DWS Developer Diary #13 - Crest Arcs and Beats, Part 2
Okay let's try and do the rest of the Crest Arcs. I'm hoping to get them all done but if it's a lot of words I might have to break one more time. We'll see.
The Mountain The challenges of your Crest are themselves a guide. If you continue to face them, what height will you reach?
This is the Crest Arc I drew from Takeru, the character who spends the longest time on the backfoot, behind the pace of the others, trying to keep up. Who goes the entire Digimon Adventure under challenge to his hope, the peak of the mountain forever distant. Until finally, it's not, and in a great flair the day is saved by MagnaAngemon.
Takeru was my fav when I watched Adventure as a kid for much the same reason Gohan was, the youngest hiding a great power, that only manifests at key moments but always saves the day. The purpose of the Mountain is to represent continuous challenge, an unrelenting demand on one's Crest - always something more, something greater. More steps on the way to the peak.
Until you make it.
So breaking down into the Crest Arc Beats, it should definitely be like "I'm being tested" "I'm REALLY being tested" "oh my god I made it". Shoutout to one of my players' character Julius, who took the Mountain of Courage, and is really being put through it. Anyway let's get this sorted.
___ has tested my [Crest], but I continue.
My [Crest] holds, despite___.
I could only___ by holding on to my [Crest].
Okay that's good enough, test, test, achievement. That's right.
The Path Your Crest is leading you somewhere. Markers that call to it are clear and distinct. But where does it go?
Meanwhile this one is Hikari. The Path of Light. Here's the thing about Hikari: the Digital World/her Crest/the narrative wants her desperately. Everything tried so hard to keep her from actually becoming part of the world and story and then it just happened anyway. The Light is actively reaching out to her. Homeostasis itself possesses her for goodness's sake. The Light WANTS her.
Thus we have the Path. Something that is so so easy to walk. If you lean into it, it'll sweep you along to its predetermined destination. BUT, is that the right thing to do? Is that a good Path for you, or a bad one? Are you just going with the flow and going to regret it at the end? Or are you following your own Path and thus forging a grand one through your own nature? These are different kinds of paths, but they are all The Path.
Let's see… "Through [Crest], ___ easily." that's a good setup. Things come easy to those on the Path. Maybe too easy? That's why the second beat has to be about a choice. About deciding whether this Path, or one of different definition, is what you will follow. The fork in the road. "I have chosen to___ with my [Crest]." There we go, a decision. Committing to something, whether the original path or something else. The thing is that Hikari's a character who struggles with passivity through much of her story, so this element of her Crest Arc has arrived much faster in Beats than it does in narrative. She sits on the first Beat of The Path for a LONG time. And that's okay.
Third then has to be a result, similar to the Mountain. The Path and the Mountain are linked and opposites, but both lead you somewhere in the end. "Looking back, by following my [Crest], I___." Reflecting on the path. Recognition of it. The mountain is the peak you look forward from, the path is the destination you look back from. You acknowledge that your Crest led you here, but what here is, and what you did to get there, is your own. I'm happy with that.
Through [Crest], I _ easily.
I have chosen to___ with my [Crest].
Looking back, by following my [Crest], I___.
I think this is a good time to reflect on how fixed and limiting these Beats should be. Should a player be able to reword a Beat to capture the vibe but better suit what they're trying to express? I think so. Should a player be able to veer a Crest Arc off in a completely different direction, and say jump from Mountain to Mirror based on experiences? I'm more resistant to that. I think anything can be fit into any Crest Arc and Beat, you just have to think of it in the right way. What about Crest Arcs outside of predefined ones, if a player has an idea of something they want to do? Well I feel like if I do a good enough job, the Crest Arcs can capture the majority range of narrative structures. But we'll see. I'm going to allow rewording of Beats if a critical moment is identified and can't be fit into it, but I don't think I want changing Crest Arcs or creating original ones. Not while we're starting off at least. Anyway moving forward.
The Sin Great harm has been done in the context of your Crest. How will you set things right?
This one's Sora. The Sin of Love. She suffered through her mother's expression of love, and that suffering left her unable to relate to the idea of love. Healing was provided through both partner and addressing the original source of the injury, so this Crest Arc should be about the act of healing.
But The Sin is variable. It could be you that's come to harm, or you who has done harm, or something else completely has been harmed in the context of your Crest and you're taking this Crest Arc on to address it. There's a wide range of entry-points to this Arc, so we'll need to be generic.
"identify an act of harm" "learn the story of that harm" "through Crest, the harm has begun to heal"
I think that's good. Sora immediately reviles against being associated with Love, but it takes time and introspection and interaction to properly define why that is for her, and only after all of that can she start taking actions to heal. So let's get that codified.
I see great harm in___, caused by [Crest].
With [Crest], I have begun to understand___.
I have set healing in motion for___, through an act of [Crest].
Okay that's functional. I'm a little iffy on 3, but it should serve as an appropriate starting point. Refinement of the Crest Arc Beats will be a long and on-going process.
The Mentor You encounter your Crest, manifest in another. What do you learn from them?
Koushiro's. His mentor is both Gennai and Vademon, for good and bad respectively. This Crest Arc strongly posits a character relevant to you, whether new or old, who will strongly embody your Crest - for good or bad or a mixture of both. So "I've found someone steeped in my Crest" "I'm strongly affected by them in some way" "I better define myself based on my experiences". 1-2-3. Nice structure, so let's make the Beats.
___ displays many impressive qualities of [Crest].
In a great act of [Crest], ___ has struck me deeply.
After___, I have learned much about [Crest].
So these blank spaces all seem like they could just take a name and that be it, but I feel like there's potential to write more, you just gotta see it. I think I'm happy with these.
