More Than Exposition - Building Worlds without Info Dumps - Extra Credits

It's really easy to put a large wall of text in a game--much easier than showing the story through the mechanics and environment. Learn how to write efficiently for great game design!
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(Original air date: February 27, 2013)
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[@Felipera_]

"Welcome to the world of pokemon, I'm sure your dad is a gym leader, but, just so you know this world is filled with pokemon! i'm sure you've seen your dad fight, but pokemon have amazing powers! Also, you have seen pokemon helping your mom move... but some pokemon and human help each other out you know?"

[@newdawnhorizon9879]

I hate going through that every time I play a Pokemon game.

[@luckystar3641]

Dads in pokemon? What nonsense is this?

[@gerbendekker3273]

@@luckystar3641 In Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, the player character's a gym leader lol Also in the anime, Delia Ketchum mentions Ash's dad a couple of times

[@capivara6094]

"Selling baby shoes, never used." This is the power of the interpretation. Instead of telling a story that would take several minutes of info dump, you could tell the same story, in an even more powerful way, with only a single phrase.

[@rudymartin8583]

This is why so many stories are told from the perspective of an outsider. For example, Harry Potter is an outsider to the wizarding world, since he was raised by muggles. That way, whenever something unusual happens, one of the other characters has to explain to Harry what's happening, and by doing so also explains it to the audience.

[@Saieras]

As Cracked put it, sci-fi needs a straight man like a comedy routine.

[@Rainbowthewindsage]

Ah yes the unknowledgable perspective character. Although that can also lead to issues such as giving the main character amnesia because the writers are too lazy to figure out how this badass wouldn't know about basic mechanics in the sequel game.

[@dogishappy0]

Great example. I remember a burned down house in Skyrim where i found a corpse with a "Summon Flame Antioch" nearby. Without a single written or spoken word, i knew that some novice mage attempted to summon a being beyond their control, and lost their life because of it.

[@milesbeler3974]

It is always strange to me how dead bodies seem to explain the stories better, more often and more clearly than the actual narrative. Totally agree with that example, btw!

[@dogishappy0]

Miles Beler sometimes they are just funny though. I found one skeleton in a cave, on all 4s with a sword up its bum.

[@Taeerom]

+dogishappy0 I don't know if you've played Morrowind, but there is a similar scene right at the beginning of the game. You walk out of town and suddenly hear a loud scream, followed by a guy in robes falling to his Death right in front of you. When you loot his body you find a journal and 3 scrolls (and some semi Nice gear for the Level). Upon Reading the journal and identifying the scrolls you learn that this was a guy enchanting scrolls of icarian flight (you can jump really high, but likely wont survive the fall) in an attempt to fly. It teaches the player that Magic can be Dangerous if not used carefully as well as being a Nice piece of humour.

[@dogishappy0]

+Taeerom I found that too, i also forgot to save.

[@talongreenlee7704]

Morrowind has MUCH MUCH more of this, and its awesome

[@NightParadox]

I like the type of exposition that both explains complicated concepts and builds the world around you. Imagine a futuristic game, where there is this big, complex machine that you find. Nearby, on a shelf, you can find the user manual for it, which explains how it works and what it does. Completely optional, doesn't intrude on gameplay, but builds the world and makes it just that little bit deeper than it was before.

[@Star-Commander-Vong]

I feel like Mass Effect actually did it pretty well. Very little time is spent in the actual game explaining the world around you. Most of the exposition is talking about the Here and Now, filling Shepard in on details that they very likely wouldn't have already known. Like talking about the Rachni, a species that had been wiped out long before humanity was even thinking about space travel. Most of the Exposition on the Galaxy itself was given via the Codex, which explains everything from Mass Effect fields to FTL travel to how the guns fire. All of which you can completely ignore, or you can spend hours reading every single entry, like I did.

[@SeantommyE]

+Sci-Fly-Guy They're specifically really good at making exposition meaningful. You don't get exposition in those games unless it's to serve a specific purpose, and the dump itself generally serves that purpose without having to be separated into "expository intro" and "actually interesting thing". Kaidan's outdated biotic chip is a great example. On a mechanical level here, they're giving a hand-wavy justification for how biotics exist. But that conversation is so much more than that because they tie it to a character in a very personal way.

[@MexiSword]

Yeah but the encyclopedia style Mass Effect had was really jarring for me. I mean hell why not just have a web browser inverted so players would look it up Al-a Destiney 1 background lore.

[@Danmarinja]

There's a boss fight in Bloodborne that uses this perfectly, simply kown as the 'Blood-Starved Beast'. It only has threewords in it's title but tells you a lot more about it without bashing you over the head with information. I mean, come on, Blood-Starved just paints an image in your head of a creature that lives off blood, but since it's been starved of it's blood it's even more of a threat, and Beast is enough to tell you that this is a hideous creature without requiring specifics, like 'Undead Monster' or 'Terrifying Chimera', because the specifics aren't important.

