Ouch!

	The card's front face	The card's back face

Synopsis

Signalling a painful or damaging interaction.

Relationships

Contexts:
Failure , Awareness , Emotional Script , Narrative .
Peers:
Imminent Death , Death .
May use:
Grunts .

Description

Considering that the mechanics of many games demand managing the health of the characters, an effective way to signal interactions that result in damage to their status is to allow themselves to express such events, diegetically.
Sounds associated to Ouch! have an utilitarian role in making the player aware for the negative consequences of a particular option or circumstance. Yet, their role goes beyond the mere Awareness for a Failure condition, potentiating more meaningful interpretations and contributions to the Emotional Script.

In some ways, Ouch! announces that repeating or not ceasing to meet the damaging condition will eventually lead to Death.

Ouch! is frequently expressed through Grunts, although that depends on the characteristics of the Character's Soundprint.

Examples

Assassin's Creed:

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory:

Half-Life 2:

[show less examples...]

Spore Origins:

Patapon:

FlOw: A less evident representation of "pain", which is coherent with the Character's Soundprint and with the game's Acoustic Ecology.

Halo: