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    Major Assignment 2 Research Proposal 2

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    Major Assignment 2 Research Proposal 2

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    major assignment 2 research proposal 2

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    Pasche 1

    Jacob Pasche

    Mr. Dees

    Major Assignment 2: Research Proposal

    1 Feb 2024

    Emotional Video Games: What's so Special About These Ones and Zeros

    There are plenty of research topics in video games; However, my main focus is

    the story. Whether you beat a boss in Elden Ring or get the conclusion to Omoris deep

    mental turmoil, the emotions you feel are not fake. There is a way that these indie

    developers write that creates an almost life-like connection to you and the story

    happening around you. I plan to investigate these life-like connections in many different

    indie games to find common elements and unique aspects that may be the cause; All in

    an effort to answer this research question: What makes a good story game?

    This research question is very important to all in the field of making video games.

    Whether it is for monetary value or as a creative outlet everyone should want to make

    the best thing that they can, and to do so they need to know what makes a good story.

    By setting popular games such as Undertale, Omori, Outer Wilds, and Celeste as the

    benchmark for plots and characters to add to my research project there will be no

    shortage of excellent ideas that many fans adore. Putting these elements to the test will

    help us find out what's the most effective way to hook the player in and how to make

    sure they never forget that experience. The reason why this research means a lot to me

    is because I have had many moments myself playing games growing up where I felt like

    I was a part of that world. Finding out the reasons as to why, and being able to
    Pasche 2

    implement them into my own games to hopefully make someone else feel that way

    would be the ultimate accomplishment.

    There are not many people that are researching the topic I am. Thus the

    secondary sources I could find are not very specific to the idea of story elements.

    However, articles that will help greatly are: “Death with a Story: How Story Impacts

    Emotional,Motivational, and Physiological Responses to First-Person Shooter Video

    Games.” This is an article that researches how players react when there is a story

    introduced into a fps. While the research project that they did is very similar to mine they

    mainly researched aggressiveness and whether it changed how ruthless they were to

    the enemies. The idea of hate is very useful when propelling a story and I will use a

    main bad guy to use this feeling. In a similar sense of developing an emotional

    response to characters the article “Undertale’s Loveable Monsters: Investigating

    Parasocial Relationships with Non-Player Characters.”Is the best thing I could possibly

    research to find out how to implement a NPC to my videogame. By knowing what

    causes people to feel attached to characters I can better deliver the story in a more

    impactful way. Hopefully creating a better and closer bond with the dog that's been

    kidnaped that will ultimately lead to a greater conclusion in the end. To make the end

    even greater I will be implementing a version of this unique idea “If anyone’s going to

    ruin your night, it should be you.” Responsibility and affective materiality in Undertale

    and Night in the Woods.”your own morality causes differences in the story. This will be

    an excellent thing to test because depending on what actions you take during the game

    you can get one of the two endings hopefully being able to see if there is guilt or triumph

    when they find out what they did to save the dog. However the research that these and
    Pasche 3

    the other articles I found are not similar to mine. Because I will be tracking the

    implementation of story elements and responses to them. This is the niche that my

    research will take on, a topic not heavily researched but one that is crucial to any game

    developer.

    In order to implement ideas and monitor gamers' responses to the story I will be

    making a game. This game will be a top down isometric pixel art game. The reason

    behind the minimalistic look is so that the art doesn't take the forefront. I will have a

    basic game where a man wanders through a forest looking for his dog that he lost. In

    the end he will find it after fighting some enemies and maybe going through some

    puzzles. After completing this I will create a copy and add all of the story elements

    researched. I will keep the game play the exact same but give a reason as to why your

    dog is lost. Try to create a connection to the dog and the player. And add NPCs where

    your actions affect the ending of the game. I will add more elements to the story than

    this but I want it to be short enough so that people can play both versions within 20

    minutes. I’ll have 5-10 people play the games and I will gauge the reaction to the

    version with and without the story. Alternatively I may have 5 people play the bare

    bones version and 5 play the completed version to get a more fresh and unfiltered

    reaction.
    Pasche 4

    The following is the schedule for the research project:

    ● Week of March 4

    - Create the video game art such as the character animations and

    backgrounds.

    ● Week of March 11

    - Create the gameplay.

    ● Week of March 18

    - Introduce story elements to the game.

    ● Week of March 25

    - Polish game and conduct the primary research.

    ● Week of April 1

    - Write the Assignment 3 Scholarly Research Article with the findings.


    Pasche 5

    Works Cited

    Schneider, Edward F et al. “Death with a Story: How Story Impacts Emotional,

    Motivational, and Physiological Responses to First-Person Shooter Video

    Games.” Human communication research, vol. 30, no. 3, 2004, pp. 361–375.

    Veale, K. “If anyone’s going to ruin your night, it should be you.” Responsibility and

    affective materiality in Undertale and Night in the Woods.” Convergence, vol. 28,

    no. 2, May 2021, pp. 451-467.

    Elvery, G. “Undertale’s Loveable Monsters: Investigating Parasocial Relationships with

    Non-Player Characters.” Games and Culture, vol. 18, no. 4, 2023, pp. 475-497

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