[@pifilixxiv3192]

I have a idea: you play a castlevania like game a you come to the first "dungeon" but they say nothing about the boss or place just that the place belongs to the boss. When you enter the place you find throphies of animals and monsters, in this moment would be the player think that the boss is a hunter, next when battle throuth the enemies and puzzles, you come to a room filled with paintings and pictures, but in the middle is a small drawing in which are there: a boy with a scar, a woman and a guy with armor, which posing like for photo and under the picture is a text which is: "For my sister Lucy". In this moment would the player think that the boss, 1. a photograph was or just like paintings, 2. That the boss had or has a brother which had loved. Next, the player comes to the boss room and sees someone in a couch before a camin next to a box with which looks like photos, and someone starts to cry with a monolog " That were times we were just friends and siblings" in this moment says the game that the person had sometimes problems in live, when the player gets closer to the person, accidently he activates a trap and the person sees it and stand up and goes there and sees the player, the person says " I can not have some time for myself, with out be attacked by idiots !? Maan that nervsn! " The battle starts and and on the bottom right corner you see the name of " The huntress, Lucy the cat eye"

[@komakaze1]

Pifilix XIV - dialogue needs work. Does a 18th century European vampire use common language of the 21st century west? Your other ideas have potential :)

[@qpid8110]

An excellent example of a game that has exposistion for what the player needs to do, and, the exposistion itself is part of the plot is Bioshock. Every time Atlas tells you whst to do with the phrase "Would you kindly..." When the meaning behind the phrase gets revealed, such a mind explosion 😊

[@Tyranaal]

"She had two sons before the war." Oh god, that gave me chills. Beautiful in its simplicity.

[@lineshawn4819]

I've learned about seven times as much about stories through the Internet than highschool English.

[@Eshiay]

From KZbinrs that are supposed to teach you about video games.

[@WeeklyComedian]

That also applies to college.

[@yitz7805]

I know, right?

[@joaquinmacias5877]

Well, you're obviously here willingly. Would you have willingly gone to a high school English class if you had a choice?

[@komakaze1]

Paraphrasing a Quora answer by Frank Horbelt - English in school teaches the importance of learning written communication, grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension, and also instilling minds with the skills and learning methods more valuable than the content or book you maybe required to study. Schools also push you to think about things you wouldn't ordinarily be exposed to expanding your mind. Schools are trying to impart to you critical thinking skills and the means to organize and disseminate your thoughts. This is hugely important no matter what you do in life.

[@SpaceDog2188]

Holy shit a Xenosaga reference. Exposition heavy and extremely heavy on the cutscenes but I found it worth it, I loved that game.

[@kesonafyren837]

I feel like it's worth bringing up the Fallout intro. It is, in the most basic sense, a massive exposition dump from an anonymous narrator. But it so perfectly sets the tone for the entire rest of the game that it's essential.

[@Arexion5293]

Tried to search for Extra Credits and Dark Souls, and this video was the first result. Welp, it fits in the context of what I was looking for.

[@maddiek181]

Metroid Prime does exposition very well. Giving the player the option to scan things is a great way to flesh out the environment without forcing it on them. There actually isn't that much required text to read, but scanning the Space Pirate log entries and the Chozo scripts really helps you to understand the creatures, environments, and the history of Tallon IV.

[@sydcar9491]

I think I'm starting to hate the flipside of this more. Exposition is necessary, but it has to be done in a way that doesn't break the flow of the story. I'm seeing too many people see any trace of explaining and immediately jumping up and screaming "EXPOSITION DUMP! THIS SUCKS. I'M DONE." I'm just like "...why...?"

[@JohnnyEscopeta]

Since Metal Gear series as a whole is a pretty complex story, those simple yet useful reminders help a lot sometimes.

[@shiningcrobat]

Oh gosh, that magic bit really hit me. I'm almost always content just to call it magic and let it go, but when I was presenting a fantasy story in a class, everyone was eager to know how magic worked in my world within the story.

[@nevercallmebyname]

I was going to do the historical exposition dumps as walls of runes that the player can interact with and then it shows a cinematic of ancient past events that the character in universe may have already know about vaguely but not in perfect detail like that. Then character dialogue would be freed up for information about whats happening now or what happened to those characters personally. This also serves to make the Lore into an optional collection quest.

[@jesternario]

As is stated in here, the Fallout series does exposition WONDERFULLY! Each game gives an engaging and informative, yet short, intro into the game world, then from that point forward shows the exposition rather than tells it to you. A great example of how to do exposition correctly.

[@TheChaosNinja]

Dr Who did that pretty well with the companions... they were there to ask the questions that the watcher could not, and have things explained to them while not breaking the story

[@psinjo]

Honestly one of the best , or worst examples of exposition IMO would be the hayao Miyazaki movies, princess mononoke , spirited away, all of them seem to give the barest minimum amount of back story or exposition, yet after watching, you almost feel like you could have lived there yourself. Sometimes this goes a little too far IMHO like in howl's moving castle, where no matter how many times I watch it I feel like I'm missing something, but on the whole I think they are great examples

[@komakaze1]

psinjo - I found the Howls Moving Castle anime so disappointing because I already loved the book. The anime felt mid-day television bad in comparison.

[@nahman3836]

nausicaa is the perfect example of a good balance between the two

[@YourEvilHenchman]

I think the pendulum kinda swings both ways, since we naturally expect some form of exposition in our fiction where necessary, and far too many people are too forgiving when it comes to expository, monologuing info dumps. the free indie rpg "The Last Scenario" played very nicely with this concept. In the beginning of the game, you get a load of exposition that veers somewhere between legend and accepted-as-factually correct history of the world you're playing in. Later on in the game, you find out that this whole history/backstory, including the infodump-textscrawl at the beginning, has been nothing but a bold-faced lie. I wish more games did this, maybe even with a condescending "why did you believe that? because somebody told you that?" attached to it.

[@brettcleary4978]

I feel like there's a good parallel to this in the scene staging and cinematography of a good film. A well structured shot with the right elements present can tell you more in a few seconds of careful observation than a in few minutes of forced dialogue. In a game this would obviously be done with the environment. With a non-player camera, the players sight can be directed towards such elements. With a player controlled camera, the player can take the time and diligence to pick out and consider each of these elements if they want or, just blaze right through if they don't care. This would probably be best because it gives players the option to delve deeper if they want to instead of making them sit through an exposition dump

[@onyxtay7246]

Fallout 4 has one of the greatest ways of avoiding exposition dumps. They just make it so the player character wouldn't know the facts, and so the NPCs can remark on how strange it is you don't know it.

[@evelynfinegan4687]

+Avarickan That's an example of an "everyman" character, one that is very very commonly used in Fantasy and Sci-Fi. Using an everyman can be useful in giving a reason behind exposition dumps, but it doesn't excuse them and doesn't mean they can't still be done poorly. If your only reason for having an everyman is to make exposition easier, you're doing it wrong.

[@DragcoDavid]

I got a pretty good idea for a way you can do Exposition that'll work in most any Fantasy setting, sorta based on how Fallout started off. You go through a couple of days in the character's earlier life, serving at the tutorial and source of basic exposition. The first day is set in the character's school years or childhood; this part of the game serves as your basic movement and world interaction tutorial, and serves to go into the basic setting of the world, going into the daily life of the average citizens, and telling you about the general exposition on the world around you that everyone needs to know through the veil of a day of school or similar education; a setting where exposition like this would make sense, as it's when the character learns this info as well. The second day is set when the character is a young adult, set at an academy or barrack or something of that nature. Here, the character and the player alike will learn the basics of combat, and learn about other concepts that are either unique to the character, due to a unique talent, or are unique to the career of the character. Exposition will also be more focused on the career/talent of the character, and go into any sort of exposition that civilians likely aren't supposed to know, or only learn at a more adult level. Yes, I understand it is far from original, burrowing from several sources, but it's still a good generalization of a good way to combine a tutorial, intro exposition, and story intro all into one, and not enough games really do anything like this.

[@ScientaEstVox]

But I love learning about all the intricacies. Dark Souls does this pretty good though. In 4 or 5 lines of dialogue it tells you that you are undead, there is a chosen undead, you are in a place called Lordran, and that there are bells that need to be rung. Thats all you need to know, and off you go on your quest for bells that along the way detail more and more about the land.

[@evelynfinegan4687]

Something I wish they had talked about was how to use exposition as a reward. Take the Elder Scrolls games. Finding new books and characters to talk to out in the wilds is how you learn about 99% of the history and workings of the world of Tamriel. Simply playing the games you'll typically only ever know enough to propel you through the plot. With a few exceptions (Skyrim's terrible opening scene) exposition dumps are few and far between. Instead character actions drive your understanding, and by exploring the world you learn the reasons behind those actions. So they use exposition to reward the player in a way that feels natural, like your character is actually learning the history of the world.

[@SeantommyE]

+Evelyn Finegan I never thought about that, but it's a great point. Instead of putting exposition first as a "learn this and then we can move on", the game moves ahead without the exposition and then when you find it, it's extra at the end making it more interesting and more rewarding, as well as a conscious choice to sit down and learn more. It's like they what say in another episode (first five minutes, I think? Or word choice maybe) about how characters are more important than backstory because characters are the only reason we care about the backstory in the first place. Here, the character is just the world.

[@newdawnhorizon9879]

another example : dragon age orgins

[@TehNoobiness]

One of the most memorable moments of Bulletstorm (a great game overall) was the tutorial. Instead of merely flashing keys on the screen, it poked fun at the situation: "I don't suppose I have to tell you to crouch here?" It was amazingly well-done.

