Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design, 2nd Edition

Level 17

Cutscenes, or No One’s Gonna Watch ‘Em Anyway

A CUTSCENE IS an animated or live-action sequence used to advance the story; create spectacle; provide atmosphere, dialogue, and character development; and reveal clues that players would otherwise miss during gameplay. Players often have no control over the game while a cutscene plays.

I find cutscenes to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, they usually look fantastic, allowing your game world and characters to be shown in a way that may not be reproducible in the game engine. On the other hand, however, there is a history of many cutscenes being too long, not necessary to the story, or a downright chore to watch. Many players will skip through cutscenes (if the game gives them the option to do this!) to “get to the game.” To avoid this, you should first ask yourself this very important thing:

CAN THE ACTION BE DONE WITH GAMEPLAY?

Since cutscenes are very expensive to make, it’s best to use them judiciously. I say “cutscenes are best saved for kissing and blowing things up” for these reasons:

• You can create more emotion in a cutscene because you have direct control over all of the elements.
• Collisions in games just don’t look as good as they do in a pre-rendered movie. Two characters kissing (or holding hands or whatever) just looks a lot less awkward.
• It’s often better to take the control away from the player so they ...