Cutscenes: Their Functions in Video-Games and Adjacent Media

This paper explores the functions, dysfunctions, and adjacent media applications of cinematic game cut-ins(cutscenes). It defines the terminology, basic conflicts, and terms used in Game Studies, and uses the structural functionalism paradigm to determine the functionality or dysfunctionality of individual cutscenes in narrative-centric video games. Based on successful or unsuccessful use of functions, readability, a characteristic that determines how easily a game artifact is perceived, is analyzed. Finally, the influence of related disciplines: cinema, theater, and literature — on the shaping of cutscenes is analyzed, and the theoretical heuristic that Game Studies has in relation to "old" media. We have three primary findings: 1. The cutscene are asserted to be the fundamental factor in game remediation, which helps familiarize those who are unfamiliar with the game language with the game. 2.The process of video game reading and the factors that influence the "readability" of games are: complexity, accessibility, and narrative features of the game 3. The cutscene are highly specialized tool that work only within narrative-centric games, and serve as a "cut-in" between the inserts of gameplay, which helps to perceive the story, connect different fragments of gameplay and remove ludo-narrative dissonance — a situation in which the story in the game conflicts with the gameplay. As a discussion, we have probable extensions to the current research, such as a study of other factors that influence the readability of video game artifacts, as well as the use of sociological surveys in the study to determine how players with different experiences react to and perceive in-game cinematics. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)