Creating a narrative focused mission design document: A Last of Us example

Introduction:

I always begin by asking a lot of questions and researching. Throughout my career I have worked on numerous sequels to IP's that already exist. The best thing you can do in this case, is master the game genre and study the world. I've had to delve deep into Halo, StarWars, Hellboy and the Division to name but a few IP's. Good game designers are good researchers.

The Last of Us: Left Behind was masterfully executed upon by Naughty Dog and I certainly wanted to do my homework before attempting this project.  If you haven't played Last of US, go play it! It's honestly one of the most incredible stories and their character development is second to none. Developers can learn so much from their process. Due to their heavy focus on narrative; Naughty Dog call their Mission Design documents - Chapter Outlines. I think this is a nice touch. It makes you think more in narrative terms as you create content and give your designs a more narrative focused structure.

Warning - This will contain spoilers for Last of US and Last of Us DLC.

Content Created:

Sketchup Tips:

Sketchup is extremely useful for rapidly creating layouts. I find it really quick to develop layout prototypes and work with the layer structure to show hide content.

It really helps to create a pallet of objects you intend to work with before you get started. In the example below you can see a pallet of all the objects I would likely repeat in a cover based shooter. 

I'd also suggest creating gameplay relevant objects in clear colours so they pop and can be identified at a glance. Try to keep the screenshots simple and guided, usually with a camera angle that best illustrates the gameplay intentions. 

Scale is always important - use the metrics within sketchup to keep things to scale and reflect the metrics within the game world for key affordances like cover,mantles,vaults etc.

Use the labeling system within sketch-up to help plan the key verbs, actions and activities. Anyone viewing the file should be able to get some sense of the player journey through these callouts. 

Scrivner Tips

Such a great tool for creating and cataloging research. I love the way you feel like a detective with your own cork board connecting all the dots. I used it to develop the connections to other characters and also look at the core themes demonstrated throughout the game. I also examined meeting points and repeated references to subject matter that helped me identify the strong themes. I created the document whilst doing a second full run through of the game and also referencing the wiki pages available online. 

Chapter Outline Tips:

Stay on Stick - As a level designer we want to focus on the moment to moment gameplay. The writers will be able to do a much tidier job with the narrative than we can. Try to tell stories "on stick" and in game. If you have suggestions for narrative these can be welcomed, but the core focus needs to be on the moment to moment gameplay and how that will relate to the bigger picture and goals for the character. I have sort to flesh out some Cutscenes in my example but this was more to complete the story and offer some details. In a traditional development setting; these would be driven by the narrative department. 

Avoid Kill All - Look for moments to create different emotion and avoid a feeling of each encounter being a "kill all" objective. Players should be offered a varied experience and the tone and emotion will help achieve that. Look for moments for players to feel empowered, then raise tension, surprise the players or deny affordances to increase difficulty or change the strategy. These moments will pull the experience away from a kill all and become a more immersive and intelligently crafted experience, making players feel smart. 

Lean on your themes - Try to reflect on the key themes and tone of the entire narrative during your chapter and look for chances to develop characters or feedback to their core character traits.

Create a crisis point - Craft the chapter outline with a crisis point that pulls the player our of their comfort zone and varies the pacing in a way that is meaningful and challenging. Try to structure this towards the middle of a 3 act/mission structure. 

Introduce new things with extreme care - Lean into the existing mechanics and only modify them with care. In this example - as it is DLC -  I sort to make an introduction of a single new mechanic. Players might expect small meaningful gameplay additions with new paid content but with the main game, reinforce or get creative with what is there.

Allowing Ellie to pierce fuel and light it would be a memorable systemic ingredient to use in a tight pinch where multiple enemies are present. 

Visio Flow:

Reference the key locations,objectives and layer them together. Try colour coding them to check your variety or intensity - cool/warm. Also try to form a super high level flow of the content start to finish. Think about the key things player must do and how each space connects logically. Try to ensure that there is variety in the visual pallet as you progress through each area. Try to ensure that the tone of each beat matches the visuals in some way. 

Created a flow with more detail that handles any logic branches, epic moments or cutscene events. This will also allow you to get a greater understanding of your pacing. Narrative moments should almost exclusively be focused around down beats. Avoid pushing the player into combat and competing with your narrative moments. 

A thumbnail flow with high level concept or images will allow you to track a very basic colours script and ensure that the locations are varied. Try layering in the locations above the key beats and see what you have. It should allow you to ensure that the mood can match the beats. Narrative focused games are particularly careful with the colour tones to ensure they match the mood of the beat. Given the subject matter and themes In my proposal, I aimed to start of with a suitable dreary misty/raining street to match the mood of the girls. We can vary the weather and tone to ensure that the characters and players have moments of hope, and these are reflected in the visuals.

Naughty dog have always been open about how they aim to match their color script to their tone and mood with each chapter of their games.You can see an example colour script in the reference at the end.   

Intensity Graph:

The intensity graph will allow you to plot the intensity of each beat and ensure that you have some down beats - commonly referred to as calm after the storm. If your content flat lines the experience will likely be less memorable. Players get fatigued with too much intensity or bored when it lacks drama/action or subversive moments. 

Reference:

Gathering reference which is really close to the area that you are working with is really helpful to nail the scale and feel of a place. In real world settings try to get lots from google maps or image search. In this case I chose Back Bay Boston as it was referenced as a quarantine zone in Last of Us and is also where the girls are infected during Left Behind. Knowing this, it was the perfect choice for setting and reference for the chapter outline. I try to gather reference that speaks to the gameplay and mood or tone. 

I also gathered reference that would help inform the metrics of the spaces and cover. Usually you'd have your cover metrics defined but in this case, I had to eyeball the character and make some educated guesses about the metrics and heights.

My goals:<