I've been thinking that a good way to maintain interactive "flow", ie. not bogging a game down with Final Fantasy length cutscenes, but to add good characterisation / mood elements. They take maybe one or two seconds and consist of some form of event or character interaction ie. speech or . Mini-vignettes, tiny in-game events like the "pick up the can bit in Half-Life 2" ie. showing the arrogance and oppressiveness of the Overwatch. A character waving a kiss as their boyfriend leaves on the train, wiping their eyes with a tissue. Etc. also known as story granules http://www.gamespy.com/articles/596/596254p2.html EDIT: What we do is we take a character that we want to describe and then have something happen and their reaction shows us more about that character's personality, ie. a kid drops a sweet wrapper so the old man shakes his head and mutters about the old days. [Edited by - Ketchaval on April 23, 2005 8:33:09 AM]