Welcome to GreenvaleWelcome to GreenvaleWelcome to GreenvaleWelcome to Greenvale
  • Main
  • News
  • Game Info
    • Deadly Premonition (2010)
      • Accolades (2010)
      • Credits
    • Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut (2013)
      • My Review
  • Specifics
    • Available Vehicles
    • Characters
    • Creatures
    • Driving Conversations
    • Items
    • Trading Cards
    • Weapons
    • Suits and Alternate Costumes
  • Strategy
    • Beginner’s Guide (2010)
    • Greenvale Map
    • Races
    • Side Missions
    • Boss Strategies
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010)
      • Prologue
      • Episode 1
      • Episode 2 Part 1
      • Episode 2 Part 2
      • Episode 3
      • Episode 4
      • Episode 5
      • Episode 6
      • Episode 7
  • Secrets
    • Easter Eggs
    • Profiling & Clues
    • Special Menu
    • Achievements/Trophies (2010)
    • Director’s Cut Achievements (2013)
    • Steam Trading Cards
  • Development
    • Rainy Woods (2007)
    • Possible Character Inspirations
    • Game Developer Magazine Post Mortem
    • GDC 2011: Game Design in the Coffee
    • GDC 2011: Destructoid Q&A
    • The Official Visual Companion
  • Marketing
    • Ads and Merchandise
    • Official Sites
  • Media
    • Soundtrack and Lyrics
    • Screenshots & Artwork
    • Downloads
    • Fan Works
    • Greenvale Radio Podcast
    • Podcasts
    • Videos (WtG YT)
    • Deadly Premonition Archives YT
    • My DP (2010) Let’s Play
    • My DPDC (2013) Let’s Play
  • Site Related
    • About the Site
    • STORE
    • Sister Site: Silent Hill Historical Society
    • Sister Site: Silent Hill Collection
NextPrevious

SWERY at GDC 2011

By Whitney | interviews | 5 comments | 3 March, 2011 | 0

Couldn’t go to GDC 2011 to see SWERY talk….neither could I, luckily Gamasutra has provided a nice summary of his talk!

swery

In 2010, Deadly Premonition was a surprise hit among players searching for a deep narrative single player game, and went on to win over a dozen end of the year awards from a variety of media outlets (including Gamasutra). At GDC 2011, Deadly Premonition director Hidetaka โ€œSweryโ€ Suehiro, revealed his seven tactics for creating a memorably story that will inspire a strong fan reaction.

Point 1: Make gamers think about your game when they arenโ€™t playing it.
Relate actions in the game to actions players take in real life. โ€œGamers who smoke have said this a lot โ€“ when they see York smoke in the game, they want to light up in their living room,โ€ said Suehiro. โ€œSleeping, Hunger, and Shaving, wanting to stay clean. Though these things seem unnecessary at first glance, they help with the cause and effect.โ€ The goal is to link memories of Deadly Premonition with the playerโ€™s actions real world.

Suehiro says he likes to put daily human needs in the game, because they help affect the player outside the screen. โ€œPlayful elementsโ€ like predictions in the coffee, discussing movies lead to players identifying with the characters. โ€œTheyโ€™ve also told us theyโ€™ve rented one of the movies York talked about in the car,โ€ he said. These things linger in your mind.

(My Notes: I have to say even after a year I still try and find FK in my coffee and I even checked out Xanadu ๐Ÿ™‚ )

Point 2: Make gamers actively โ€œwantโ€ to play through your meticulously scripted story.
Being forced to play through a tightly-bound storyline is a chore. โ€œThose rails make the player feel like theyโ€™re being forced to do something. How do we alleviate that?โ€ he asks. โ€œHow do you make them want to play through it?โ€

There are two pre-existing methods; multiple endings, and side quests. DP used a third method โ€“ freedom of timing โ€“ allowing for a โ€œchange of heartโ€ from the player. They can stop whatever quest theyโ€™re on at any time, and take another path. It creates the illusion of freedom. โ€œOnce theyโ€™re comfortable, theyโ€™re more willing to get involved in the story,โ€ he says.

In other games, including his previous game Spy Fiction, you get scolded for failure. In Deadly Premonition they wanted the main character, York, to go along with the player when he changes his mind. โ€œThatโ€™s exactly what I was thinking,โ€ is the feeling York gives the player when he or she goes off the rails of the story to pursue their own path. In fact, an important character within the story itself tells the player that timing is whatโ€™s important, not speed.

