Intermediate description 

Written by Michael Nitsche

Date: 21/01/00

© Sony Computer Entertainment Europe 1999  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED  
All trademarks are acknowledged to be the property of their respective owners

What is Common Tales about?

The story in Common Tales is …

… whenever a story is invented, the characters - good ones and bad ones – come to life not only in our imagination, but also in reality. These characters live amongst us - hidden in the postmodern real world. People who do not believe in fairies and wizards anymore will never recognize them on the streets of London among homeless, tourists and businessmen. 

Most of those characters have settled themselves with reality. They assimilated themselves with the present real world. Robin Hood does not wear green stockings anymore but jeans, Tinkerbell might work for a newsmagazine, Dracula went into politics, King Arthur organizes Bridge evenings with other story characters etc.
The center of social life among the English story characters is an exclusive gentlemen’s club in London, the “Cube Club”. In the shielded security of this establishment, the former heroes and foes do not have to play their “realistic” second selves. Here they can truly meet as Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein, as folk heroes and Shakespearean characters.

Thomas Lloyd is a small-time burglar – he breaks into the “Cube Club”, gets caught, but already he has seen too much. He accidentally discovered the secret of the club. Instead of calling the police, the leaders of the club decide to use Thomas for their purpose …

… because not all the story characters have settled down like the club members did. 

There a lot of black sheep from the fictional world out there roaming the real world. Having the evidence and proof of Thomas burglary, they force him to work for them. But they cannot trust a burglar, so they give him a partner: Fiz Ferman one of them - a fictional character. She is a fairy from a classical children’s tale. Together they form an unique detective team. Their task: 

-	track down fictional creatures, the good, the mad and the dangerous 
-	deal with their problem; usually the madness of some of these characters is the problem and they have to be stopped, but in other occasions it might be a rescue mission to help some defenseless fictional creatures against threatening evil 
-	protect the Cube Club’s secret and save the good fictional characters

Forced to work together, Thomas and Fiz become a good team and even fall in love later on. A down to earth burglar and a fictional fairy from a children’s book - beer drinking macho meeting emancipated woman preferring magic potions – chalk and cheese. 
Their love story will be full of the humour, romance and the conflict of constantly fighting lovers.

(from the Concept Document 15/09/99)

How is the story different from the MediEvil kind of story?

Common Tales will establish an unsolvable conflict in the game design. The narrative idea is not to solve the conflict (and go back to sleep in a tomb or marry the princess like in the ME’s) but to keep the conflict itself alive.
It uses methods established in a wide variety of successful TV-series and cinema in order to connect the player the show as a narrative on the whole. The player is not one of the heroes, but part of their story. Instead of identifying with one hero, the player should identify with the quarrels between the heroes and Common Tales will strengthen this by allowing control over both heroes. 
Basically we try to create a triangle between Thomas-Fiz-player that sets them all in relation to each other. The desired effect is comparable to the impact of long running TV series and soap operas.

What is the unsolvable conflict?
Fictional beings among the real humans in the world of today’s 2000. This conflict cannot be overcome of defeated and it is always represented by the two heroes: one is very fictional (Fiz) the other very real (Thomas).

What are typical identification methods?
Roughly: a mixture of story telling, camera and editing. (see also below)

If you do not have one final task? How does it end?
Common Tales is not designed to end. It is a serial structure on the Playstation. The idea is to deliver episode after episode and extend and deepen the conflict instead of resolve it. 

If it is a series – what happens if I miss a show?
Each show is a single standing piece of action adventure. In addition to this obvious story line, each show also includes further development of the relationship between the heroes and revelations of each hero’s background. The more shows the player has played, the more elaborate this hero-background becomes. While the action stays accessible to everyone independent from the number of shows played, the characters grow more in dependency to the amount of played shows.

Main game play features 

A defining key element in Common Tales is: this is a two hero game. There are scenes where the player can decide whom to steer and at other occasions there are predefined switches between the heroes. 

