract qualities that make you enjoy and remember a companion? (e.g. They made you laugh, they seemed like a real person, their quest was engrossing, etc.)

 

Here, Have Some Lore

Compensation for being subjected to the rest of this update.

 

All my best ideas are stolen. This one I ripped off from our lead level designer, Bobby Null. It is about the undead.

 

Male and female darguls.

 

One of the strengths of the Eternity setting, in my opinion, is its ability to put a new spin on the familiar. Let's be honest, you've seen undead before in a video game or two. I bet you've had a virtual conflict with a skeleton or perhaps even a zombie. But no matter how many times we see them, they're fantasy RPG staples - it'd be weird not to have them, and many people would really miss them were they omitted.

 

So we did some thinking as to how we could have undead but have them be our own special brand of undead that makes sense in this world.

 

This is How Undead Work

Let's say you are a wealthy noble who would like to cheat death. There are a variety of options at your disposal, but this offer from a shady animancer sounds the most painless. All he is going to do is bind your soul to your body, so that way when you die, your soul stays put and you still retain all your motor control.

 

Sign me up, you say. Suck on this, death! The animancer sets up some bizarre tools and machines, has you hold onto some copper wires, and before you know it the whole thing is over. He leaves and takes his fee. A few years later you die in a horrific skiing accident. Not to worry! Your soul isn't going anywhere. You are living large, my friend. But here's the thing. Your soul isn't going anywhere, but your body is. It starts to decompose. Slowly at first. A maggot here, a maggot there. And you are starting to get weird cravings, kind of like a pregnant woman, but instead of peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches, you could really go for some human flesh.

 

So you eat some guys. And lo and behold, the decomposition stops! You're cured! Except that after a while, you start to rot again. Over time, you find that eating folks and absorbing the essence from their flesh is the only way to stop decomposition. But after a while you run out of neighbor kids and it gets harder and harder to track down a meal. Flesh is dropping off in chunks. And it feels like your IQ has fallen a few points, like that time you used to live next to that industrial solvent factory. In time, your mind goes as well as your body. You become feral, then near-vegetative, then purely mechanical - your body nothing more than a fleshless marionette.

 

Revenant bestiary concepts.

 

What you have just done is experienced the full continuum of undeath. Corporeal undead in this world all suffer from the same malady, and are merely in different stages of decomposition. How do you get this condition? It's usually something that you would get by commissioning an unscrupulous animancer to help you live forever, or by volunteering for a "harmless clinical trial." These ladies and gentlemen have been studying a certain banned piece of literature known as the Theorems of Padgram and are trying to develop a true path to immortality. But there are supposedly other ways - certain alchemical tinctures, ancient architecturally-embedded machinery, self-pleasure (according to some disapproving Dyrwoodan moms), etc.

 

• You start as a fampyr. (And these names are not different-for-the-sake-of-different - they're just following location-appropriate linguistic rules.) By appearances, you're basically a normal person who is going through a bit of a cannibal phase.
• Allow yourself to decompose for a while, and you start to lose control of your urges, and your memory begins to slip away. Your self-consciousness is flimsy. You are now what's called a dargul.
• Much more decomposition, and you become bestial. Your hair is gone (if it wasn't already), the flesh sags on your bones, and you live only to feed your hunger. You are a gul, but you don't give it much thought at this point. You just think you are hungry.
• Then your mind gets really pretty thoroughly rotted, like what happens if you play a lot of FPSes, and you're only running at the basest level of instinct. You have no memory. You, my friend, are a revenant, and you are not very fun at parties.
• After the last bit of flesh falls away, and the last mildly complicated neural synaptic path fires for the final time, you're running on pure reflex. You're not even hungry anymore (no stomach!). Your body is a murderous automaton. You are a skeleton, and your next step is dust.

