build 1 paragraph

The key is finding something within that idea you can be excited and inspired about. Maybe you like the lighting within the environment or you care about the story being told. Whatever it is, find that aspect of the environment in any way you can. - WoLD

Goal: personally exciting yet ambiguously open enough to afford exploring ideas

Narrative Goal

A sentence stating the dramatic question and/or "dragon" to slay:

• Dramatic question = a yes-or-no rephrasing of a specific scene's current objective + stakes for giving a damn about it. The DQ is the thing being "encountered" in encounter design! That's also why an ED's excitement stops <=> DQ's "will they or won't they?" outcome becomes clear. (More detail in Encounter Design.rtf)
• Uninteresting DQ = uninteresting ED, e.g. "can you find x, again?"

`I. The Concept / The Strange Attractor`
1. [Pre-brief] Write an Enticing Concept = The "Strange Attractor" = "Uniquely Familiar" Premise = ||New/unusual/unique but universally human. So basically the Twitter art trope of "post original work, nobody goes wild for it; post fanwork/homage, people go wild for it."|| But to its credit, the book here is appealing to the "moe gap" as the crux of the appeal. I guess in a way that's post-2020 culture/originality in a nutshell. We want that juxtaposition's paradox: something we know, yet not fully. "Strange" here means "uncanny" in a less negatively skewed way I guess then. Example: Jurassic Park ||is a modern theme park but with free-roaming beasts, exaggerated what you could argue is a safari to actual dinosaurs. Not only would that then imply the enciting idea of dinosaurs resurrected by science, but also their commodification as Disneyland spectacle.|| Example 2: Breaking Bad ||is familiar teacher archetype pushed to being not just a criminal but a drug kingpin by the initial threat of untreatable cancer eliminating support for his son and spouse.||

2. [Prebrief/Brief] Concept must promise conflict. Could (a) be premised in the stranger attractor's juxtaposition, or (b) more explicitly. Apollo 13's stuck in space setting, Speed's 50mph+ or :boom:. It can even be interpersonal/intrapersonal without being life-threatening. Key: a piece in the concept that intrigues us with conflict. //So for my story that'd be dream job yet clearly I'm making a video about it for a reason.
3. The concept has to excite you, potentially even be life-changing to you, even when you're stressed out having to work on it.
EXERCISE: summarize the concept of media you enjoy, identify its strange attractor traits through juxtaposition, promises of awe/wonder or conflict.

`II. The ABCDramatic Question` (ABCDQ)
1. An intentionally withheld outcome ||expanded to who/how/why-dunnits|| that the reader _actually wants_ to know --
-- i.e. MYSTERY ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH.
2. "Actually wants" <=> "Actually cares about the effects on the character of the story." == MYSTERY != EMPATHY.
3. KEYS TO BOTH:

a. Clarity = estab. char desire, not having too many withheld data points. The context should be believable e.g. close off why they can't 180 and leave.
b1. Concern = four empathy bridges: admirable Hero, relatable Everyman, inferior Underdog, unpredictably Lost Soul dark-side antihero. Condensing the two heroes this boils down to connecting over (i) understanding / recognition /relatable empathy, (ii) fascinating / inspiring [anti]heroes, or (iii) people with mystery/secrets but (iii) only got a time. GOAL = ESTAB AND ITERATE your bridge choice.
b2. Concern = STAKES: cost of failure/success. Without it we care about cast but not DQ as there's nothing to lose. Most stories fail because the consequences aren't compelling enough. Key to realize is the relative nature of traits = not how "big" they are externally but _internally_. More personal and emotional significance in a DQ's outcome <=> more compelling stakes. Ex: ||save world impersonally v save world to save grandma or a found family. Or why stranger in an accident will never land like the hero's uncle in an accident.|| "Stakes must ultimately be personal[ly relevant]. From there, the bigger and closer the some sort of death (whether physically, metaphorically, spiritually, etc.), the better." //So for my dream job it would be wasting either half of my life and identity, so it does matter to set up the emotional aspect for both!

c. Uncertainty = DQ hiding outcome breeds Suspense; DQ hiding xdunnit ||identity, location, time, or motive|| yields Curiosity. ||"Where did Villain put our ship?" vs "Will there be a trap there?" (a Y/N).|| "Curiosity is our desire to find the goal, while suspense (and tension) can only exist if we know the goal. Once you know the goal, curiosity disappears and suspense takes over." Noted suspense is the key to a DQ then, as Suspense <=> uncertainty of outcome <=> DQ, whereas Tension++ when anticipation of an outcome is prolonged ||cf. #scherazade story delay||. But suspense can't be set if the answer is predictable or expected. "Uncertainty" = REAL doubts in the reader's mind for scenario's outcome. Non-trivial DQ = task at hand (usually protag's desire) can't be easily done. In that then, it's like toyplay locking in as goalplay: an actual threat needs to be present. The potential to suffer harm, injury, or loss, whether physically, spiritually, professionally, socially, romantically, etc. [!] "the more likely the danger/threat is to occur, the more tension we feel and the more uncertainty we have."
d. Urgency = above Tension def. If uncertainty/suspense are the threat, urgency/tension make it imminent = must answer DQ _now_. This is where anticipation, being made to wait, turns to "pressing" anticipation -- as you show how time is not on the cast's side = a push-pull. ||Sidequest goofs while world is ending vibes.|| RLM's ticking :alarm_clock::bomb:. If ABC did their job, D here will result in a bigger payoff-catharsis ||assuming the answer itself is unexpectedly satisfying||.

