Further tower defence research (20/1/2014)

Today I decided to look online for tower defence games that include narrative. I did this as, so far I have found a lack of them which concerns me since I need to come up with a narrative for our group project.
You can read my findings below...

• Shad'O: This tower defence game really got my attention, as it's unique in its setting and does indeed include a story. Playing as a young boy named William you and your teddy bear have to defend your memories from the Forgetfulness. Shad'o is especially interesting as the narrative that appears both before and after each level (similar to the method I was thinking of using) is rather atmospheric. For a game about a child protecting his memories with his teddy bear, the game has a surreal 'Alice in Wonderland' quality through the patchwork defences you use in order to fight off shadowy enemies. Thus it tells a serious story whilst still keeping some light hearted elements within the defences themselves. You could even connect such as element through the child (Fig 3) as he looks almost identical to the one seen in the story 'Where the Wild Things Are' (Fig 2). Therefore, including a story in a game about fire safety may well be possible, I just have to work out the themes we want to address first.

Fig 1

                            Fig 2                                                  Fig 3

• South Park: Let's Go Tower Defence Play: Based on the popular series of the same name, this game captures the humour of the show through an original story that it tells at the start and end of each level. The humour is also shown in the enemies and defences you can build as both are just as bizarre as the show is. However, because of this there is no seriousness to be seen within the game, thus even though it is a narrative driven tower defence game, its type of narrative wouldn't be appropriate for the type of serious fire safety game I am trying to write for. However, the way they put through their narrative was through 10-30 second cut scenes. Thus these didn't break the flow of game play and could still be skipped (both things that could be included within the final narrative for our project). 

 Fig 4

• Assassins Creed: Revelations: Finally I decided to try an unlikely tower defence game that was featured as a game play mode in 'Assassins Creed: Revelations'. The game itself still had players doing the usual format seen in 'Assassins Creed' e.g. assassinate targets but, it now had players defend an Assassin's Den when it was attacked. Named 'Den Defence', this mode has the player posting men on rooftops to fire down on enemies. Since this was an optional bonus mode included in the game it meant that it didn't get in the way of the story too much. However, our fire safety game won't be as big in scale as an 'Assassins Creed' title usually is, therefore it may not have been the best example to look up.

Fig 5

 
* From all my research it still seems as if the only way to tell the story would be through a narrative structure at the beginning and end of every level. However, I will need to now think of possible stories that would be considered serious enough for the subject matter but, at the same time, not be overly depressing for our young audience.

With the above in mind, I figured that the story should perhaps be less narrative driven and more educational. For example, perhaps each level should start with an emergency call using the real script used in such situations to demonstrate a serious danger.
Some narrative structures I could include...

• Similar to one of the groups original ideas for an opening cutscene, someone calls for emergency services to stop a fire at X, then the fire fighters respond and do so. When the level is complete the fire fighters could explain how serious the fire could have been if it had continued. 
• Otherwise, it could be that a captain of the fire department talks to the player over a radio as if they are a fire fighter in order to explain the current situation. Players then have to respond to the fire like they would if they were a real fire fighter and at the end of the level would be congratulated on a job well done. The captain could also possibly explain what would have happened if the fire had got out of hand, similar to above.

Harvard Referencing:

• Chris, I (2012) Review: Shad'O (PC) [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2012/09/review-shado-pc.html (Accessed: 20/1/2014).
• Pawlowski, K (2009) South Park: Let's Go Tower Defense Play! Co-Op Review - Page 2 [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.co-optimus.com/review/320/page/2/south-park-let-s-go-tower-defense-play-co-op-review.html (Accessed: 20/1/2014).
• Unknown (2013) 2-where-the-wild-things-are [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.losangelesmystery.com/ever-writer-needs-a-muse-mine-was-viva/2-where-the-wild-things-are/ (Accessed: 20/1/2014).
• Unknown (Unknown) Shad'O Playism [Online Image]. Available at: http://playism-games.com/games/shado/ (Accessed: 20/1/2014).
• Unknown (Unknown) Den Defense - The Assassin's Creed Wiki [Online Image]. Available at: http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Den_Defense (Accessed: 20/1/2014).