-	Steering two different characters simultaneously in key scenes will improve the teamwork between the heroes and accelerate their visible relationship.
-	Choosing one hero instead of the other will lead the player towards a certain game path inside the game that excludes the simultaneously occurring adventures of the other character; this will strengthen the replay value of the title.
-	Being switched automatically from one hero to the other will simulate parallel action and allows pacing of the action as it adds rhythm and timing.

Teamwork 

Especially in the solving of puzzles the player’s switching between characters is important. It is up to the player to discover the necessary teamwork between Fiz and Thomas, using the right combination of both of their abilities that will solve the problem. 

Example for a team-puzzle: the second tile puzzle
Example for a team-fight: the final (as well as the first) Mordred fight (not to be included)

Choosing your hero and your game path

There will be scenes where the player must chose to steer one character whilst the other character is off screen. Comparable to simple branching this always excludes one path from the player and raises replay value. Only through replaying the episode and choosing the other hero can you experience both adventures. Common Tales will use this in special character revelation moments. 

Example for a choice dependable path: the flashback / dream sequences in the engine room

Automatic switching and parallel action

Common Tales will adapt the cinematic and TV technique of parallel action into a computer game. When the heroes get separated, the player sticks with one hero, whilst the other goes off and has a separate adventure off stage. Then we can cut between both heroes in different locations and situations. The aim is to establish a certain pace and rhythm to the title. 

Example for automatic switching: the descent into the engine room – the player steers the hero who operates the switch; the switch activates the platform (only if the second hero stands on it) and the second hero descents into the engine room – the controls automatically switch the second hero; but there will be cuts back to the hero in the upper room.

Camera

Common Tales has a certain range of additional camera types to the original ME camera system:
-	over the shoulder shots
-	counter-shots
-	zoom
-	group camera
-	character relative camera control

In addition to that there is also the head-control that enables a more precise staging of each scene (although there has been some head control already in ME).

Close ups are a classic part of story telling emphasizing on the character, literally bringing the hero closer to the audience. Example in CT: Thomas is trapped in an influx while the water around him is rising, threatening to drown him. The more dangerous the situation becomes the closer the camera gets.
Shot – counter-shot editing techniques increase the visual depth of the relationship of the characters. This is one of the typical camera techniques used to engage the audience in an event that happens between the two involved characters. For Common Tales the shot – counter-shot is one way of elaborating the triangle between Fiz-Thomas-Player. Example in CT: conversation at the trap door “canyon”, the descent into the engine room, reaction based editing. 
This feature also mirrors the switching ability of the gameplay. When the player switches into the other character the camera slightly adjusts its view if it is in a mastershot position.
Over the shoulder shots are typical identification methods. Common Tales will use them in a variety of ways: the most sophisticated one is during the surveillance mode. The camera here is a over-the-shoulder shot of the hero you are NOT steering but who is looking at the active hero down in the engine room (yet to be programmed). 
Group cameras will be necessary for the events that need both heroes and possible more entities in one shot – e.g. team fights. Although we do not have a fight in the demo we are heading towards the second tile puzzle. Here both heroes have to be in sight in order to solve the puzzle.
Half-cut-scenes replace full blown cut-scenes. Cut-scene elements will be included as very short flash-like moments (e.g. Fiz flashback in the engine room). The goal is to keep the development of the story inside the game parts and not “break” the gaming experience by switching to a different representation form. Example in CT: at the trap doors; in the Octagon; in the dark maze.
Real zoom (instead of moving closer the CT camera mirrors a real zoom effect) that enhances spatial relation of the objects in view while zooming. It is furthermore important for close ups (as in the influx shot or as a reaction based shot).
Varying viewpoints are already available in MediEvil but Common Tales will implement them differently. The Cube Club scene will include a shift of the view point from a 1st person Thomas pov to a 3rd person pov (while controlling Thomas) to a 1st person pov of Fiz (without the player knowing about that – because he still steers Thomas) to a 3rd person pov of Fiz chasing Thomas (while steering Fiz). The change of the camera is a narrative development and introduces the main heroes. (not in the demo yet). 
Character relative camera control is a version of the following camera in MediEvil. It relates to the movement of the hero, not to the environment he is in. This allows close-ups and special shots to stay in interactive control.