[@lucascosmesilva9639]

love the sandbox historys allows u to play while u hear some audio on the back about anything u want is awesome sadly i not to good in doing 2 things at the same time yet :(

[@kebm1388]

They probably could have gone into more detail with Xenosaga's exposition (Zohar, Fifth Jerusalem, etc.) as far as what not to do. None of the exposition is explained through dialogue, which, while somewhat immersing you in the world, exposes you to a lot of jargon. When a character says a word the average player won't understand, it gets entered into a logbook thing that has long detailed definitions for everything in the game. The first time I checked it, I had over 50 terms. The next time I checked it, I had over 120, and I had to read them all to fully understand the story. The worst part is that it doesn't mark new terms, and instead forces you to remember which ones you've already read and which ones you haven't.

[@tamral31]

While some might disagree, I'm quite a fan of the 'Audio Log Exposition Dump'. Yeah, it's not exactly engaging for the player character, but if you look at say the audio logs in Bioshock, I find it enthralling to hear the fall of Rapture through the voice of someone who was there. To hear their emotions, their actions, and ultimately their fate. My personal favourite has to be the babysitter in the theme park in Bioshock 2. You can't tell me you weren't at least a little moved by that story.

[@weedwak]

I feel like The Witcher 3 does this well. Much of the unneeded exposition is in the menus for the curious to check out, and explanations for some side quests are in thing like notes and letters you can find.

[@vinx.909]

indeed, TES does the same with optional lore. must say i prefer how TES does it as books make more sense in a realism kind of way, but both are great ways for doing this kind of stuff.

[@Giorgio879]

I think that when it comes down to expand on some elements of a game's world it is better to follow the Deus Ex, Mass Effect, or Dishonored's route and implement it through environmental storytelling or optional text like the codex. Another good example is Metroid Prime, not only the logs are optional and interesting but are integrated in a way where story is its own collectible. Extremely fitting if you ask me.

[@LordoftheDonutLands]

I have been researching on how to start and do my own D&D Campaign, and I have learned SO MUCH I need to know of how to be a Dungeon Master by watching Extra Credit and being a game creator of my own with it! MAGIC!!!

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

There seems to be two good ways for this to work out - 1. The Clueless Idiot This is a character that is somewhat new to the area. He or She may have some of the basic information, but the cultural nuances may not be as strong. Literature where a hero or heroine is sucked into the past is a good example, or Tidus from FFX comes directly to mind. 2. The Codex Approach Remember the UFOPedia from classic XCOM? Or the wealth of literature that's built into the games of the Elder Scrolls? This allows you to create massive amounts of lore and wealth without having to stuff a crapton of exposition itself into your face.

[@Krescentwolf]

+Gratuitous Lurking The codex approach only really works in limited non-character-specific ways. It works in games like Xcom or Civilization because there's a wealth of knowledge you COULD use... but don't ABSOLUTELY need. From a narrative perspective, finding a way to introduce the world and the important concepts there-in without info-dumping is one key skill a good author has to develop in their style. It should be stated... there's a BIG difference between proper 'exposition' and 'info-dump.'

[@buttsbutts7858]

There also 'optional exposition' where the player can dig around in books/tapes/etc. to dig deeper if they so wish.

[@themasterfrq]

The game actually only tells you the basics, while the codex really goes in depth and basically gives a mini lecture over the topic. And you can play through the game without reading it, but that is the point of a codex. It is filled with OPTIONAL knowledge.

[@hudrowportnof4058]

Also the fact that they actually make it interesting to read. Shaun's comments in the database are great. Not to mention that they presents the other side of the Revolutionary War in AC3. And the fact that they give you the database RIGHT when you met or visit the person/place is great. "Oh, you just found this great looking tower? Let us give you some interesting facts about it".

[@Crebralassassin]

I love this, exposition is a pet peeve of mine, especially when it refers to things the player has already been told because the designers are afraid the player will miss it.

[@Pastshelfdate]

Ooh! Ooh! Have any of you seen the original release DVDs for the anime "Excel Saga"? Then you may recall their tool tips that pop up on occasion, with Menchi's face alerting the viewer "Exposition here!" I loved those things, and how they gave me cool background info, such as how many of the main characters were named after big Tokyo hotels. Sadly, my 'slim box' set had those detaisl stripped out. Why whould they do that, anyway? The older sets are no longer sold, I'm sure, and it had to cost a little extra to pay someone to remove content from the digital master. Anbyway, could games do that, with tiny, peripheral popups that can be used or dismissed, as the player wants?

[@TheStartrek99]

IMO Mechwarrior 4 Vengeance was a masterful example of effective exposition. The opening cinematic lays the groundwork for both the game's world and story while being both concise and packed full of action.

[@YTSqwid]

Did you miss the codex entries? Besides, conversing with the characters served as both exposition and character development. If I remember correctly, a discussion with Liara about Asari society would lead to her revealing emotions about her mother. To me these moments give Mass Effect its emotional core much more than the plot.

