Dev Diary: Emergent Stories

Hi! I'm Lucas, creator of Historia Realis: Rome.

Today I’m gonna talk a bit about the vision for Historia Realis. We're gonna get theoretical rather than practical, and look at the big picture. If you want to see more specifically how the game works, check out the previous dev diary about the Action System! Anyway, the game has 3 pillars that guide the design:

• Emergent Stories
• Deep Simulation
  
• Historical Realism
  

I'm going to cover them in separate diaries. Let's start with emergent stories!



This is an old dream of game designers, and I think that the industry has made amazing progress in this area. Crusader Kings, Football Manager, The Sims, Dwarf Fortress, RimWorld and many others have paved the way. I've also enjoyed a cool new take: Shadows of Forbidden Gods.

The vision for storytelling in Historia Realis is that you create your stories as you play. You may be a lawyer type in your youth, taking court cases and learning rhetoric, prosecuting corrupt governors or helping them get away with their crimes. Then, you might move on to military matters, fighting in the legions, and come back to begin your political career and climb the cursus honorum. Or you might do something very different, or you might fail in your plans and have to change course, or you might get caught up in someone else's schemes. You're writing your biography as you play, and you have limited control over it, but you always get an interesting story whether you succeed or not.

So far so good, but that's nothing too unique in terms of game design. So what's new?

The hypothesis that I’m testing with Historia Realis is that space is a constraining element when we're designing emergent storytelling. That’s why I'm disregarding the ‘world map’ at this point, even though it’s an expected feature in a game about Roman history. Rather than focus on the external space of where actions take place, I'm focusing on the internal, socio-psychological space of why people do what they do. Their relationships, wants, feelings, endeavors, personalities, etc.

I had two main inspirations for my storytelling design: Aristotle and South Park. Let’s start with the latter, because I’m sure you’re more curious about that one.

My latest painting: a Roman in his study (tablinum) reading scrolls under candlelight.

[h2]South Park creators on Storytelling[/h2]
Here’s a quote from a talk with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone:

We found out this really simple rule that maybe you guys heard before, but it took us a long time to learn it. We can take these beats, which are basically the beats of your outline, and if the words ‘and then’ belong between those beats, you’re f*ed—basically. You’ve got something pretty boring. What should happen between every beat that you’ve written down, is either the word ‘therefore’ or ‘but’. So you come up with an idea and write ‘and this happens…and then this happens…’ no, no, no. It should be ‘this happens and therefore, this happens’. ‘But, this happens, therefore, this happens….'”

That’s a very simple rule for storytelling, yet it’s very effective. Between story beats, you need either a 'but' or a 'therefore', never an 'and then'. The word ‘but’ implies conflict and complication, while ‘therefore’ implies causality and consequence.

When you have random events popping up one after the other, what you have is an 'and then' story. And, like the South Park creators said, that’s f*ing boring. That's why Historia Realis uses the action system rather than a random event system.

[h2]Aristotle on Storytelling[/h2]
And, two thousand years earlier, Aristotle said basically the same thing. Just with less swearing:

Reversal of the Situation is a change by which the action veers round to its opposite, subject always to our rule of probability or necessity. Thus in the Oedipus, the messenger comes to cheer Oedipus and free him from his alarms about his mother, but by revealing who he is, he produces the opposite effect. (Poetics, Aristotle)

See the "but"? And “our rule of probability or necessity” is the therefore! To Aristotle, actions in a story should follow a clear causal connection, yet they’re not boring or predictable thanks to reversals and revelations. It's the same thing as above, just said in a fancier way!

Here's a quick example of how this might show in the game: you succeed in your endeavor to study law, therefore you can now prosecute a corrupt governor. You do that, but he has powerful friends, so you fail, and now he holds a grudge against you. Therefore, he accuses you of something else. And so on!

[h2]Players on Storytelling[/h2]
Another inspiration are players themselves. There are several ways in which I've enjoyed emergent storytelling in games, or seen other people do it:

• Writing AARs (After Action Reports).
  
• Making RP (roleplay) videos, or just playing as they imagine their character would act.
  
• Sharing stories of their playthrough in forums, or telling friends about them.
  
• Recording past events and their details in spreadsheets and lists.
  
• Creating stories in their minds as they play.
  

Those are all really cool!

Where does all of this show up in the design of Historia Realis? The answer is everywhere. If you’re looking for a more specific answer, you can check out the previous dev diary on the action system, and look forward to the next ones!

There are many more things to say about emergent narrative, I could go on for days. But I'll stop here for now, and possibly revisit this topic again in the future, with gameplay examples.



[h2]New Screenshots[/h2]
Nothing too fancy, just showcasing some new art! Also, both these screenshots show the system I'm currently working on: the Endeavor system. Hopefully I'll talk more about that soon in another dev diary.

You can walk around barefoot to show off how Stoic you are. Cato did it, why not you?

Here's that new painting in action. Literally!

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/2560540/Historia_Realis_Rome/