The goal is to earn the playerโ€™s cooperation with the story and suspension of disbelief. To do this, youโ€™ve got to allow for a retry at any time, support the playerโ€™s actions 100%, and modify the story to allow for a playerโ€™s change of heart. Player feels empowered due to decision being allowed.

(My Notes:What’s funny is when I first played Deadly Premonition I tried my best not to be late for anything, but I found when I stuck to the game schedule I missed out on a lot of side missions. When I realized I could make my own schedule and basically tell George and Emily….well George mainly to fuck off I had a lot more fun! )

Point 3: Creating a storyline for a free-roaming open world game.
โ€œWe need to make a universe and characters in our game that are unique,โ€ he says. Vague characters never stick in anyoneโ€™s mind.

When creating a storyline, itโ€™s not uncommon that youโ€™d figure out the map of the game world, and character details after the script for the main plot is complete. In DP they created the high level synopsis, then the map and character details, then made a 24 hour action table for each characterโ€™s daily life. Only then did they finalize the plot.

โ€œThe universe, the environment, and the characters are just as important as the storyline,โ€ he says, especially for a free roaming open world game. โ€œWhen we started making this game many years ago, there werenโ€™t many games with free-roaming storylines that we could refer to,โ€ said Suehiro, and this was the solution they came up with.

(My Notes: All the characters in Deadly Premonition are pretty memorable. I also like how each have their routine. Even if you are done with the game it’s fun to stalk a character and see what they do in 24 hours. One of my friends followed Michael and Mr. Stewart around with some hilarious results )

(watch until the end, I promise it’s worth it!)

Point 4: Prevent players from quitting the game at the result screen.
Any game that prioritizes getting the player to finish the game over getting the player to want to learn more of the story is already dead. Every pause in a game, such as a results screen or chapter end, is a place a player might choose to quit.

โ€œWe inserted a glimpse of the next challenge before the results screen, making them want to know what happens next,โ€ Suehiro said, though he did not address the idea of making a game where results screens and stages arenโ€™t necessary, such as in larger open world games like the Fallout series.

Point 5: Make appealing characters.
โ€œIf you canโ€™t remember any of the names of the characters, then that game is crappy,โ€ said Suehiro. Note down everything you can possibly think of about a character, to really develop them so that theyโ€™ll stick in playersโ€™ minds. โ€œYou need to spend a lot of time to make deep characters,โ€ he says. โ€œIt really helps to generate a resume for every character you make.โ€

He creates a mind map for each character, including habits, hobbies, the characterโ€™s first love, and so forth. Signature phrases and poses are also important, he says, because theyโ€™re easy for fans to recall. โ€œItโ€™s important that your fans can copy the poses and use the phrases,โ€ he says. โ€œYou want your characters to have these elements that are copyable and mimic-able.โ€

โ€œIt could be a lot more natural though,โ€ he said, acknowledging that his own poses and phrases for his main characters were a little extreme. The most important point is that the characters have good and bad points. โ€œThey say every rose has its thorn,โ€ he says. York, for instance, is a good looking agent, but heโ€™s an otaku and inconsiderate. Each character has a main overlying good quality, but some weaknesses built in.

โ€œIt takes courage as a game designer to add a bad side to your character,โ€ he says. โ€œOf course you want everyone to love your characters.โ€ But putting flaws in them makes players actually identify with them more.

My notes: I definitely agree with this, York would not be so memorable if he wasn’t such a smug bastard who constantly talked to himself ๐Ÿ˜‰

Point 6: Direct voice recording sessions.
Characters should speak in a memorable way. How did he voice direct without knowing English? He referred to music and thematic ideas when dealing with the actors. Agent Yorkโ€™s manner of speech is inspired by the Liverpool sound and the British Invasion. โ€œI ocused on the how of the lines being spoken,โ€ he said, focusing on rhythm and โ€œmusically, how they work in the scene. You need to make sure you have your own set of rules when you go to a voice recording.โ€

Point 7: Use your ideas whenever and wherever you can.
โ€œWhatโ€™s most important are your ideas,โ€ he says. You should use all your ideas while you can use them! Even if you feel people may not see everything youโ€™ve put into the game, unnoticed ideas explode when they do get noticed, he says. โ€œYou should use your ideas when you can. Donโ€™t hold on to them until a rainy day.โ€ As an example, he showed the fact that the town of Greenvale where the game takes place, is actually an outline of the Dalmatian in the game.

