August 3rd (Reading Notes) Gamasutra Hero's journey

Question he is hopefully going to answer"what pratical use is the heros jounrey to us as story tellers and game writers"


Myths are important.myths teach moral values and how we should be.

Myths affect us as a whole even now.

myths help identify ourselves


myths reinforces social aspects

he says myths are the core of morals

myths fill in gaps of knowledge .

he says myths are connected to us genetically.

hive mind=super society.

survival instinct

knowledge passed down,cautionary tales.

heros are role models.

self sacrifice is powerful and helps society

myth motifs are reflective of parts of the human psyche  /brain

okay so he says myths and religion are part of evolution.........

myths are a good foundation.

brain makes sense of experience through organizing and comparing to myths

he says you cant live without myths

myths create meaning for people

use structure of heroes journey to create new.

games are myth substitutes

games help people with a lack of control in their lives.

games cant reinforces myth unless they have story



-heros world
-inciting incident
-starting advetnure
-problems
-finding the antagonist
-success
-helping society in his return


-can you skip some archetypes.

heroes journey isnt instructions

heroes journey describes common themes

fiction is flexible.

just use archetypes you need.


Theme>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
step1
-pick theme, myth ,moral ,what do you want audience to get out of it etc
emotion through experiencing the problem.
Hero>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
make your hero show /embody that first step

hero has courage or finds it
clever and resourceful
has a special talent
is an outlaw
good at what they do.
protagonist,leads story
wounded disgraces grieving
motivated by idealism
sexually potent?

Villain>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

well written villain =well written story
memorable

hero= self sacrificing villain=self centred

-traits similar to hero?
-pride confidence
-outlaw
-wounded
-special talent
-sex appeal?
-non hero traits
-motivated by greed,lust for power,vanity,narcissism
-never acts out of idealism,believes evil cause. (what about misunderstanding
?)
-often cruel
-may win by luck,hero never does? (but its comedic as hell)
-is not forgiving
-might quit,but only at the end
-may whine and grovel which hero cant do. (why cant hero?) accepting journey
-may not be stoical like the hero stoic=can endure ,reserved
-may not be loyal
-usually not physical superior - though sidekick may be
-no special birthright or destiny,though he may falsely claim one

show heroes regular world.

once you have premise,hero,villain,you need to show regular world.

this is tricky
dont need to show it at the start
could start in middle of action
could show how the world was in flashback

trying to realize ideal outcome

show how they are flawed ad how they transformed by the end


disrupt the world:

inciting incident
something at stake to motivation them
newsbringer/herald
hero can refuse but not in a game apparently


enter mythlogical woods:
-each level should show growth in character (stumble forward or back?)
-struggle to find oneself and struggle to win
-hero changes throughout level


confront the evil one:
- "belly of the beast" fighting bad guy in their lair
-confronts evil and overcomes themselves in order to win

acquire the prize
-premise was the prize makes the journey worth while
-showing the moral
-let the player acquire it

heros return:
delivering prize to community
whether they survive or not to give it depends on what you are trying to tell.

character transformed personality goal,motivation by the end or achieved it

three act structure:

get player into situation
give him problems
get him out out the problems

three act structure doesnt help character growth but can be used alongside heroes journey

empathy,being in someone elses shoes
fusion of gamer and character
repetition is good and reaffirms "myth"

character archtypes go back in time,from detective to wild west ,to medieval,to greek etc


struggle wears them down to their core so they can change

premise can tell how the world is,or how it should be.

every level is a chapter/development not just gameplay

show player they can achieve the moral too

insecurities and fears you have are what you would be showing in the premise.