Cinematics
Games are meant to played. Gameplay should convey emotions, relationships, and character.
However, gameplay can't always control the player's POV.
At this impasse, cinematics help to lock down the player's perspective, controlling the game experience to elicit specific responses to character-driven payoffs or frame a scene with specificity .
For this reason, cinematics should be reserved for key narrative moments.
Steel Soldier
(Sample Action/Adventure Game)
Cinematic Sample
In Steel Soldier, weapons developer Arthur Kite pulls aid from interplanentary war efforts; instead, he dons his newest tech himself – a photon-powered EXO-Suit – becoming the most righteous vigilante of the Milky Way: Steel Soldier. At least, that's how he tells it.
This cutscene seeks to set up and resolve backstory-driven emotional conflict and establish Jesse Hawkes as a recurring character as the game progresses. Written in Final Draft with a target runtime of under 3 minutes, this scene takes place in the early hours of Steel Soldier and provides narrative context for the introduction of EXO-Suit upgrade systems. This sample exhibits an understanding of story structure and dialogue, defining characters and creating rounded arcs in constrained runtimes.
Splinter Ops
(Sample Shooter/Espionage Game)
Cinematic Sample
The near-future. A meteorite strikes Earth. Those affected experience a harrowing phenomenon: Splintering. Splitting into two. The Prime and the Splinter, a perfect double – cybernetic augments and all – cutting into the already meager resources of a dying planet. It's not long before Splinter Ops is haggled together to hunt down these accursed miscreants. A team of augmented soldiers, tracking down their first Splinter targets: themselves.
Crystal, a Splinter Ops agent with a painful past, takes centerstage in these cutscenes, defining character through dialogue and action. Targeting 2 minutes total length, these scripts are bookended by gameplay, immersing the player into the story as it's told and allowing them to jump into exploration and combat at crucial points in Crystal's journey.
Uncharted: Lineage of Thieves (Sample Action/Adventure Game)
Cinematic Sample
Cassie Drake has grown resentful of living up to her father’s legacy. And that was before he gets them captured by mercenaries. If they're going to escape, Nathan must affirm her birthright as a Drake, while Cassie accepts that she is so much more.
This pivotal cutscene seeks to resolve ongoing emotional conflict and establish new party members and character motivation heading into the next chapter of the game. Written in screenplay format with a target runtime of ~3 minutes, this scene takes structural and thematic inspiration from the cutscenes found within Naughty Dog's Uncharted series.