 

Lastly

 

It's a fun time for the project. Amazing new level art and some of what I think are our best quests yet are being added every day, and I'm very excited for what's ahead. I personally want to express my appreciation for the thing all of you made happen by backing us, and I want to do everything I can to make sure you guys are suitably rewarded for your efforts.

 

Thanks for reading and don't forget to fill out your backer surveys. Those of you who have surveys will find them on your account page on the backer portal under the Surveys tab. You have until March 31st before they become as worthless as that Myspace page I had in college with all the animated gifs on it, so get those suckers in. Huge thanks to those who've filled theirs out - the team is already putting that content into the game and it's coming out pretty slick.

 

Last Lastly... reddit /r/Games AMA

 

Hey, everyone. This is Brandon. One last note, the Eternity team will be taking part in a reddit AMA in /r/Games. This is scheduled for today at 5:30 PM PST, so be on the lookout.

[C2B]

[C2B]

Yeah, most entertaining update to date.

 

Edited February 25, 2014 by C2B

[Lephys]

*bows*

 

No amount of punning on my part could ever come close to the ocean of humor comprising the entirety of that update. AND it was informative!

 

That's a pretty cool take on undead. I mean, they're still familiar-ish undead. But, they're PoE's own undead. Kudos on that, ^_^

 

Also, maybe occasionally pick someone at random in the office (maybe even someone who actually IS doing a horrible job, because you don't have time for actual evaluation!) sometime and just tell them how awesome what they're doing is. You know, just so a prophecy of hope will be born, about the lowly designer who will one day not have all his ideas stolen, and will finally destroy that ring you forged specifically for the purpose of perpetuating your very essence, thousands of years ago, in an evil volcano.

[Gumbercules]

Good first update, Eric! It was funny while still being informative. The "translation" of jokes into actual info was a nice touch.

 

I like how the corporeal undead have been arranged into a continuum. I do have a question about the fampyr however. I take it they are supposed to be PoE's version of vampires, in a sense? I'm wondering if they have any of the powers often associated with vampires, or even just an increase in power over a regular living person in general? From the description it seems like they don't, but then again just the fact that they're sticking around for much longer than normal people could mean that they have the chance to develop their existing powers more than normal. That could actually be more interesting than typical vampire-specific powers.

[JFSOCC]

I'd be interested to hear, what do all of you think? Not so much specific characterizations, but more, what are the abstract qualities that make you enjoy and remember a companion? (e.g. They made you laugh, they seemed like a real person, their quest was engrossing, etc.)

I've been dying to get a companion who is intelligent and not annoying. (someone who actually has social skills) Someone I can have a serious discussion with and enjoy it. Loyal characters who question my choices and not my character, or at least question my choices before questioning my character.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

I wonder how many people have googled and watch the video of the Japanese wrestling match with the life-sized animatronic raptor. That was a great video.

[Endrosz]

You can direct all hate mail to my work email account, brandon.adler@obsidian.net.

Ouch, that was a low blow...

 

I appreciate humor a lot, thanks for taking the time to spice up this update!

[Gumbercules]

BTW, still waiting for that video of Feargus fighting a puff adder.

[Lephys]

I think the main thing for me, when it comes to companions, is that they feel like a real person. I mean, one could say that about almost any NPC in the world, or even the world design, itself (that it feel like a real world, etc.), but, more so for companions, since you spend so much time with them (potentially).

 

They really just need to feel like they've got multiple things going on that form the whole of who they are, such that, in one situation, they might be laughing and joking about stuff and saying "Hah, let's steal things!", and in another similar situation, some specifics might have them struggling with a decision, or deciding something else entirely, or entering a completely different mood. I just want them to feel like they're dealing with stuff, too, instead of just being really elaborate robots of a specific model, designed to simply be "The witty thief guy with questionable morals."

 

I think why the companions are who they are and how they are is more important than simply who they are. And that "why" should show itself throughout the game, and be something worth wanting to know.