[@Khether0001]

*...........I propose a challenge:* *How would you expose the most unique story you can imagine, using exclusively clever but clear VISUAL CUES spread throughout the quests, where one leads to others, non sequentially, in an open world, without using any written or spoken language?* _teoretically you could use sounds too, but often you can't guarantee your player will always have the device volume loud enough, so let's just say visual cues only here... This challenge is the base for many good indie games out there_

[@cobaltaeg1453]

I think that's why BioWare RPGs use the Codex. It allows the player to fully immerse themself in the lore and the history of the world should they want to, whilst minimal exposition is given about them throughout the course of the game (albeit a bit at the start). I also think this is the superior way to display exposition, especially in huge open world RPGs as its often displayed as a letter to someone or a remark of an experience to show the full effect of what's happening - and it is all down to the player to use it or not. Dont give a shit about how rift magic or the mass effect works? Fair nuff. You dont need to for an enjoyable experience. Want to know more about the world you're living vicariously in? Great, the info is all there for you. You dont even get told its there by a tutorial or anything, its purely up to the player whether they want extra exposition. My only gripe is that its locked away in a menu. Of course it may be easier to access from anywhere in the world, it may feel slightly more immersive for your character to, say, enter a library. That way you would be learning alongside your character.

[@ThePreciseClimber]

Well, you don't even need the Database. It's there to give you some extra info like - "what happened to this guy before he met Ezio/Connor" Stuff you might be interested in but you don't need to understand the main story. At least if you played all the main games, that is. :P

[@uhobme2028]

"Oh I'm spouting exposition again, apologies."

[@lasalle1alpha]

'Even a single line can deliver everything you need to convey' LOL , In RE4, that single line is "He's not a zombie..."

[@Waiting4thaWroms]

I just want to say, this series has convinced me to deeply consider pursuing a career in writing for video games after getting my degree in fiction writing. Thanks ExtraCredits ;)

[@ZebraGundam]

On top of that, the character skits (which are in most Tales games, but Abyss had a lot of them) help to explain some of the tertiary workings of the world, as well as give a lot of chances to show interactions between characters who don't interact in cutscenes as often, helping them feel more rounded, and that your party has a stronger bond, and team dynamic. Very glad that the recent localizations brought English voice work to the skits as well, really improved them.

[@WhiplashSL]

And that's what I love: subtlety, which a lot of games seem to ignore. 90% of the items mentioned in the Datalog is mentioned in dialogue, though they subtlety explain it to you. I could right now tell you the events that happened long before the game started, to the events now, from Bhunivelze and Mwynn's conflict in the beginning, to the aspect of Chaos and what it is. I love it when they explain little to nothing. That's why games like Demon's/Dark Souls work so well: they leave you hints.

[@Mdude123456789]

Oh, thank goodness for this channel! I'm planning to become a Videogame Developer in the future, so I've gotta remember all of these videoes.

[@JaeSM97]

I'm thinking about how New Vegas does some of it's exposition, specifically Veronica. She explains her organization because it's relevant to what she's thinking - how can she help them move past their current state.

[@Rith9789]

I think they did a good job. There are tons of things to find out in the game. Perhaps it could have used some more Metroid Prime style log entries, or "The Elder Scrolls" books to allow players to chase after information themselves.

[@Twiggierjet]

A lot of games make this optional. Just look at the codex in Mass Effect, the books in Skyrim, etc.

[@Lawlietftw30]

My problem is that I feel compelled to read ALL of it. Even when I feel like I'm reading more info dump than playing the game. I haven't played many of that type of game. I still have my completionist tendencies, I suppose. Comes from Nintendo games, probably. I like that style of exposition. The LoZ world is really cool, but I never feel like I'm being exposition dumped or reading a textbook. Nintendo also does plenty of its world building through exploring the environment and interacting with the world and its characters, much like was suggested in this video. There's lots of great games out there, and I am usually the type to be naturally inclined to explore, but come to think of it, I STILL have never felt as compelled to explore a world as I do when I'm playing a LoZ game.

[@razzigyrl]

This is why I love books, journals, and unlockable things scattered throughout a game - little chucks of information that don't get in the way of the game itself, but are there if I decide I want to dig deeper.

[@trillogylarsen336]

This video made me think of the Final Fantasy 7 system. Any time a tutorial or explanation occurred in-game, the exposition was done BY Cloud, the main character. In a sense, YOU, as the character, were describing the world to another person in that world. Even though they were dumping exposition, they did it in a way as to not patronize the main character.

[@dragonstar2387]

You know, this explains why so many protagonists in video games have amnesia, are newcomers to the world, etc: so that the developers of the game can have these exposition dumps, while still giving the characters a reason lore-wise to be telling us these extremely basic facts.

[@PoliticalGamers]

I think the Walking dead had some Great Exposition, it was organic and done through character's actions, word choice and just plain Good pacing.

[@SSpencer726]

I completely agree. It's important to identify what needs to be said, and what should be available optionally to the player. However, the depth and richness of the Elder Scrolls world has always been one of my favorite qualities of it. An entire world with a history, and origin, a past, present, and future. That kind of depth allows for fans to explore and indulge more. Hence those that study the Halo universe for example.

