Inside the Gaming Studio: Halo 4's Narrative Director Armando Troisi

By Patrick Dane / November 6, 2012

, I hope to interview some of the most accomplished gamemakers and explore how they get to the finished product. Trying to understand the process and theory of their work will hopefully create a database that some may find useful, stimulating or at the very least, interesting. There is no regular posting schedule for the series but hopefully it will be regular enough to engage you as readers. The talent that I talk to may often be centered around an upcoming release or just a developer who I am really eager to talk to. So welcome, wipe your shoes on the mat and come into the Gaming Studio. Narratives are strange things. While what they are (a succession of narrated events, or a story) is concrete, how we experience them is not. Watching a narrative unfold in a movie is very different to how we experience the narrative of a photograph or painting. And video games are no different. In fact they are theoretically more complex. Video game narratives often have to deal with something not too many other mediums do, a player. So how do you construct a narrative in a video game with this mischievous 'player' interacting with the story you created for them? That is the job of Armando Troisi. It is probably a safe bet to say that almost all of you with an Xbox 360 are going to be experiencing his work within the next few days, because Troisi is the Narrative Director on Halo 4. If you have ever touched the Mass Effect series, you have already played through some of his work - Troisi was the Lead Cinematic Director on Mass Effect 2 and was responsible for implementing the conversations and cinematics that complemented the games so well. And I was lucky enough to have a quick conversation with him as Halo 4 is finally hits shelves today (you can read our five star review here). Here is what he had to say: The Early Process of Video Game Narratives

Early in the development process, I find it effective to not try and answer all the questions about the story upfront, rather I prefer to answer story questions "Just-in-time" to allow other groups to continue working. This methodology of narrative design allows the story to move organically and in lock, step with the rest of the game which is bound to change. This agile approach to story keeps things loose and fluid during the critical opening iterations of the game. This approach is different than what many in the industry do. Many designers believe writing the entire story out in detail like a movie script is the best course of action when writing a game story, but that has not been my experience at all. Game design is a fluid and evolving art form where the most valuable commodity is our ability to react and change to design changes that will eventually occur. As levels, art and mechanics begins to solidify the story follows along. Answer the right story questions in the right order is a key pillar in successful interactive story production.

Methodology in Practice

I try to answer the correct questions in the correct order. At the beginning of a project there are some questions that need to be answered right away to unlock teams and I tackle those right away. For example, the character team will need to know what characters are in the game, Level art will need to know locations and so on. But even when answering these questions we don't bother to lock down unnecessary details and give the teams just enough information to do the job that is directly ahead of them. For example, if we know there is a scientist in our story we call him by a code name not the name we want to give to him. That kind of detail often turns into needless debate that doesn't move the project forward. Right now all we need to know is there is a scientist and provide a few details about this character. We then let the character design team come back with ideas and concepts that feedback into the next iteration of the story. This circular feedback and iteration loop happens across the game guided by our production schedule until we have a fully fleshed out character.

Game Mechanics within the Narrative

Using the production methodology mentioned above, game mechanics and story context around those mechanics would happen in partnership from the beginning. This partnership between narrative and design is critical to "threading the needle" and making mechanics feel like and organic part of the story. After all, gameplay tells a story just as much as voice over or cinematics. If we stay agile and grow content together with our partners in systems design narrative and gameplay will be more likely to intertwine naturally with many emergent opportunities to add supporting structures, fiction to support the feature.

Unity in Game Design

Narrative, Design and Art grow together. When a level art and design are first playable the narrative is also first playable. This is the key to successful narrative design in video games. If any of the content disciplines charges forward or get left behind the game quality suffers. The role of production is to make these aspects develop evenlyacross the project to create the most compelling experience possible.

Learning the Theory

Messing up, learning and being fortunate enough to have another kick at the can is how I€™ve always done it. Also, always looking at other art forms and drawing parallels and conclusions based on other works is also part of my process.

