Expectation and Result

That last post left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t like talking about bad elements of design - I’d much rather focus on the good. Anything else seems like complaining and that just ain’t me. 

So since we’re talking about the good, we naturally move back to the Uncharted series. I find myself thinking, “This game couldn’t possibly surprise me again with how good it is” and then it totally does. You can tell that Amy Hennig was involved with not only the writing but the design of the game, especially level design. Let’s talk about that. 

There’s an element of writing that deals with expectations. It’s all about setting up the expectation of what’s going to happen with your reader and then turning it around, some would call that the twist. But we’re not talking about huge plot points here. We’re talking about the little things. A man goes to buy a candy bar and forgot his wallet - an expert baker bakes a pie for her son and it turns out horrible. What you would expect to occur doesn’t and it does a couple of things. One, it keeps the reader on their toes, doesn’t allow them to assume anything about the story. Two, it drops the characters into conflict. When something unexpected happens, decisions needs to be made and action needs to happen - conflict is the lifeblood of any story. 

Uncharted 2 does this so amazingly well, I often wonder if we should label the designers as masters of tension. When you walk across a bridge, you expect to make it to the other side - you can see your destination, the expectation is set. The bridge collapses. Conflict. 

You are in a vehicle, nearly to your destination. The end is in sight and you just killed the last bad guy. But then, a guy with an RPG appears. Conflict. 

And here is the real genius kicker. You begin to expect the unexpected … and so they turn it around, using your expectation of the unexpected against you. There is a part where Nate says “Watch out walking on those boards, who knows how old they are.” So what do you do? You wait for it to collapse beneath you, tension gripped, ready to jump if needs be. 

And nothing happens. 

That’s just awesome. You start second guessing yourself - pushing you back into the realm of not knowing when something is going to happen or not. Bravo, Naughty Dog.