Gameplay Goal

State the goals of the rising agency provided in gameplay:

• one sentence covering the start/entry and end/exit
• one sentence covering each P.E.P.S.I. letter
• one sentence covering any pickups, threats, stores

Links

How this area links to

• those before it,
• those after it,
• those beside it,

-- and critically, how its spot among them
speaks to the story's big theme(s)!

Residence

What the area's residents got out of it, what the area's residents get out of it

a purposeful "we live here" context for the worldbuilding, which can feed next column sources of conflict!

• For most areas, they shouldn't be static but as alive as any player!

• Starting Point: 3F's of Good Locations = familiar, functional, and fantastic.

  • Functional ("we live here") = conveys their sentience, or lack of it if absent.

    • Having available sources/stores for food/drink/beds/bathrooms/etc. as makes sense with their group's resources.

    • Repeat via overlay if a centuries-old dungeon/ruin. Except undead-themed areas: e.g. Uncharted 4's last supper for pirates kept it eerily unchanged but decaying, dust-covered plates for a dinner that never happened.

    • If seeking random room groups, make it a natural cave.

    • You wouldn't gate your front door with a puzzle to slowly solve each time. Put the hard puzzles elsewhere, guarding the simple key letting one inside.

  • Fantastic vs. Familiar: peeling layers of wallpaper in a house.

    • What was it when created? What did it become?

    • What's it used for now? Is it mid-prep for upcoming events?

• Fame: can attract other interested parties (and settlements to service them).

• Resources: esp. distance from this, e.g. dungeons block a party's supply lifeline.

• Loops > Branches: avoids the party suffering burnout from backtracking.

• Setting: People don't just gather one day and decide to build a dungeon. It starts for a use: temple, crypt, mines -- something bad happens -- and it becomes one.

  • e.g. Having dead ends: If they have a trap, it might make sense, but might also discourage exploration unless it has an encounter/reward for the trouble (not really "dead" then).

  • e.g. Impractical linearity: "A room with goblins that only connects to a room with bears that only connects to a room with orcs? How do the bears get out to hunt? Do the orcs have to fight bears every time they want to go talk to the goblins? Just have all three rooms open onto the main courtyard and let me figure out what's in which on my own; you don't have to drag me through them one by one."​

  • e.g. Role typology:

    • Denizens = often anti-intruder, but could be captives/refugees with intel.

    • Explorers = other groups there with their own goals, friendliness varies.

    • Scavengers = tolerated, feared, or hunted by area denizens.

• Nomads: rooms are not independent, it's more interesting and fertile for conflict if rooms that interact/react to each other, e.g. as creatures pursue their own goals.

pick 1 main image/song

Goal: find the patterns that occur most in this area's discussions that inspire and excite you, and use that to lock down the mood, color palette, and broad design = thematic look & feel

A systematic process for when nothing comes to mind naturally:

• Step 1. Do R&D searches for the area/env and related elements
• Step 2. Write down what you like and dislike about each result
• Step 3. Whichever has the most +'s becomes the main ref!
• Step 4. All future decisions now arbitrated by proximity to #3!

build 1 flexible floor plan

Parti napkins [1][2][3]

The nuts and bolts of your beat by beat gameplay alphabet:

• Step 1. List room ideas in the form of their gameplay beats
• Step 2. Roughly scribble in diagram form on separate post-its

The vehicles to let you freely rearrange the ideas' sequence with:

• Step 1. Attach each Parti napkin onto its own index card
• Step 2. Slot them together into a preliminary floor plan
• Step 3. Iterate on that sequence using these paradigms:
  • Growing sources of conflict / growing dragons to slay (next slide)
  • The area's D&D 5Q sheet answered in earlier sections
  • Segue via "catches/consequences" or "but/thus > and/then"

Index cards

Sources of Conflict 101:

• Simplest version: provide goals that can potentially clash with PC's goals!

• Encounter designs (ED) don't create conflicts, but sources of conflict. Not the train crash, but a rail-switch putting the PC's train on a course to hit an obstacle's train.

  • Resolving/Rerouting all SoCs <=> a reconciled DQ <=> ED should end.

    • Or put another way, SoCs' role = make the DQ's outcome uncertain = tense!

  • 2+ sources: aka factions, e.g. foes fighting you while they put out a forest fire.

  • Internal sources: a mind wanting opposing things > singlemindedness.

• The PC has their DQs, and the obstacle has its own reason for slamming into them.

  • Objects: personify its role, e.g. traps desire harm, locks desire concealment.

    • Ask who put the obstacle there -- for what motive is it configured that way?

  • Forces of nature: it's a lack of reason yielding tension, cf. cosmic horror.

    • In this way, hurricanes can take revenge, cities can hold ideologies, etc.

• A floor plan ideally paces its sequence to grow and ease these SoCs upwards over the progression from the start/entry to exit/end of the level layout. [1][2][3][4]

Feedback Check

Mood Board

Answers the art questions:

• How to light an area: what colors, intensity, saturation, shadows
• What to model for it
• How to paint a surface

Bubble Map

Answers the LD questions:

• Scope (from below two)
• Major goal(s) + fit into full game arc
• Major beats, esp. distances b/t them
• The flow between those level beats

How to Get Inspired

3D blockouts, image ref, 2D sketches, public concepts, Arch[Viz], phone pics, gameplay/scripting scenarios, your game’s demo level, fave game’s location/level, film clip

a smol mood board

pre-planning and LD direction still applies, but the goal: a master level board you can show to anyone, by combining this, the bubble map, and the initial concept paragraph!

decides the art direction

lots of bubbles

inspiration: 3D blockouts, image ref, 2D sketches, public concepts, Arch[Viz], phone pics, gameplay/scripting scenarios, your game’s demo level, fave game’s location/level, film clips

decides LD direction