Hello ladies gentlemen and robots — I know some of you are robots, don't be shy with me… welcome back to the Machine Made: Rebirth blog, where I talk about what I love when it comes to the world of video games in general, specifically how to design games, how to master elements of story telling, and how to overall enjoy and promote the love of rpg game development that we all share and talk about. It's Friday today, and as such we're going to be zeroing in on story-lines, nothing so nit-picky as what type of character to write or exactly what sorts of responses to make in a tree of dialogue… but just the idea of… I am a player, and I want to experience that feeling that comes from finishing that first branch of quests in the first town in World of Warcraft, and walking out into the expansive and immersive game world. The realization that there is a story ready to be told, and that the storytelling is in good hands.
Usually at a moment like this, when we've been told the first few pieces of information about what we're going to be doing in the story and what we're going to be told about the characters, we automatically ask a specific question — how many different paths can this story take? Are they wildly different or just amusing variations in gameplay for the connoisseur? Thus, finally, I am brought to the topic at hand. I want to write a really immersive story — how many branches should the player be able to follow, and how many can I realistically include without crowding the game world with inconsequential choices or without forcing the player to feel like they are under the gun to make the right one?
It's entirely a matter of risk versus reward — any game player's objective will be to follow the main story or main objective of the game — if the intent is for the player to be drawn into making choices that themselves have a responsive and influential impact on gameplay, then that player should feel that their choices do matter, whether they are interested in a sidequest or not. They should have the option of following an obvious course and not be punished for wanting to play a very generic type of character. Some people genuinely enjoy being a hero on their spare time, or being a laughably evil villain, some people will want the option to make only virtuous choices or to make some evil choices. It is a matter of personal exploration and self-discovery that people will be interested in hearing a story about things that they could never really do. Some people will want to take the most direct path all the time, other people will want the opportunity to show cleverness, or will prefer a path that requires more experience with the game or one that will require forethought and planning. Whatever the player is willing to risk to get ahead, will reveal their greatest strengths and what they love the most when it comes to the story that they want to be told. There should be some options for each of the type of people you think would be interested in playing your game, and you should try to ensure that the branches of the story and the extra content that is available will provide both satisfaction as a form of play, and also learning or some sort of personal achievement (even an unexpected one) from advancing as far in the story as they do, the way that they do.
Endings are where we see the most variation in storytelling… and usually this comes from the dramatic tension of leaving an important decision for the characters to the last second, and having the player take the power to change the outcome of the story to their own desire at a critical moment, obviously although this involves far less branching, it's still an effective way to communicate what someone was trying to get out of a story, or how someone wanted to participate in gameplay or how the story was told.
Here's a look at my map system, divided into chapters — each chapter focuses on a different type of storytelling and different characters, and eventually my goal will be to create an ending that will be satisfying for the player both because they were able to build and customize their characters, but also because they will be able to see a result in how the story will branch apart and unify… I believe that even if a quest always has the same result, the branches that led there can provide just as much interest…
That's all for now, gosh this topic really makes me want to get Machine Made finished!
As always I hope that everyone enjoyed today's blog,
don't forget to check in for updates, and I hope that the patch on Google Drive will work sufficiently for all that are interested!
Thank you very much have a great day, evening or whatever (robots don't care right?)
Cheers,
Allsvin
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