 

It doesn't even need to be some super-elaborate, perfect backstory or personality style or anything. They simply need to feel like they haven't figured out everything in the world already, or that they haven't decided everything ahead of time. The best way to tie them into the themes is to have them interact with the themes as a person would. That they're a member of a given race, or grew up a certain way, or in a certain rank/position/class, etc., is an excellent framework, but all of that hardly matters if they don't feel like they're struggling with the same stuff everyone else is struggling with -- humanity, flaws, hopes, etc.

[rjshae]

Thank you for the update, it was an enjoyable read.

 

What kind of monsters can we reasonably use in an urban docks district along the shoreline that somehow have not worked the surrounding populace into a panic? Proposals: invisible giant crabs, giants with poor height genes from both parents, low-key mummies.

 

Perhaps monsters that can disguise themselves as children; appearing as slightly odd looking, raggamuffin pickpockets during the day but swarming flesh eaters at night. (Piles of fish guts will typically sate them, supplemented by the occasional drunken human wandering down the wrong alley).

[Gyor]

Self Pleasure leads to immortality? Wahoo! I'M GOING TO LIVE FOREVER!

[mudd1]

I really like the new screenshot. It has that painterly look that I found often missing from previous screenshots. The cobbles don't have any weird CG shine left, the wood looks like wood ... it's just great

[Falkon Swiftblade]

I enjoy the obsidian teams humor and witt. Nice update, the types of things that make companions the most enjoyable to me are ones with very interesting personality's. Like minsc, he was an odd ball, but was fun. I also really like when they have something about them that reflects a strong sense of discipline. Master Splinter in teenage mutant ninja turtles, or yoda in star wars were awesome because they were old, wise, but bad ass mofos that could fight. Sometimes a companion can be awesome because they seem very average then unlock their true potential, Jean Grey who became phoenix in xmen was a cool character because of that. I think its good to have a mixture of seasoned veterans & clumsy adventurers new like you. Neera the wildmage in the new baldurs gates enhanced edition is a good ecample. That's another thing, she's likable because she's random, sometimes she's a big help, other times she goofs up and ruins things. That humor is fun.

[Maltry]

In regards to companions.  I prefer the feeling that those traveling with my character have a life outside of that.  A history and goals that exist independent of you, and that you can then help *them* with. 

 

Helping a companion sort out their own moral path, or accomplish their goals, is always what makes me most invested in them. 

[Doppelschwert]

Overall, nice update, thanks for the information and the humor!

 

As for companions, I just want them to have common sense most and foremost. They should be as rational as not to invoke a facepalm on my side with regards to their plans and the information available to them in order to be likeable for me. This is also the reason why I disliked some of the companions in the NWN2 OC - not everybody needs to be a rational person, but they should have enough common sense to not get carried away too much.

 

 

*bows*

No amount of punning on my part could ever come close to the ocean of humor comprising the entirety of that update. AND it was informative!

 

Maybe you should apply to become his apprentice as a puncrafter?

(BTW, I actually like most of your puns )

Edited February 26, 2014 by Doppelschwert

[Ieo]

Hm, so I missed where Chris Avellone is in all of this, maybe...

[Hiro Protagonist II]

I'm guessing the type of undead in the update would include the D&D equivalent of Ghasts, Devourers, Lacedons, Liches, Mummies and similar monsters? Also, will there be other types of undead like Ghosts, Shadows, Spectres and Wraiths and will have a different type of Lore and reasoning behind them?

[LadyCrimson]

*reads update post*

*chuckles*

*laughs*

*guffaws*

*wipes tears from face*

 

...so much awesomeness.

 

Not typically all that into "lore" but I loved the undead example. Not just the current average "disease/virus/plague/alien spore" stuff. I like the idea of them being a result of trying to outwit death. You reap what you sow, perhaps.

