GDC 2014: Irrational Games' Animation Director: “We Need To Push Past Cutscenes”

GDC 2014: Irrational Games' Animation Director: “We Need To Push Past Cutscenes”

31
Dan Webb

Irrational Games’ Animation Director, Shawn Robertson – in his talk yesterday on creating Elizabeth in BioShock Infinite – had some interesting things to say on the future of cutscenes in video games, urging other developers there to “push past” them.

“Cutscenes!” Robertson exclaimed, “We obviously rely heavily on cutscenes – that, I’m not going to go too much into today – and I’m very proud of the work my team and I accomplished with them…” he went on to say. But there was a but, there’s always a but.

“But we need to push past cutscenes to what’s next for narrative in games."

“I want to bridge that gap between high fidelity and high interactivity that I talked about earlier,” he continued. “I want to allow each player to have an individual and unique experience. I’m certainly going to want to stand here after our next project and talk about cutscenes the same way I talked about disembodied voices and humans behind glass at the beginning of this talk,” which wasn’t very positively at all and that they were a thing of the past.

Both Robertson's comments yesterday and Levine’s comments today are all in the same line of thinking, so much so that surely they have to be a big hint at what’s next for Irrational Games in terms of direction… or what’s left of it, anyway.

Comments
31
  • Hmh. You take away cut-scenes and you take away the core of the story, in which case why bother with it.
  • cut-scenes tell you the story, i dont want a game where all i do is shoot without knowing what the story is. So why am i killing these guys?
  • I like cutscenes. It's nice to take a break from the action and just take in the story occasionally. But i hate it when you can't pause the cutscenes!!!!
  • I love cutscenes though!
  • Especially those cut-scenes before a boss in dark souls. They kill my confidence :(
  • @#2 - You should prolly steer clear of Titanfall, then.
  • yes. we NEED cutscenes, tells a story, gives you a break from the constant action or whatever. sure it breaks the immersion but if youre trying to tell me whats going on as im trying to blast countless badguys, whats the point? i cant make heads or tails of what youre telling me with all this crap going on
  • I think what they mean is less 'no cutscenes' and more 'no more cutscenes without the player in control', a la Half Life. I could be completely wrong, but I'm okay with that for a few games. Obviously a lot of games can't do quite a few things without taking control from the player to show them cinematic things, but it's a nice idea.
  • #6, if a game is purely online then cut-scenes have no meaning anyway. If a game has a single player then it needs cut-scenes.
  • @1 ,2 & 6 he doesn't mean no story moments, what he is saying when the game pauses you lose control and a mini clip plays out during a mission. He is referring we need to move to scene's like half life 2 where you can still roam around as people are talking telling the story and you control the camera.
  • Bioshock Infinite, thinking back didn't have cut scenes. I feel some games are way too over the top. Looking at you Metal Gear Solid...
  • Hmmm.. Quite interesting, it's always good for game company's to think outside the box, so I'm not to "worried" about no more cut scenes. I think they were just saying we will be more involved in the "cut-scene" to the point where you don't even realize that it goes to a cut scene.
  • Cut scenes are fine, so long as they don't include quick-time events.
  • Cutscenes can make game memories though. In Halo 2 when Master Chief jumps out of the spaceship with the bomb and leaves it to blow up a Covenant ship on the way down. Amazing scene that I'll probably never forget. I suppose they could probably do this without a cutscene though but I would prefer to watch it. Makes it look sharper and is a little crazier to me I guess.
  • I think he's pushing towards something a la Skyrim, where there weren't "cut scenes." Having something completely in game with the player in control would increase the immersion
  • @2 if you have to ask why your killing then maybe stop playing shooters. anyway, if there is a skip ill skip unless its a game i really enjoy the story of.
  • Hate cutscenes, they pull you out of the action and make you sit and watch. If I wanted to sit and watch, I would put on a movie. You can still tell a story without cutscenes, look at Bioshock and Half-Life 2
  • if im still able to move around and shit then im not forced to pay attention to the story and therefore its pointless to even have. sitting and watching something i have SOME control over makes me twitchy and want to just keep killing. but when a cutscene starts i WANT to see how the story is going to unfold. all you people citing halflife 2, its that kind of story telling that made me have no idea wtf i was doing
  • I agree with #18 - there's nothing worse than missing important plot details because you can walk away and ignore the character speaking. Surely if that was real life they'd refuse to continue until you were paying attention and you'd just have to stay still anyway. Can Shawn explain further how he wants to incorporate plot exposition outside of a cut scene?
  • half life.
  • I am for keeping in cutscenes in games as like many have stated it adds to the story and character development. It also gives us those holy shit moments when you see something happen that can only be done with cutscenes. Besides how great would Rocky IV be with out a montage, it would'nt. How else would we know that machines and technology would improve Dolph lundgren as an actor. We need more cutscenes and montages in our games and movies.
  • @5 Yes! Seeing Seath fly in and block the exit was a holy shit moment. And the Gaping Dragon popping his head up and show his teeth? FUCK! Yes without cut-scenes there's no shitting your pants knowing your about to die a bad death. That's my issue with the new DS. Not enough cut-scenes for the bosses.
  • my co-worker's sister makes $79 an hour on the laptop. She has been without work for seven months but last month her paycheck was $17716 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Visit Website......................... www.pro43.com
  • like Clarence responded I'm startled that a mom can profit $8570 in a few weeks on the internet . hop over to this site >>>>>>>> www.Bay91.Com
  • The guy has a point. Games need to innovate and do something new with the system or just plain simple - get rid of them where it's possible. Valve's approach to storytelling seems the best, cause they let you listen on to what characters say, but you can freely run around while that's happening. Of course you're not getting cinematic camera action with that sort of approach, which i'm ok with, cause i want to play a game and not watch a "movie".
  • I truly enjoy the cutscenes. Can't stand how valve does them. Best option is to include a skip option for people not wanting to wait through what is "most likely" a huge development in the story. I can imagine why they want to do away with them, and it's not to make the player feel like they're a bigger piece of the story...... It probably comes down to the ole all mighty dollar. Cutscenes are probably expensive to develop. When you have several throughout the game the cost only escalates. Getting rid of that cost helps they're bottom lines period. What they're calling "making a individual unique experience", most would call penny pinching.
  • As long as I can choose to skip them, cutscenes don't bother me.
  • my co-worker's sister makes $79 an hour on the laptop. She has been without work for seven months but last month her paycheck was $17716 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Visit Website......................... www.pro43.com
  • I think he means blending the narrative into the action so that it looks seamless.
  • I guess it just depends on a game. Like for example I could see some games without cut scenes and instead story presented as you go along. But some games I could not imagine without them. Just thinking Blizzard would stop making those in all of their games makes me cringe, they have the best cut scenes ever!
  • I'm happy to hear more people thinking on these lines. From Software have always limited the amount of cut scenes they've had in their games. In the 'Souls' series, you get an intro cinematic, boss introductions and an ending cinematic. The rest of it is told through conversations, actions and lore. You involve yourself in the story as much as you want. 'The Last Of Us' followed a similar, minimalist approach to cut scenes, there's more of them than a Souls game, but still a lot less than usual. Again, they developed their story through conversation, action and immersion. On the other hand, those examples have only a minimal cast which could be why it works so well. The point of both those games is the isolation of the world. Trying to do the same with a larger character cast, in a busy world... I'm not sure it would work as well. I will say this though, forced 'walk and talk' sections of games piss me off after the first time. In moments like that, I wish it was a skippable cut scene.
  • You need to register before being able to post comments

Game navigation