[@SmallFryHero]

I've long been aware of this is games, but was unaware of the term "exposition", thanks for that!

[@TheLoneClaw]

I'm an avid world-builder with an interest in game development, so I found this really useful. Thanks! :D

[@sev0n385]

I wholeheartedly agree on HL2. I never played the first Half-Life, but I have played HL2. I didn't know exactly what was happening, but it didn't take me long to realize most of what was going on.

[@IrukaSaaan]

I suggest you go back and play the first Half-Life. True is that I found Half-Life 2 better, but HL simply MUST be played.

[@DanielRI02]

tooawesome2bereal Especially since the release of Black Mesa. HL1 is available for free with a graphical/audio overhaul.

[@IrukaSaaan]

V0xx And without the last chapter which, when you think about it, may be a mercy thing more than an issue.

[@AsSheFelliSmiled]

OMG! The moment you said, "Zohar", I think my brain just stopped for a moment. As it always does upon hearing Xenosaga-related expo-babble (to coin a phrase lol).

[@7DaltonDoms7]

The king of exposition IMO is Brandon Sanderson, NYT Bestseller. He manages to make his magic systems and worlds a joy to learn about, as if you're always searching or dying for the next morsel of info. This is mirrored in games in Dark Souls of course. I would really like to see you guys look at his work.

[@B1o2e3rg4e5r6]

I was just about to come down here and say that. It's a great system because the casual player can infer most of the story through the dialog and cut scenes, but all the technical information is available for the hardcore sci-fi people. Another good example is the newspapers in Deus Ex: HR. Not essential, but they give an excellent sense of the very near future by relating their world to current issues like the Middle East and all in a few optional paragraphs.

[@WhiplashSL]

No, I find it more impressive when someone is able to piece together a sophisticated plot that doesn't reveal much to the village idiot from only item descriptions. EpicNameBro's Dark Souls lore series impressed me a lot, since the majority of the story is told from the item descriptions alone.

[@HJ_Extravaganza]

Simplicity is perfect for this. The art shouldn't distract. Also, the artists simply cannot do much more with it, as they don't have the time. Allison just recently had to quit being the artist due to it interfering with her actual work.

[@GoldenRockefeller]

This is a good reason why games or stories will have protagonists that are either students or have lost their memories. This makes sense in the story because they are still learning. Like in early naruto episodes explaining chakra.

[@Judgeharm]

Best exposition line of all time: "Pick up that can"

[@Eqvil]

Love the Xenosaga reference. :D

[@pennyforyou]

I believe Mass Effects Codex pages are good for Exposition. You are constantly informed that there is this date but the necessary information is largely condensed. Even then there is the Primary and Secondary Entries.... It allows the player to decide how much exposition they really wish to go through. You can play the game and get what you need to know, You can read the primary and get greater context and the Secondary allows you more indepth knowledge.

[@Comandersnow]

man.. I blasted through all the previous episodes... and now.. now I have to wait on a weekly basis. It's torture.

[@CoxTH]

I'm getting into making games with the RPG Maker and I've noticed that most game creators there tend to do that. You start up the game and you simply get ten or more minutes of dialogue just to explain the WHOLE backstory of the world, before you even get to play.

[@LordBloodySoul]

CoxTH Me and my siblings try to avoid that in our project. Most of the stuff will be self explainatory if you ever have played a game like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger or Terranigma. The story is only tackled in dialouges if it is absolutely necessary for the player to understand a certain situation. Like for example, we will not go into all the stuff about magic and how it works, but use dialogues to explain races that are completely new to the player. Like the Tarantellian, the Spider people, who's only purpose is to find and preserve knowledge under the order or more respect to their former deity, the Lord of Darkness.

[@liamj2363]

I liked the codex in Mass Effect, that way, a lot of the exposition is totally optional.

[@danielhale1]

Yea, this is an important episode for me. In my D&D and other pen&paper campaigns, I'm bad at drawing this line elegantly. Too much exposition at some moments, not enough at others, and the exposition I do give isn't always well-integrated into the world and narrative. I'm getting better at it though...

[@Zadamanim]

+Daniel Hale I've heard that improvisation is vital to dungeon engineering, so I'd say judge based on the people in the room's faces to see how much more explanation they'd like to hear! I'm no expert but maybe that'll help?

[@danielhale1]

Zadamanim I try, but different players have vastly different desires that tend to conflict. I'm also having to balance that, and find a happy middle ground. :)

[@DatsTehUber]

+Daniel Hale Zadamanim is correct, and conversely, you're correct too, it's very difficult to guide players with very strongly conflicting interests towards a common goal. A large part of what tabletop gaming is is also allowing players to define their stories, and what the fruit of those stories happen to be. More often then not, the grandest of quests that players engage in happen to be ones driven by their own agendas, and not those of the things around them. The devil may have this obtuse grand scheme to overtake hell for his own desires, and a deep rooted conflict with an abyssal lord, but it's up to the players on how they involve themselves in that, or even if they involve themselves at all. The GM's job is to set paths for the players, but not to lead them down said paths, simply to make sure that there's always content for whatever paths the players take. The real deal, is that you have to give the players rewards, and give them their own goals for allowing them to accomplish it. They're the story tellers, you're just the chronicler.

