[In an effort to get more student developers thinking about game narrative, the Writers' Summit at GDC Online supported an annual contest in association with the IGDA Writers SIG. The board has challenged students to produce in-depth analyses of the narrative elements of their favorite video games.

The goal is twofold: to encourage students to look at game narrative and writing with the intensity and depth that they do other aspects of game development, and to reward the students who excel at game narrative analysis.

GameCareerGuide is once again happy to present the student entries which have been awarded poster sessions at the event this year.]

Platform: Sony PlayStation 2
Genre: 3rd Person Action/Adventure
Release Date: October 18, 2005
Developer: SCEI
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Game Designer: Fumito Ueda

Overview

On Paper, Shadow of the Colossus is a game that consists primarily of sixteen massive boss fights. But the actual experience of playing the game far exceeds its basic description. The game's creator, Fumito Ueda, used the soundtrack and visual design of the game to blur the lines of the traditional narrative of hero and villain. Also, the story of Shadow of the Colossus is not laid out for the player through extensive dialogue, but must be pieced together patiently through the gradual progression of the game.

Initially, Shadow of the Colossus only reveals to its player that the unnamed protagonist has traveled to a temple in a distant land in hopes of restoring the life of a girl whose body he has brought with him. Upon arrival in the temple our hero is greeted by the disembodied, godlike voice of Dormin. The game's sparse dialogue is delivered in a language that Ueda and his team made up so that the player must follow the English subtitles in order to understand. Dormin explains to the main character that it is indeed possible to restore the life of the deceased girl, but first the task of destroying each of this land's sixteen colossi must be accomplished. So with his task set before him our hero sets out to accomplish it. After this brief setup the story is only occasionally and sparingly elaborated by the game.

Characters

• Unnamed protagonist - The player character is charged with fulfilling heroic tasks in order to bring a girl back from the dead. The parameters of his quest were given to him by the god-like character Dormin.
• Dormin - An unseen character and is known to the player only through his otherworldly, spectral voice. It is he who directs the unnamed protagonist to kill the colossi and leads him on with hints along the way.
• Agro - The sole earthly companion of the unnamed protagonist throughout the game.
• Dead girl - The exact relationship of the nameless dead girl to the unnamed protagonist is not explained. But, as the protagonist pushes himself further and further along in his quest, the player realizes that whatever the relationship was, it must have been significant.

Breakdown

The story of Shadow of the Colossus is meant to cause the player to question the traditional roles of hero and villain, and does so through the progression of the overall narrative and through the colossi battles. At the beginning of the game the player learns that he or she, playing the role of the unnamed protagonist, must save a girl by accomplishing the herculean task of slaying sixteen colossi monsters. The player is thereby set up to believe that he or she will be filling the role of hero.

But as the player encounters each colossus, the firm delineation between hero and villain begins to deteriorate. Though the large stature and lumbering movements of the colossi make them intimidating opponents, when the player comes upon one of them, gentle orchestral music fades in; this substitution for the usual music signifying entry into a fight scene causes the player to second guess his or her assumed role. As well, the docile eyes and soft fur of the colossi further call into question their role as monsters, so though the player knows that the mission is to kill the colossus, he or she grows less sure that it is a "heroic" act. Finally, when the colossus is slain, a mournful melody rises like a lament, replacing the charged music that had been urging on the player once he or she had instigated the colossus into fighting. This transition again unmoors the player from the expected triumph that was expected as reward for victory.

Once all the colossi are defeated, the protagonist is not rewarded with the restoration of the girl, but is instead turned into a monster himself. The monster then in self-defense turns on his former people and ends up destroyed before the girl is finally restored. At this point, it is discovered that the protagonist has not really died as the monster, but was transformed into a horned infant. Even the conclusion to the story leaves the player with doubts about hero and villain; though technically the desired end was achieved, neither the journey nor its end was what was expected.