Dan Houser and Rockstar Games firmly believe in the power of the third-person narrative. Set in open-world environments, the single-player campaigns of Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption pushed what the form is capable of: both are grand narratives, wherein players consolidated their own story within the confines of predetermined missions. But Rockstar's next game, Max Payne 3 , unfolds a very different type of story; it's a much more controlled, linear affair. But how has Rockstar – a studio much-feted for its sprawling sandbox games– negotiated this potentially-restrictive transition?

Dan+Houser

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"From a structural standpoint, both have advantages and disadvantages – an open world game has to be looser and have less structure, but that gives you the ability to digress, explore subplots and a wider array of characters," says Houser, co-founder of Rockstar and the co-writer of Max Payne 3. "A more linear game has to be more precise, less meandering, but also lets you structure a plot in a much more precise way than is possible in an open world game. It is, in many ways, the difference between, say, a movie and an entire series of a TV show. However, from a more creative standpoint, both are about the same thing – making characters interesting and giving as much weight and context as possible to the action. Max Payne is very much a character-drive experience, and always has been."Houser has co-written many of Rockstar's most successful games, from Grand Theft Auto III to Red Dead Redemption. But it's perhaps revealing that he doesn't consider the writing process in isolation, a kind of rarefied endeavour preceding the game's technical construction. "At Rockstar we don't see writing as particularly separate from game making – my co-writers, Mike Unsworth and Rupert Humphries and I, are just another part of the process, working with the designers and animators to create a game that flows as smoothly as possible and comes to life as well as possible. So while the game structure changes from game to game, our ability to learn from our mistakes and evolve our processes is ongoing. I would not separate out writing as being independent from animation or game design – working together, we do our best to build as cohesive and exciting an experience as possible."With Max Payne 3, Houser is attempting to weave Rockstar's strong narrative sensibilities beyond the single-player campaign and into the fabric of the game's multiplayer experience. So often multiplayer is seen as beyond the reach of the writer – a forum in which players shape their own private narratives. But through modes like, Houser isn't trying to intrude a narrative upon players having fun with friends; he's trying to advance what people expect from a multiplayer experience: "Ideally it will evolve into something that's both a place for emergent gameplay and for game makers, including writers, animators and designers, to provide some context and structure for that gameplay to make it even more compelling," he admits. "Even in a single-player game, we're not trying to serve the needs of the story so much as make a story that works to make the action more exciting and compelling. And the same is true of multiplayer, or at least, we think it should be."And when it comes to multiplayer, Houser believes that no one else is really going that extra mile in storytelling. "Multiplayer, particularly in competitive first-person shooters, has almost completely forsaken any kind of story or attachment to character," he says. "We wanted to keep the sense of competition that comes from multiplayer but we wanted to bring back a better sense of character, rather than just being a faceless member of an army, and that was one of the inspirations for Gang Wars. Players can feel attached to their character as an individual, but also feel tied into the universe of the single-player game. Every round of Gang Wars tells you a little more about the world around Max's story – either what the city's factions were doing before Max arrived, or what happened after the events of the single-player game."Rockstar is attempting to make the online multiplayer experience a much more welcoming proposition for the inexperienced, without alienating the seasoned player. "With Max Payne 3 we absolutely wanted to make a more competitive experience that lives up to the requirements of a pure shooter – with as much as possible customisable, persistent and trackable, but also to make it easy for people to jump in and feel comfortable quickly so that the environment is fun for the less competitive as well as for serious players. Jumping into online matches and making friends isn't easy – often if you're not already playing with friends the entire process can be fairly intimidating, especially in competitive matches."One of the ways in which Rockstar is overcoming the timidity of the uninitiated is through the integration of Social Club – the publisher's online service. "We found a way to get around that through the use of Crews in Max Payne 3," says Houser. "Crews are groups of players that you can join up with via the Social Club that go beyond what's possible by using your Xbox or PS3 friends list, and joining crews will have benefits both in-game and out. There are two types of crews – private crews for you and your friends to create and customise, and public crews open to everyone."Performing tasks with crew members – like avenging a fallen Crew member or killing rival ones during a Feud – will earn you XP bonuses. As a casual player of multiplayer, it will be easy to quickly reap at least some of the benefits of being in a crew. In addition, there are no member caps on public crews, so thousands of players across the world can join the same crew. Alternatively, Private Crews provide an exclusive group experience for players that want to take it to the next level.The crew tools are smart too, as Houser explains: "Players who join a crew will automatically be matched up with other crew members if they're in the same lobby, and players can join up to five crews. Crew members will have visible, customizable emblems on their equipment in-game for your crew and your opponents to see, which is one of the great advantages of third-person multiplayer – but you can also turn that off if you prefer."Crews provide not only safety in numbers but also a welcoming sense of familiarity. But it isn't just about playing with a regular group of people; the notion behind crews is much more deeply embedded in the narrative of the game's multiplayer modes. "In multiplayer games we have a feature called Vendettas – if someone kills you twice, you can initiate a vendetta against them, which lets everyone know that you're out to get that person," explains Houser. "For you, a special X marks their blip when they're visible to you on the map. If you take that person down, you get extra XP. If they survive your vendetta though, they get that XP."But Houser reveals that Feuds also apply to your group of online teammates: "Crew Feuds are essentially Crew Vendettas. Impromptu skirmishes between crews can spring up in multiplayer matches that quickly spawn a first-to-10-kills battle. You can be playing any team-based game with a completely new set of players, but if you spot two or more members of a crew you're feuding with on the opposite team, any kills you get against them will count to the overall feud so rivalries will spring up automatically – and when they do, you'll be notified and the grudge will come to the forefront of the game."Importantly, with Social Club integration, this feud isn't quickly forgotten after some cathartic blood-letting. It continues to track who you're feuding with, how long you've been feuding, and who's winning, and taking out players you're at war with will net you extra XP. "We want to create more drama out of the interactions that go down in typical multiplayer matches," says Houser. It's about embellishing the drama that emerges naturally in multiplayer, not foisting upon the player artificially.This isn't a short-term objective or a nice bonus feature to bolster Max Payne 3's multiplayer. It's a statement of intent by Rockstar. "The beauty of this system is that crews persist over time and across future games. Multiplayer is an ever-more important part of all our games moving forward. And by creating crews through Social Club, the crews that you create in Max Payne 3 will be ready and available for you to play in Grand Theft Auto V The ultimate goal is to nurture the same embittered rivalries across its forthcoming games then? "We made a promise not to talk too much about forthcoming games until a little further down the track but, yes, crews will feature in Grand Theft Auto V multiplayer," reveals Houser. "We are firm believers in the potential of third-person multiplayer and the attachment it can create to character, stories and worlds. This is at the heart of what we're doing with crews, and we think it opens up limitless new possibilities for the future. It's right at the heart of our goal to bring greater weight and context to multiplayer games while still staying true to what competitive multiplayer does so well."It's fitting that Rockstar's new approach to multiplayer should accompany its entry into the Max Payne franchise, a series celebrated for its focus on character and narrative. But it seems Rockstar's aspirations are much greater; multiplayer isn't being thought of as an added extra, crudely bolted onto the single-player narrative, but an integral and persistent part of its future games.

Daniel Krupa is IGN's UK Games Writer. He has never been part of a crew. You can follow him onand