The most complex use of camera and editing might be the Mordred chase scene. 
Mordred is chasing Fiz through the sewer maze. This chase will not be shown as a architectural correct walkthrough but will be staged in a way that will heavily quote horror films. Mordred appears surprisingly at points where he could not be if this was a logical and spatially correct chase. The camera will enhance the feeling of being trapped and followed by a superior enemy. Moreover the whole scene will include randomness so it will become very hard to predict the next encounter with the enemy. Aim is to deliver more of an eerie feeling, a tension than an accurate game level. The chase itself is only partly “real” – to one extend Mordred really runs after Fiz – yet partly he gets transported to another point. In addition, while Fiz is running through the sewers, Thomas is threatened to drown in the influx. There will be cuts to his dangerous position in the water.

Directing a scene

ME has developed a “Director Script” that offers access to the camera controls, some NPC controls and other in-game elements.

While the regular ME “engine” runs in the background the Director Script is time-(or condition)-dependent and structures the scene especially in terms of the different camera angles along a timeline. 

Diving into the narrative structure

Obviously the narrative in Common Tales evolves around and through the heroes. They impersonate the main conflict and enact it in their constant “battling lovers”. Inside the game the relationship will be the improved via:

-	sub plots
-	reactions
-	linear voice over dialogue and sound
-	connection between the episodes

Sub plots in Common Tales do not relate to secret levels (as the Dan-hand levels in MediEvil 2 do). They are closely related to our heroes’ “interior world”.

Example: Fiz flashback and Thomas daydream in the engine room. Both reveal personal background and individual fears of our characters. This is part of the sub-plot revealing some of their fears and weaknesses. The foundation of this sub-plots start in the first level, they get visually shown in this part of the second level and will be revealed in the last level. Thereby, mirroring classic cinematic structure.

From episode to episode the player learns more about the main characters and our heroes’ relationship evolves. What the player did reveal about the characters is important not only for the current episode of this series but also for the upcoming ones. These revelation elements will be the data that will be stored on the memory card. The player takes parts of the character from one episode to the other. This will not change the story significantly but from the player’s point of view it will create a unique relationship to the character. Every player knows slightly different secrets about the characters and only the professional ones know all the sidetracks of the heroes’ life. 
Thus, you can miss an episode, miss one secret revelation or even all of them and still enjoy the action of each show. Tuning in to the series is easy but the longer you stay with Common Tales, the richer the characters will seem to the player.

Reactions are deepening the heroes’ attitudes towards certain interactions as well as towards each other. On the one hand they mirror the individual hero’s likes and dislikes. Thomas loves everything connected to money and gold – Fiz is much more connected to less material things, so they have different reactions even towards the same entities.
On the other hand, reactions improve their relationship. Our heroes are capable of relating to what happens to the other one. If, for example, Fiz gets hit in the engine room Thomas might ask whether she is fine. This mirrors their growing relationship. During the Sewers scene Thomas might just laugh when Fiz gets hurt, as they are still opponents here.

Linear sound will guarantee a congruent and believable story line going on between the heroes. The player cannot influence this part of the game, but only the action around it. “Linear” does not mean absolutely fixed (e.g. the reactions will be non-linear, as well as the typical music implementation should be dependent on the position within the game) but most scenes offer control over the movement and action while excluding the dialogue from changing. For example in the Lift Shaft scene and at the Trap Door scene this effect will lead to “half-cut-scenes”. These half-cut-scenes will replace a lot of the cut-scenes of MediEvil.