Narrative of Videogames, Automation of a Proposed Analysis Model

Abstract

Videogames are cultural products that are immersed in practically all social dynamics. These products convey messages, stories, facts, etc., created and reaffirmed by the context that surrounds them. Therefore, it is important to identify their narratives to take advantage of them. At Indoamerica University, students produce videogames starting from a story, from the literary narrative to the interactive game narrative. Achieving effective links between the narratives and the player's experience is fundamental within the design process. This work is based on previous research, where a model was proposed to identify the relationship between literary narrative and narrative in videogames. This proposal, of a qualitative nature, consists of 4 steps: 1. Context, 2. Literary narrative, 3. General description and 4. Relationship between literary and video game narrative. We proceeded to review the model to determine if the videogame narrative is present and appropriate according to the identified story. Workshops were conducted based on a participatory practice, taking advantage of the university academic context, with experts in the areas of videogames, digital design, psychology, education, literature, together with the creators of these products. This allowed correcting certain aspects and finally improving the original model adjusted to emphasize the narrative in videogames. This result was adapted to a quantitative approach for automation, following the recommendations of Adams and Dormans, as well as the use of the Scrum methodology. The automation was achieved using Microsoft Word with the support of Visual Basic for Applications, thus generating an accessible tool, easy to apply and with immediate results. It is planned to include the use of this tool in future projects and to highlight the importance of videogame narrative in the corresponding syllabus.