Sunday, August 11, 2024
Beyond The Screen
Addressing
the nature of the medium and the player directly has a long tradition
within video games as a means of introspection and entertainment. The
Meta Fiction genre is something visual novels have dipped their toes
into over the years with varying degrees of commitment to its use.
This manifests through everything from playing with the games
systems, jokes at the nature of the game they are part of to directly
talking to the player. Each approach offers something subtly
different to the experience of the game and they overlap in surprising
ways. Despite the limited design space available for many visual
novels, they have found ways to integrate this genre into almost
every part of their structure. Let’s break the fourth wall and find
out how all these elements work in practice.
And There Goes The Fourth Wall
Of
course the first and most immediately recognisable way a visual novel
can lean into the Meta Fiction genre is to address the player
directly. This breaking of the fourth wall takes the player’s
established role as an observer to events and recontextualise them as
a participant on the same level as the characters they have been
watching. Immediately the player is drawn into the story in a
personal manner as the game pulls them in by responding to the
player’s presence and engaging in a form of dialogue with them. It
also draws the fate of the cast closer to the player since it is
another avenue through which the characters can present their
humanity and appeal in order to create investment in their plight. A
major part of the strength of using the Meta Fiction genre in this manner is the tension it gains through the way it points the narrative
threat at the player themselves. Obviously this is a fine line to
walk as everyone playing a game is aware of its inherently
fictional nature and so it is difficult to feel any danger from
something distant for them. However, through not losing sight of its
core tone, a visual novel can make the tension from the fourth wall
breaking appear to be a natural extension of the already established
narrative. When utilised in this way it can give some much needed
spice to what might otherwise be a standard title and leaving the
player with an exciting and memorable experience.
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| Oh no, it would be terrible if something meta where to happen... |
The poster child
for shattering the fourth wall would have to be Doki Doki Literature
Club and its creative ways to keep the Meta Fiction fresh throughout
its entire playtime. Much of the plot centric drama stems from these
meta elements as the situation degrades into conflict with the player
becoming the focal point of everything that is going on. When it
addresses the player directly it often does so in a way where it is
unclear if the character is talking to the protagonist or the player
creating a sense of unease where the boundary between the two becomes
unclear and there is still an uncertainty about what is going on.
Once the fourth wall has finally been completely shattered the game
maintains a playful sense of danger where it places the threat
towards the player but does so in a tongue and cheek way. This
acknowledgment of the fundamentally silly nature of Meta Fiction
allows the player to invest themselves in the experience by
alleviating the friction between the presented danger and the reality
for the player. AI: The Somnium File – nivarnA Initiative takes a
more structural approach to its Meta Fiction genre. Its defining meta
moments are entirely player facing and have little influence on the
characters and so it has to deal with them in specific sections where
the game turns and openly talks to the player about the plot twist it
is revealing. The benefit of this method lies in the way it can
preserve the central plot and character from losing their sense of
being part of separate world while still having the flavour of Meta
Fiction. Of course this runs the risk of creating too much of a
division between this meta twist and everything else the player has
experienced which could leave them feeling cheated by something they
could never have seen coming.
For The Sake Of A Joke
Rather
than making the fourth wall breaking a plot element that the player
has to take seriously, many visual novels simply uses it as a cheeky
wink to camera to get a laugh. They focus on the silliness inherent
in the Meta Fiction genre as a source of comedy with a self aware
irony underlying it. This is often an accompaniment to a game which
already prides itself on its absurd and over the top tone so the meta
jokes feel right at home in its chaotic nature. They offer another
axis for the comedy to play on and help keep it fresh for the long
duration of an entire visual novel. It is not as simple as slapping
in some fourth wall breaks and call it a day since this runs the risk
of coming across as self indulgent. Balancing the presence of Meta
Fictional elements requires a sense of timing as to where and when to
places them so they come across as a natural extension of what is
already happening in the scene. Using them too frequently is another
issue often encountered by this kind of visual novel with the
temptation being to use them whenever there is a gap they could fit
into resulting in them becoming predictable and thus lose their
intended impact. As such delaying their use has the best effect to
keep the player from being able to predict exactly when one is coming
and making the surprise when they do come all the more entertaining.
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| Being playful is the best way to inclue meta elements |
Looking at Ren’ai x Royale reveals how intermittent use of meta
elements can be leveraged to enhance an existing atmosphere. The
overall light tone lends itself to being malleable when it comes to
its contents as the player will likely accept it within their
understanding of the game’s world rather than being drawn out of
the experience. Nevertheless, there is an effort to not overuse the
meta jokes in order to still make them feel special and not run the
risk of straining the tone by pushing it too far. On the opposite end
of the spectrum sits Lamunation which pushes meta fiction as humour
to its absolute limit. Fourth wall breaking meta jokes are a common
occurrence throughout and it relies of the constant stream and
variety of its absurd brand of humour to keep things fresh while not
giving the player enough time to think too deeply about the
implications of the meta elements. What results is a frenetic title
which understands its brand of comedy will not be for everyone since
Meta Fiction can alienate certain audiences who prefer when things
are played straight. The meta elements are in many ways a form of
silly glue to bind the other out there ideas Lamunation utilises and
provides a sort of passive justification for their inclusion through
these self-aware nods.
Engaging With Player Perceptions
Beyond
the winks to camera and fourth wall breaking there is a version of
Meta Fiction far more interested in mechanically linking itself to
the world beyond the visual novel. This involves playing with how the
game is being engaged with and highlighting its edges and point out
its own restrictive nature. One of two extremes can be achieved
through this approach, either it creates an immersive blurring of the
lines between the game and reality or a complete breaking of the game
as a believable self contained world in order to sell certain plot
elements. The first can be seen in action in Hate Plus through the
system where the player can only progress one in game day before they
must wait until twenty-four hours of real time which matches the
amount of time passing in the narrative. Linking the passage of time
helps create a sense of the game’s world as something reflecting
parts of our own and operates on a familiar and tactile axis. It is
also a relatively indirect method of communicating this feeling as it
draw attention to the artificial nature of the game but not a way
that demands the player remains focused on this aspect and instead
lets them smoothly transition in and out of this mechanic.
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| I'll see you again in 24 hours |
The other
half of this approach can once again be exemplified by Doki Doki
Literature Club and the way in which it asks the player to mess with
the very files of the game. It completely breaks down the illusion
that the game is a real place and instead asks that it be considered
for what it really is in a tongue and cheek way. The player gets to
feel a degree of power over the game since they are interfering with
the way the game itself functions and subverting the characters place
in their own world through these modifications. This is all smoke and
mirrors as the parts the player is messing with are in fact set up
specifically from them to do so and they are not in fact subverting
the game’s foundations.
Conclusion
Fiction
exists in its own space within our minds, one separate from the real
world and yet alive so when a visual novel steps over that divide it
can leave quite an impact. Meta Fiction as a genre comes in many
forms and provides a unique avenue to engage with the player. A
simple smashing of the fourth wall can give a scene a sense of
tension whereby the player themselves feels threatened and in the
same position as the characters. It can also engage on a mechanical
level by relating the actions it requires of the player to the real
world or giving them the ability to mess with its files. This does
not have to be used for serious purposes and a lot of titles like to
commit to a Meta Fiction element to have another angle of humour to
add to their own brand of comedy and try to surprise the player. A
genre like this is hard to recommend including in a visual novel
given the way it warps the entire structure and experience around it.
However, if it serves your narrative and tonal aims it may well be
worth integrating on a foundational level.