[Tuckey]

To me characters should have things going on and a certain amount of history that lends them a certain amount of depth. You shouldn't know everything there is about them straight away. Also they should have likeable qualities even if they are largely douchey characters. It is unbelievable to me that anyone would want to be around a character who was purely self-centered obnoxious and unpleasant unless they are downtrodden in some way.

 

You should be able to empathise with characters you travel with but not just in a serious way; That includes silly and zany expressions that are in keeping with that character because we all have lighter moments even among the darkness.

 

Progressing through a characters conversation tree shouldn't be possible on the first try but should be progressively opened up as you journey together or even journey apart. Not all conversations you have with a character should be player character initiated and should be triggered by character priorities and geography as well as other members of your party and their points of conflict or mutual interest.

 

As for the undead...

I like the lore on the undead. I have a lore question for the developers .

 

Q: Would it be possible for animancers to create an undead army that way or are all undead independent agents by definition?

[tajerio]

My favorite companions have major differences with my character, but eventually they come to respect and trust me (and vice versa).  That's where I feel the best territory for memorable companions is--the companion's still morally and intellectually distinct enough from my character to disagree, sometimes vehemently, but ultimately we understand one another and can come together in the pursuit of some higher goal.

 

Love the undead lore.  It's a great blend of the familiar with the new.

[StrangeCat]

The Undead ideas sound good but I am hoping you take it much much farther then that with souls and Gods and whatever else is part of the world you created.

 

Look forward to hearing about your companions.

[SunBroSolaire]

Great update Eric. I'm glad the companions will have multiple endings for their character arcs, I really liked that in New Vegas. I thought Boone had a particularly cool arc because he takes so long to open up to the PC - it feels really natural when you finally do get to his mission.

 

The undead concept reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Ravenous, so that's cool.

[CDR Crowley]

The companions I have the fondest memories of are pretty much all of the companions from Mask of the Betrayer. I liked some more than others, but they all felt like real, complex people with their fair share of flaws. They also had their own motivations, usually driven by specific parts of their pasts, and they followed the PC because their motivations and the PC's lined up, at least to some degree (exactly how much depended on how you played). Even their quests were tied into the main plot, reinforcing the idea that they were with the PC because they wanted to be instead of the PC just being a magnet that draws companions to them for gameplay purposes (come to think of it, KOTOR II actually had that as a plot point, which was a great in story explanation of a game mechanic).

Comparatively, some of the most annoying companions I ever encountered were in the NWN2 main campaign, where they seemed like cardboard cutouts more often then not. They were set up just enough to have some real potential to be interesting characters, but there wasn't enough follow through on that end. They were entertaining cardboard cutouts, and many of them were likeable, but they could have been so much more.

 

Oddly enough, one of the best companions in NWN2 was Shandra, even though the game forced you to have her in your party for the second act, which is usually enough to turn me off from a companion. She had a very human element to her and the PC had reasons to care what happened to her, not just because she was needed for the plot, but because  the PC was largely responsible for much of the misfortune she suffered before joining the party. She also never hesitated to tell the PC (and by extent the player) off when she disagreed with them, but she made her views felt and then let the player decided instead of constantly nagging them about something.

 

The other truly interesting companion from that game was Ammon. Much like the MotB companions, he was interesting because he had deep ties to the PC, the plot, and clearly stated motivations (although motivations do not need to be clearly stated, so long as we can tell that they exist and there's some sort of logic to them) that drove his character, as well as a list of flaws as long as my arm. On top of all that, he was a well executed, (mostly) unrepentant, believable evil character, which is rare enough to begin with. The fact that he was a companion and that the player was actually given a chance to understand how he became what he was and possibly even sympathise with him was just icing on the cake.

 

Basically, good companions are ones that have reason to exist beyond "We need to check the elf druid box", perferably reasons that tie into the main plot of the game itself, are relateable, and act human so that they're doing things for a reason and not just blatanly fulfilling a role that the plot demands be filled with no further depth or purpose.

[Tauron]

Informative and trying to be funny, you score points for trying, thank you for update.