[@adamoleoni2272]

Daniel Hale The less you say, the better. Just describe the minimum required to move the story, and let them uncover shit as they move along. Info dump during first session is really boring, really fast

[@Aranneas]

welcome to the mature part of youtube, where content and message dictates the reception you get more than grammar. if you're like me you've been searching for it for a while.

[@luspearsoram1507]

That is really good. I guess games are more of telling and more of showing. One fascinating part of my world is the kinds of monsters and environments. When I write about them, I can discuss the biology and ecology in great depth. If I am limited by words in a game, I can easily cut that out. I just have to show it, and trust the player to have some understanding it. It is enough to just make general obvious conclusions like these. This zone is an ocean with fish. This zone is a desert with cactus. This zone is a prehistoric jungle with dinosaurs. Etc. I have heard of the issue in writing. Generally this can be solved in bringing it in little by little. The main character is typically an everyman. The stereotypical version is the farm boy. This character only knows a simple life that the audience can easily understand. Then when the hero goes into the fantasy world, they learn things bit by bit. During this time the audience learns with them. Harry Potter is a great example. He does start out in a normal family. He isn't a farm boy, but he lives in a modern suburban kind of home. It is still recognizable, especially for the British audience. Then Harry Potter learns about the magical world little by little. He learns a lot of backstory this way. This all adds up to a world that is very rich indeed. I do have a nitpick that the backstory in the beginning bored me as a kid. I didn't get into Harry Potter until later when I got past it. It is where professors Dumbldore and McGonagall have a conversation and Hagrid puts baby Harry on the Dursey's door step. It would have been better if that scene was skipped. Starting with good backstory can work. Disney movies are very good at that. I recommend watching the first few scenes in Moana to see this in action.That really got me hyped up to see the movie especially the first scene. If Harry Potter can't get good backstory in the beginning it is better to cut it out. It can start with Harry living in the cupboard and going to the zoo. He should be established right away as someone who is strange and a misfit. That can hold the audiences interest long enough for more of the interesting world to be revealed. Hagrid meets Harry later on an island. He reveals a lot. He could briefly mention that he brought Harry to the Dursley's. That makes up for the scene that got cut, and it isn't too long.

[@9seed.]

3:28 ohhh, i was hoping you'd mention that. look up "how to feed a bullsquid." on youtube, a few clicks in and you should be able to see that half life (referring to the first game) does a ton of behavioral tricks and subtitles to build the world. You can use the bulsquid's behavior and appearance to re-create how this creature lived, where it is on the food chain, why it eats corpses, so much about it. they do the same thing with headcrabs, giving you an idea of the life cycle, and showing you the vortigaunts in was that show more observant players the nature of their slavery. that's why HL is my favorite game, it does all this story telling without more than maybe 2-3 (maybe 5) exposition dumps, mostly for telling the player where to go. it's really cool.

[@Truex007]

Is it odd that the ones he named that executed exposition well are all really good freaking games I'm not likely too forget ever?

[@dragonick2947]

We need an Exposition toy!

[@talkingbullet]

Gosh I'm glad that i found this channel.

[@herogamer555]

When it comes to exposition you should take the same approach that Bioware did in Mass Effect and Dragons Age, have what you need to make confident decisions in the dialogue, and everything else in the codex. Or you could go with Elder Scrolls and have all the background info in books throughout the game. For exposition regarding what you need to do, why not let the player figure it out? Some sniper shooting your team? Find him. Some key needed to open the big shiny door? Find it. Most objectives in games are "Go here" anyways so it wouldn't be too hard to figure out if the designers keep that in mind when making the game.

[@MajesticSundew]

It's kinda funny that you would mention Mass Effect and Dragon Age as examples, because honestly they make some of the most atrocious overuse of unnecessary exposition I've ever seen.

[@MarcosTheTurkey]

i think all game developers should watch this channel

[@Alevamltd]

Good example, the tagline to Alien "In space no one can hear you scream" Perfect.

[@paulstaker8861]

How to integrate exposition: Shorten it. Reveal through gameplay. Make it optional. Make it entertaining.

[@BlueBerryDragonYumm]

ExtraCreditz > Everything

[@michaelsnow3536]

I think Final Fantasy X's delivery system was pretty solid. By having a main character as clueless about Spira as we the audience were, they were able to have the other characters explain things to Tidus that would otherwise seem out of place, conveying the information to us.

[@LordBloodySoul]

Michael Snow Yeah, compare that to Final Fantasy XIII that either tells you nothing at and makes you feel more confused than you should or gives you abunch of codex text to read that are just plain boring... o~o

[@LordBloodySoul]

TheRezro Exactly. My sister replays FFX right now. She also says that the game feels nice to begin with, but the acting is so horrid, the characters blunt and the story just drags too much already :/

[@austinrobinson4281]

I just started playing FF12 again since childhood and wow, exposition dumps is incredibly apparent in the first twenty minutes.