The Player's Choice

The interactive component of a game will inherently contribute to absurdity in your story. As narrative designers, we need to accept and account for player choice and agency. For example, in a level we can set up the premise of "OMG the ship is breaking apart! You need to get off now!" as a mechanism to build tension. But through choice, the player could choose to explore the level or engage in pure "play" after this premise is established. If these mechanics that allow for€ play€ are established as part of the mechanical design punishing the player for delaying, exploring or €œplaying€ in an ineffective design choice. A more effective design would allow them to engage in this activity even though is directly contradicts the narrative design of the level. The goal should be to suggesting the critical path of action and make it a compelling choice for the player to make. Forcing them along the designer€™s path is not a good design choice no matter what. It€™s the player game and the player€™s story, we need to respect that.

The Pillars of Game Storytelling

The basics of storytelling in games the same as other more mature mediums, tell a compelling story and people will be satisfied. If you break down the linage of other popular forms of storytelling you will see video games not as a revolution but rather an evolution of established paradigms. If we look at novels, films or plays we have the three basic considerations that make up the experience. This includes narrative (specific words and actions) Drama (the coloring and performance of the narrative) Presentation (print, film, stage). These considerations push and pull on each other to gives us everything from a novel to a 3D-Film. They are all interconnected and form the building blocks of modern entertainment. Games and other new media storytelling mediums add a fourth component of interactivity which both complicates, advances and deepens the story experience. We're just learning how to manage this new consideration and the industry is doing a pretty good job at it. The big question is now what the fifth consideration will be in the future and the complexity it will have on the existing pillars. Games can certainly be like movies as long as they behave like games. This is a common critic of games which don't manage the interactive component of their narrative design properly.

The Clues Towards the Future of Gaming

Specifically in regards to how storytelling will grow in the video game industry, I would venture to say that the elusive component is social in nature. If we look at other modern examples of interactive storytelling we find clues as to how a social component might be transferable to a digital entertainment platform. For example, in live action role-playing, we see many components of social interaction weaved into the narrative of the event. In these sessions "how" people interact with each other is just as important as €œwhy€ or €œwho€ they interact. This human component leaves room for both interpretation and emergent story opportunities outside of the prescribed narrative. Much like video games give players ownership of story through choice, the live action roles player derives ownership and control over the story through social interaction.

We Don't Want Citizen Kane

I think games are such an evolving and changing medium that having a definitive gold standard is hard to nail down and I think that's a good thing. The reason we have come so far in such a short amount of time is that we don't have our Citizen Kane yet and I don't think we want one. Every generation of games builds forward momentum in the genre that makes the previous obsolete. It's the software nature of our business and something which we should embrace.

Indie Games are the Seeds of Inovation

Indie games are part of the innovation process that propels our industry forward. Indie represents our risk takers and our dreamers who will plant the seeds for the next big innovations in genre, controls and character. They prototype new ideas for the rest of the industry to accept own and iterate on. Indie is cool and cool is what we need.

The Difference Between Mass Effect and Halo 4

Narrative can be defined on so many levels and while it may not be apparent at first blush Halo is full of player choice that affects the narrative, it just does it in a different manner than Mass Effect. In Mass Effect, the design is based on choice and consequence that affect specific words, actions and events. While Halo doesn't sport a branching story structure like Mass Effect, it does allow players to explore and add meaning to what they are doing through various media channels. One of the main features of the Halo narrative structure is the transmedia offerings we provide with the title. Channels like the comics, novels, and live action series Forward Unto Dawn are designed to weave into narrative of the game adding meaning, depth and context to event across the title. This additive experience is designed to reward who participate without alienating or breaking the experience for those who don't. While this is not as blatant as choosing your mission or who lives and dies in the game narrative, the design is similar. In Mass you "change the story through interaction" in Halo you €œchange the story through participation€ though the implementation is different the principles are the same.

Halo 4 is out now. All the reviews say it is quite possibly the best in the franchise's history, so make sure you get out there and get a hold of the game. Keep an eye on WhatCulture! in the next few days for more interviews with the Halo 4 story team.