Rockstar Games created a world chock-full of detail. It’s a world that pushes the boundary on how stories are told in games.
Written by Perrin Smith, Graphics by Tyler Lowe, Images sourced from Rockstar Games/Take-Two Interactive
When it was first released in 2018 to near-universal praise, the conversation surrounding “Red Dead Redemption II” quickly turned to one thing: details. Videos were posted to YouTube compiling some of the most “insane” of the lot. Writers, both inside and outside of the industry, stated that it was “the most detailed game they had ever played.”
Talk about the game focused in on Arthur Morgan, the game’s protagonist and main playable character. Much was lauded about his hair and beard, which grew over time and needed to be cut by an in-game barber. And how, if you rode your horse through a puddle of mud, grime would splash up on him. If you didn’t wash Arthur off fast enough, the stench would scare away animals you may want to hunt and other characters start ribbing him for his smell. Details, it seemed, were everything the game was made of.
“[When it comes to storytelling] we’re projecting imagery through this form of sorcery,” said Chris Millis, chair of the writing department here at SCAD. “The only way to make that feel real is through detail.”
Details help ground us in a story. They tell us about the world, other characters and the time period. They make it more believable. In “Red Dead Redemption II,” the little nick on Arthur’s cheek has a story all its own. He’s lived rough as a cowboy, we know this through dialogue, but the detail’s presence on his character model creates evidence of that harsh life.
“One of the most important tools we use to connect with other humans is the recognition of facial patterns,” stated a 2005 series on creating virtual people done by The University of Michigan. It used to be that this was all game designers and animators had to focus on. If you could nail this, and make your characters look believable, then you were one step closer to establishing a connection with the audience.
But here we are in 2021, entering a new era of graphics in gaming. We are 16 years on from when that was written. Game designers have all but mastered creating character models of startling realism. Navigating through the “uncanny valley” — the term applied to virtual people that look real enough but are just slightly off from true reality — has gotten steadily closer to a walk in the park. Now, designers have turned their attention towards creating extra detail.
“Every detail has the potential to contribute to whatever the core philosophy or theme of the piece is,” said Millis. But no matter what that detail is, it can begin to feel superfluous.
A detail’s ability to remain necessary hinges on its purpose to the story — a problem “Red Dead Redemption II” simultaneously suffers from and conquers.
While it’s great to have a character with dilating eyes and bouncy hair, is it really necessary to play the same animation each time you pick something up off the ground?
Oftentimes, it feels like these details are part of a competition. As if game developers are duking it out through their new releases to see who might have the most bombastic detail. The depths at which studios are reaching to create their most detailed worlds, characters and settings have become staggering.
“You can be so quirky that it becomes absurd,” said Millis.
Details should be about creating impact in the story or connecting players to the setting. It might feel, at first, like that animation of Arthur ducking down to pick something up is realistic — it is. But to players, it quickly becomes a nuisance. Instead, details in gaming work better when they build towards something deeper.
If you’ve played or seen anything about “Red Dead Redemption II,” it’s no secret that Arthur Morgan gets sick. He has tuberculosis, contracting it near the beginning of the game. As the story progresses, Arthur’s symptoms grow more apparent. His cough, once occasional and chalked up to a tickle in his throat, becomes ever-present. He wheezes. His cheeks sink in. His face turns sallow, then loses color. His eyes become bloodshot.
The writing is on the wall that Arthur will only get sicker as time goes on. He’s becoming weaker with each mission the player successfully completes. Eventually, he starts passing out. The controller vibrates in tandem with his labored breathing and chromatic aberration tears at the edges of the screen. Arthur, and you, aren’t doing so well.
These details matter. They add up to something.
As the story inches towards the finale, each moment of Arthur’s sickness connects with us. We have seen where he started compared to now. We feel his pain because we experienced it alongside him.
This is the unique position gaming has to deliver on details that matter. This is detail motivated through necessity. By using the game’s length, controller and realistic graphics, it grounds the player in the moment, connects them with the character and ties them to the setting. It’s not just detailed for detail’s sake.
Instead, these details serve a purpose. They present a deeper form of storytelling — one that only gaming can achieve.