[@Krescentwolf]

I love that they brought up Zohar.... Xenosaga was so overfilled with exposition that it made every line feel like a Shakespeare play... every page needs to be translated on the opposite page. But on the flip side... there's games like FF13, which completely and utterly abandon exposition (and in ff13's case, stuff it all in a data log... Worst. Game. Design. Choice. Ever.) That it leaves the player going "What the hell is this? Who the hell are you? And Why the hell should I care?" Balance required!

[@Luciferkrist]

+Krescentwolf The biggest issue with that series is that it was cut off halfway. It was intended to be a 6 part series. I still have yet to forgive Namco-Bandai.

[@calarakien]

+Krescentwolf i only ever played the first one. Never saw episode 2 or 3 at any used game shops near where i live. Do they at least give a half-decent ending to the third episode?

[@Krescentwolf]

Zolu'u Silverstein Half decent is a word i'd definitely use. The first game set its own pace... but 2 and ESPECIALLY 3 felt rushed and crammed... guess thats what happens when you cram a 6 game series into 3 games. Still well worth playing, though. Theyre great Jrpg's in their own right... if you can deal with the exposition.

[@calarakien]

***** i loved the first game. The combat is very unique for a turn based rpg and there is enough content to be satisfied as a long time rpg buff. Sucks there were only 3 games.

[@Luciferkrist]

Exactly. The 2nd game feels artificially propelled and the 3rd is just too dense with expisition. Though I still put 80plus hours into them. Really a good series if you have a passing interest in theology as well.

[@sprigganthebiggan4152]

Look at Dark Souls and Bloodborne, where item descriptions, the environment, and a few off hand dialogues are the only exposition. Love it.

[@subtlewhatssubtle]

Half Life 2, Ep1, and Ep2 still stand out in regards to a rather small amount of in-game dialogue saying an awful a lot about the setting. One of the things I still remember vividly was the Stalker car on the train. A pod falls open and all we see is inside is this horrible, barely-human, barely-alive thing, and we're not told anything about what exactly they are or how they're made. Alyx doesn't panic, but loses her cool in a grief-stricken way instead. "Goddamn the Combine! This is what happens to you if you resist. Or if you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. God, I hope you don't remember who you were." All said while Alyx very gently closes the lid on a Stalker pod while holding back tears. Four sentences and one scene tells you everything you needed to know about who's responsible for this terrible thing, what a Stalker is, the sheer horribleness of the Combine, what they do to their victims, how little they care about things like fairness or guilt, and how horrible it is to become a Stalker, where a complete lack of any emotional or mental function is far better than being forced to remember everything you've lost.

[@evanwitt1320]

Hear, hear! And just imagine what it would've been like in the hands of a lesser studio. "These are stalkers, Gordon. From time to time, the combine takes its particularly troublesome prisoners and removes their eyes and appendages, replacing them with robotic counterparts. It's such a traumatic experience that..." Ugh.

[@eightmegsandconstantlyswap8862]

Evan Witt The first Half-Life does exposition very well too, you walk in to the room before first boss fight and there's a wounded scientist that tells you to "destroy that thing before it gets any larger", then you see it reach in through a window and kill another scientist, then a guard tells you to shut up because it can hear you. You get all of the info you need on the boss without it feeling like exposition.

[@jasondeutschbein8102]

Games are really a far more concise method of story telling than books or movies/shows. Vocabulary, memetic language; these are both integral to engage the player.

[@SapereAude1490]

Yeah. It also helps that the codex entry narrator had a nice voice. Skyrim does this as well. Just the other day, I found a book explaining enchanting and why there aren't as many enchantment options in Skyrim as there were in Oblivion. There's also a mod in the works to make all in-game books audio books.

[@CuttSoldier]

It was definitely there, but it was told through snippets from people. The world was well fleshed out, but you had to discover all of it, and make your own connections. Even the endings were simple, and needed to be interperted.

[@DusteDdekay]

I disagree, exposition dumps are my favourite part of sci-fi books, movies and games, I don't care that much about the current story, or what happens next, I enjoy getting to know the world and history of the world far more.

[@ThatPazuzu]

Bastion is a strange example of exposition. It containss a heavy amount, but it isn't cumbersome because A) Things are explained elegantly and subtly and B) exposition is given in the same way all information is, by Ruck's soothing voice.

[@shadowstorm1989]

This is one of the crucial parts of why Harry Potter was so successful. There were no exposition dumps done in odd ways, because Harry was an outsider learning about the wizarding world, and because we followed his discovery of magic, we learned about it with him.

[@ItohKuni]

Beautiful Advice. Loved it. Will definitely put it to heart!

[@bonebard6178]

now if only anime creators could figure this out

[@wakewind4129]

Thank you

[@yubisakimilktea]

Thanks for this, this is pretty good advice. Gone have to book mark this as a reminder.