Sunday, December 15, 2024
Flashy Graphics
It
a common feature in visual novels to have an animated opening and
credits sequences, but some titles take this further and sprinkle
pre-rendered cutscenes throughout their play time. These come in a
variety of different forms from imitations of the visual novel’s
normal presentation to anime style scenes to cut out paper puppet
theatre. Each one offers the game a distinct way to influence the
player’s perception of certain elements of the narrative as it
progresses. They can provide the developer with absolute control of
the pace and visuals of a scene and by extension try to ensure a
specific reaction from the player. Motion is key to the effectiveness
of these cutscenes due to how it can be made to complement and
contrast the rest of the visual novel. It can also function as a pay
off to a climatic or emotional moment in order to underscore its
importance while providing catharsis. These are all parts of the
experience of Pre-rendered Cutscenes which can exist separately or
come together to form new styles of presentation. Let’s watch a
movie and find out how this all works in practice.
Absolute Control
As
with all games, visual novels give a lot of control over their pace
and progress to the player through their interactive nature. This
presents a problem for developers where it can be difficult to make
key moments have the impact they are aiming for with any degree of
consistency as the player can choose way they engage with these scenes. If
the player moves forward too slowly, takes a break from the game or
simply chooses to go experience an entirely different route, can the
developer guarantee the same emotions for that moment despite the
player’s freedom? Many titles simply choose to accept the risk of
these moments not having the right impact and keep the player firmly
in the driving seat. However, others choose to assert a more direct
control through Pre-rendered Cutscenes. These sit the player down and
make them watch a predefined sequence in which the developer has the
ability to shape the player’s perception without having to worry
about anything interfering. Sometimes these cutscenes even take the
form of game footage tailored to have the exact pacing and
choreographed action needed to sell the developer’s vision for the
scene. For the big and important moments of a narrative this control
lends a weight to the events being depicted and is a powerful
contrast with the content beforehand. This is not something every
player is going to appreciate due to loss of the control which the
game promised through all the systems they have already engaged with.
As such it is important they not be overused and risk testing the
patience.
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| I/O really does love the moon |
One visual novel which takes full advantage of the control
offered by these Pre-rendered Cutscenes is I/O. It follows the rule
of only having them at key points in the story where it is critical
that the player’s experience be curated in order to keep the game’s
complex plot threads feeling coherent. The web of interconnected
character relationships and actions I/O uses to drive the player
forwards make it difficult for the title to have clear climatic
points or encourage the player to adopt a fast pace since the complexity
often forces a slower and more thoughtful direction. Cutscenes offer
the ability to force a change in how events are perceived as it
dictates the elements which should be the focus going forwards and
invoke a sense of emotion that might otherwise be lacking. There is a
trend in I/O to use the style of the visual novel interface as the means of
presentation before slowly transitioning out to a more abstract
imagery. It creates a sense of the game melting away to reveal the
truth behind the words and ideas. It becomes the sole focus as the player
gets the sense they are seeing to the heart of what is going on. The
impact of these cutscenes never diminishes due to the way they are
spaced out at infrequent intervals and keep to a short runtime so the
player will never become bored or overly familiar with them.
The Pay Off
Sometimes
a Pre-rendered Cutscene does not need a complex meaning or key
narrative purpose, it can instead be a fun inclusion to spice up the
expected formula. They are treated as a reward for the player’s
progress and a suitable way of ramping up the feels these scenes
being climaxes for their respective plot beats. Each one offers a
dramatic or visually interesting continuation of events where the
priority is to impress rather than to further any sort of greater
narrative purpose. Instead they acts as means to motivate the player
to continue engaging with the game or as a send off to leave them
with an impactful memory. As such they tend to take forms vastly
different from the visual novel they are a part of like animated
shorts or dynamic 3D graphics. By shifting so far away from the
material surrounding them, they can stand out in a striking manner so
the excitement they invoke can help them better function as eye
candy. Limited use is once again key to the power of these cutscenes
since repeating the same pay off on a regular basis causes it to lose
the special feeling so key to any type of reward. It also helps keep
costs down given the expensive nature of these fancy animated
cutscenes and allows more money to be put into each individual one
rather than spreading the money too thin which could have led to a
worse quality overall.
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| Blazblue's mixture leads to an interesting use of cutscenes |
The Blazblue games takes advantage of this form of
pay off to great effect and allows them to play into the fighting
game half of their play time. At certain key progression points
throughout the series have utilised animated cutscenes to offer the
player as a reward for their success in both a narrative and gameplay
sense. The fighting game battles build up an expectation for a form
of release that parallels the ramping up of the story where the
fights get more challenging. Here the cutscenes provide a catharsis
for this escalation which is appropriately memorable due to how
different it is from the rest of what the player has experienced. It
is a natural high point to the journey where the player can feel the
momentum of their achievements push them forwards to the next major
plot beat or the ending. Since the fighting gameplay already leans
heavily into the animated style the game is based around the
cutscenes do not have the dramatic contrast they have in a more
static visual novel. Rather than diminish the power of these
cutscenes, it instead offers an enhanced vision of what the player
has been doing with a greater feeling of fluidity and organic
interaction to its presentation.
Adding Motion
Not
all pre-rendered cutscenes are a large and dramatic affair, they can
focus on filling in specific feels and absences within a visual
novel. A common way they can be used is to add a sense of movement to
what is normally a static medium. This can be done through a constant
steam of small cutscenes featuring heavily dynamic motion such as in
Danganronpa. Here the aim is to add energy into each scene through
framing them with the repeated appearance of cutscenes and keep
feeling in the player’s mind so even the static moments seem to
move. Danganronpa loves to insert cutscenes in every dramatic moment
it can even if they only last a few seconds and this helps match the
vibrant and over the top tone the game is aiming for. The motion on
display still holds to the mixture of 2d and 3d which is the series’
hallmark and lends a context and physicality what might otherwise
appear a little strange on its own. Presenting moments of a regular
basis like this showcases how they occupy the space shown in the
narrative and reinforces the idea they do not just exist within the
flat plane of the visual novel.
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| The use of real people and places gives Shibuya Scramble an interesting feel |
In certain games this is a necessity
in order to make the game appear natural and distract from its rigid
construction. The live action stills and how they interplay with the
cutscenes in 428: Shibuya Scramble are a good example of how
important this can be. Real world places and people are not static
and as such when using static photos for a visual novel there is the
issue where the player will be distracted by the lack of the motion
they would expect from the real world. So the solution provided by
Shibuya Scramble is intermittent live action cutscenes where the
actors in the stills play out specific motions. This helps overcome
the player suspend their disbelief during the static content through
showing what it is representing and showing the characters as the
living people they would expect from the images.
Conclusion
The
possibilities for using pre-rendered cutscenes in a visual novel are
far more varied than their rigid form might indicate. Each one can be
an important pay off for the narrative and gameplay as it rewards the
player with a memorable spectacle to ensure it leaves a lasting
impression. When used liberally they can provide a sense of motion
and life to what would otherwise be a static medium and contextualise
the game within a feeling of place. Through the control it offers a
developer these cutscenes can give them the ability to have be
precise in how a key moment is show and the emotions in invokes in
the player. Despite their high cost, the pre-rendered cutscene allows
visual novels to expand into an axis of perception not normally open
to them and they are worth considering when developing your own work.
