Best Storytelling Perspective?

[OldMoonSong]

It's hardly a shortcut, though (it's actually harder to write this way). You can't just drop a player into a story-critical moment with zero foreshadowing, and you can't foreshadow in first person if the player character isn't there or related to the events in that moment. I mean, anything marginally complex has to do it this way unless you want a bunch of "how the fuck did that happen?" from players/viewers.

Those "meanwhiles," aren't storytelling shortcuts. They are world-building necessities.

If the story is told from 1st or 2nd person perspective which is highly focused on a single character's POV (most AVNs), then parting from that perspective to 3rd person simply to cover another scene detached from the primary POV character just to foreshadow or otherwise contribute to the plot is absolutely a shortcut.

The writer has an objective: "I want the reader / player to be aware of this information to foreshadow future plot developments."

But there's an obstacle: "The primary POV character is either 1) uninvolved in the scene conveying the information, or 2) purposefully not meant to be aware of this information yet, because the revelation of said knowledge will be an important event later."

An example --

• an AVN written in 1st or 2nd person POV where you play as a prince in some medieval/fantasy setting, and there's an overarching narrative involving political intrigue, subterfuge, secret conspiracies to undermine your position, etc.
• some members in an opposing faction have a secret meeting to conspire against you, and this meeting has direct consequences to your character and influences several events your character is directly involved in.
• the writer wants to add suspense and drama by building up a mystery for the player, and knowledge of this meeting would contribute to that. But the obstacle remains -- your character isn't involved or aware of that meeting, that context, etc.

The writer has a few options:

1. write the scene of the meeting from 3rd person perspective to relay the information to the player. Bonus points in the lazy department for the writing and renders to deliberately mask the identities of the participants! RenPy character names are "Mysterious Man", "Cloaked Figure", "Distant Voice", and renders are from angles which conspicuously obscure the full appearance and identity of members.
2. come up with some creative way to relay limited information of this event to the POV character in a way that doesn't "go over his head".

You say it's "harder to write this way" regarding option 1 -- using detached scenes and perspectives to cover surrounding events and scenes in a way that builds up together, but I'd argue that option 2 is actually more difficult.

Knowledge of this meeting could be critical information to the plot, and of course you don't want the player to say "where the hell did that come from" but there are definitely ways to negate that while still confined to 1st / 2nd person POV.

Example:

• someone approaches your character and explains that they witnessed some part of this meeting in which these parties conspired against you.
• this witness's perspective or view may be limited, they didn't see or hear everything, and were unable to identify individual members.
• There could even be a "flashback" scene in which the witness's telling of the story to the primary POV character is accompanied by renders from the witness's POV, as his/her experience is relayed.

With this solution, following option 2, you and your character are given the critical and relevant information, while still building up the suspense, mystery, and drama. It's by far a superior narrative delivery in this scenario to an interjected detached scene.

That's why most competently written shows/movies do it this way.

That's true, but AVNs, and games generally, are not TV shows or movies, so they shouldn't be written exactly the same way. The defining distinction, I think, is the "self-insertion" you mention. TV shows and movies are not told through 1st or 2nd person POV--most games and AVNs are. That's why this narrative style of detached scenes or so common in shows/movies--they're already told from many 3rd person perspectives.

I'll just finish with two actual examples on this site, covering both options 1 and 2.

For option 1 - featuring MANY detached 3rd person scenes without the main POV character, designed specifically for building mystery and adding context for the player in understanding the overall narrative (with the added annoyance of deliberately-hidden faces and character identities in these detached scenes): Secrets of Whispering Pines

For option 2 - another game with many mysteries being discovered, explored, and answered in a way that consistently relays key revelations and information to the POV character and player at the same time through immersive events: Long Live the Princess

 

[gunderson]

I'd also suggest looking at this relatively new game: Secret Taboo. In addition to (optionally) switching POV characters, it also has a very immersive system of changing UI to match character changes or change of status, which helps the reader accept POV changes. It's actually a very cool game, and one of the few female PC corruption games I know of.