Narrative Architecture, Passage, Dear Esther, Graveyard

Game creators use distinct forms of narrative architecture to convey ideas in the games that will evoke some sort of interest and response from the player, through means of interaction. In Passage for instance, the male character is faced with a decision at the beginning of the game whether or not to continue through the passage by himself or to take a female partner with him. If he goes by himself he probably has better chances of gathering treasures but if he takes the female character with him he has companionship but will probably not be able to seize every treasure and opportunity. In Dear Esther, the layout of the island and the interactive possibility space and sequences involved illustrate the creator’s narrative architecture. It also alludes to ideas about death. The Graveyard expresses the creator’s ideas of life and time, and how time goes by very quickly and once time is up, the only thing left in life is death.