My notes: Yeah when people realized the map was shaped like Willie it was a big omg moment. ๐Ÿ™‚ But you know it’s probably because most people never really saw the map because they could never zoom out that far…

In the end, Suehiro closed with the thought that that, โ€œIf I get the chance, Iโ€™d like to make another game that makes larger leaps for a world-wide audience.โ€

[update! 03/05/2011]

I found pictures of some of the slides he used during the presentation over on Famitsu ๐Ÿ™‚ I also found some clearer images on the Access Game site. (Also the guy looking into his coffee for FK is totally me now!)

fu19oti3z3q6z5oazu8kr4lpse2g9cg3
fxzqh3a6c822dv8c196us6c64jrkl974
tlp5vihcn3522wk91po5yg39j8j2ngd1
qet9y8ffi5nvyubklm6nqjhnuc7ekihd
hmseq2dthm7ykad1vym1218v6327ac16
pzo84yzi4nnesa38uka6fv835d28rxww
qwec5bx39l9yy94f68uvxxf97hc332qq
xgka66677julqeygfrkv7ir4tyom7efo
sjj9bhxmdz9n4m6e9tvidh3shq23crmy
svguuhhq9jrp17xuxk19b6u4ugktbbcp
uxv1mqm41i8e2e71slhemgyafc73dbs3
vego1gq885tkzyvfritzn56ftdlhg167
uivxjv7x1jdiiukj7dk5vwev67b3t964
wk75g6sb9b86sfi47jzc2zp9zpd7vm9i
xr9mdy5d9y1384ojj7u7tz1362nwq22r
gdc2011_03
gdc2011_04
gdc2011_02
gdc2011_05
gdc2011_07
gdc2011_11
gdc2011_12
gdc2011_13
gdc2011_15
gdc2011_14
No tags.

Whitney

Owner and administrator of Welcome to Greenvale

More posts by Whitney

5 comments

  • Dan Birlew Reply March 3, 2011 at 10:53 pm

    What a candid guy. I can certainly see his intentions manifested in the final product. Hope he does get another chance, like he said.

    • Whitney Reply March 5, 2011 at 9:49 am

      Me too! I would snap up the next game he makes. I really want to pick up Spy Fiction now. Have you ever played it?

      • Dan Birlew Reply March 5, 2011 at 1:47 pm

        No, but I played a demo, and the mechanics might actually be WORSE than Deadly Premonition. But reviews have all praised the storytelling, just like DP. But it doesn’t present nearly the amount of quirky charm DP has, and it was too heavily criticized for being a MGS ripoff. ๐Ÿ˜ Looks like you can still get a used copy for about $10.

  • Sithlibrarian Reply March 13, 2011 at 7:35 pm

    Thanks so much for posting this!

    • Whitney Reply March 13, 2011 at 10:19 pm

      You’re welcome! Though I can’t take all the credit I just reposted Gamasutra’s summary with my own comments. I wish I could have been there myself!

Leave a Comment

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

NextPrevious
ยฉ2010-2017 Whitney C. All Rights Reserved. WTG is an unofficial fan site not formally supported by Ignition, Marvelous, Rising Star Games, or Access Games. Contact: contact@fkinthecoffee.com
  • 100% Completion Guide (2010)
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010) – Episode 1
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010) – Episode 2 Part 1
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010) – Episode 2 Part 2
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010) – Episode 3
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010) – Prologue
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010) โ€“ Episode 4
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010) โ€“ Episode 5
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010) โ€“ Episode 6
    • 100% Completion Guide (2010) โ€“ Episode 7
  • About the Site
  • Accolades (2010)
  • Achievements/Trophies (2010)
  • Achievements/Trophies (2013)
  • Ads and Merchandise
  • Available Vehicles
  • Beginner’s Guide (2010)
  • Boss Strategies
  • Characters
  • Deadly Premonition (2010) – Game Information
  • Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut (2013) – Game Information
  • Downloads
  • Driving Conversations
  • Easter Eggs
  • Fan Works
  • Game Credits (2010)
  • Game Developer Magazine Post Mortem Article
  • GDC 2011: Destructoid Q&A
  • GDC 2011: Game Design in the Coffee
  • Greenvale Creatures
  • Greenvale Map
  • Items
  • Main
  • News
  • Official Sites
  • Podcasts
  • Possible Character Inspirations
  • Profiling and Clues
  • Races
  • Rainy Woods (2007)
  • Screenshots & Artwork
  • Side Missions
  • Soundtrack and Lyrics
  • Special Menu
  • Steam Trading Cards
  • The Official Visual Companion
  • Trading Cards
  • Weapons
  • York’s Suits and Alternate Costumes
Welcome to Greenvale