Seamless Cutscenes

Cutscenes have been used in a vast variety of ways in games, from the expository dialogues of the Final Fantasy series to the world record setting-ly long miniature movies of the Metal Gear games. While often a showing of the technical prowess of the system, cutscenes are most wisely used when they do not use graphical fidelity beyond that of the normal gameplay. Seamless cut-scenes, particularly quick ones used with in game graphics, do not break the magic circle the game has created, keeping the player in the world of the game. This makes the player feel more like the things happening to their character are immediate, resulting in high levels of engagement and preventing the player from becoming bored.

### **Examples:**

#### 1.**Another World**

In Another World, gameplay is inter-cut quite frequently with seamless short cut-scenes which keep the player engaged and prevent illusion of the game world from being broken. The cut-scenes in Another World use in game graphics and rarely last longer than 5 seconds. Early game examples of this are a falling cage, the player character grabbing a gun, and a shootout.

#### 2.**Half-Life**

Half-Life delivered cutscene-like moments while still completely within engine. Generally this meant introducing new information, new characters, or employing large set pieces while the player was still in control of their avatar. Sometimes this control was not directly related to the action of the scene - the player might press a single button to fire a large rocket, and they have no more meaningful actions to take while the launch happens. But merely being able to walk around, and even to choose to ignore the spectacle unfolding in front of them, lent a feeling of agency and presence to events. The player's perspective from the eyes of their avatar was never broken, and so even within a 'cutscene' they felt some visceral involvement in the unfolding action.

Some moments took this idea further, allowing the player to break or interrupt a cutscene moment. As the player is escaping from an underground facility, they hear two soldiers discussing their character around a corner. Normally this information might be delivered in a cutscene, as the soldiers are discussing their desire to kill the player. Instead the player hears this dialogue from around the corner - and has the option to interrupt the soldiers by dashing out and shooting them. This reinforces the player's agency, as they can decide whether or not they want to hear what the soldiers are talking about.

#### 3.Grand Theft Auto V

In GTA:V many of the mission cutscenes are seamless but the on that stands out is the one from mission #26 "Did Somebody Say Yoga?" In this mission Micheal and his wife are arguing about something and the yoga instructor interrupts their argument and takes them both out for yoga. The mission seamlessly transits from the cutscene to Michael doing yoga as a part of the gameplay.

### 4. Guild Wars 2

In Guild Wars, many of the story quests and events have cut-scene which are fluid and seamless. In this cut-scene the player "Godhead" is conversing with a Non-Player Character (NPC) in a cut-scene, who is telling Godhead about the problem they are facing in the "Ascalonian Catacombs" dungeon.