The Beacon Your Crest draws others towards you. What is it they will find?
Of course the Beacon is Mimi, the one who draws everyone towards her, who makes friends of her enemies, beloved princess of Digimon. The purpose of this arc is to put a character in the spotlight, draw others to them with all manner of thoughts and presumptions, and task them to deal with that. Can you become a leader? Should you? Do you want to? How do you embrace this? How do you stop it? Is this what you're after? It's definitely one of the most front and center of the Crest Arcs in drawing attention from characters, although all the Crest Arcs should equally draw attention from the narrative.
Anyway what are the steps involved? First you recognise that you're the centre of attention, then you express a consequence of it, then you define what you're doing/feeling about it. Let's do that.
By my [Crest], I have drawn the attention of___.
Those drawn by my [Crest] have___.
Because of those drawn by my [Crest], I___.
Okay nice and simple. I'm kinda blasting these Beats out, which means they're a little unstable rn, but I think the refinement of them will have to come through gameplay and not musing. They're functional, and that's what matters. Onward!
The Search Something is missing. Only through your Crest can it be found.
So this one's a little more difficult to map. I said at the start that I had thought of a few Crest Arcs before I started using the Adventure kids to concept the rest, and The Search is one such of those. After musing on character arcs and trying to map them to keywords, I designed the rest, distributed them around, and then I came back to The Search.
Is it the Crest Arc of Jou? Ehhhh. Jou's difficult to parse from original Adventure because there aren't any real highpoint moments of self-determination from him, it's just constant effort, always doing his best. He's in a supportive role 99% of the time which is great for everyone around him but it means he doesn't have the most front and center narrative presence. There's an argument to be made that his efforts are themselves a Search, constantly looking for what he can do to help, which makes well to Reliability as a concept (although in the original japanese his Crest is actually Sincerity, which represents honesty and directness).
Funnily enough, it was Adventure 2020 that give me a little kick on this. I've only watched about 10-15 episodes of 2020, I need to make more progress on it, but Jou's introduction episode does actually have narrative arc to it. Even trapped in the Digital World, he's trying to focus on his studies because that's what he feels he should do, others asking him for help are rebuffed, and Gommamon waits patiently for him. But when the chips are down and only he can save the day, he jumps into action, even through stress, and fear, and feeling like he doesn't belong.
That's not really The Search though.
That's The Call.
Gotcha mfers you thought there were only gonna be eight Crest Arcs BOOYAH *slam dunks you*.
The Call is not the Path, it doesn't reach out to grab you. It just raises its voice and begs you to answer. It's not the Mountain, if you choose to answer, it won't rebuff you. It's not the Search. You're not the one looking for it. It's looking for you. The Search is about you going on a journey, setting off looking for something missing, questing to find it. That's not the arcs of any of the Adventure kids though.
(Wallace Hurricane Touchdown slides in from off screen)
JESUS WHERE DID THAT GUY COME FROM
Okay, Jou we'll get to you in a moment, let's address the movie character in the room. He really does embody the Search, doesn't he? The roadtrip looking for Chocomon. what he finds is not what he set out to find but at the same time it is. Others pulled into the wake of the Search. It's just good.
If I'm using crests as guidance, and Wallace uses the Digimental of Fate in the movie he's from, does that mean I have to figure out Miracles and Kindness as Crest Arcs? Ehhhhhh. I wouldn't mind having ten unique Crest Arcs because that's a nice number, but I'm not going to overly stress myself about that. We'll add The Call to my rotation and then define The Search and call that done for now.
Anyway, what are the Beats of The Search? "Something is missing" "In searching for it, there is a discovery" "At the end of the Search, what has been found". Easy. Let's make the Beats.
My [Crest] has shown ___, something missing.
My [Crest] has discovered ___, something different.
My [Crest] has illuminated ___, something found.
Consistent structure, but I think it works. I'm happy.
The Call A voice cries out for your Crest, how will you answer?
My favourite, #1, absolute top rank of all time Digimon character, is Nokia Shiramine from Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth. I love her cowardly lion arc, that she starts so so afraid but, seeing the fear and suffering of the things she was scared of, she sets aside her fear and stands up for them. She becomes a leader through passion and a desire to do the right thing. There is a Call she answers.
It's funny to think that she and Jou now share a Crest Arc, but the central theme of it is the same. Jou was also one of the most afraid of the Digikids, but he still took action for the sake of others because he knew it was the right thing to do, and over time was changed through that.
So what is the structure of The Call? Hear it and (do something), whether resist or answer it immediately. Third point is obviously find the source of the Call, whether the one who called or the destination it was leading you to or the change that resulted from it. I don't want point two to be answering the call because I don't think the first point should hard be "you have to resist it". The option and flexibility needs to be there. So what should it be…
Something about… the why of the answering. At a midpoint in the Arc, while you're in the process of answering the call, a declaration, whether to self or another or world, about why you're answering it. Even if the answer is as simple as "I want to" or "it's the right thing to do". Declaring that through your character is a powerful narrative declaration. I like that. So:
A call for me and my [Crest] has come from ___.
By ___, I show why I've answered the call for [Crest].
By following a call for [Crest], I ___.
Okay, yeah, functional. I still foresee my futzing with the Crest Arc Beats over time, but I THINK that's a working set of Beats for each of the Crest Arcs. With this at least I can get the 2.2 update rolling so my players have access to this in the next Adventure.
At this point I think we call a pause on Dev Diaries for a while because I really just need to actually work on 2.2 now, after completing that we can move forward with more. So yeah, I predict we won't see any Dev Diaries for a couple weeks now, I've got enough here to work on the next update. Yay.
Good work me.
