Many have asked what makes a great game, and many haven't studied this well. We usually get games that never do well. People have wanted a memorable story in a game, and some really need this. Hello Wandering Traveler and welcome how to make a good story in a game with these 5 spices.
5. The Friends and Foes
When I say friends and foes, I mean the characters in general. The characters in a story is obviously one of the core reason on why we love them and follow them in a story. Games seem to do this well now, but we still get a hint of bad in there. To get a good character either if they are good or bad, you have to give a reason why they are there. A level of character development is need to create such a great character like Handsome Jack or HK-47.
4. The Uncertainties
Every story has conflict, and that conflict is always either a disaster or a death, so this is a must when writing a story. It can be shown as it began or you can be thrown into the middle of it and understand what is going on. Basically put the player in a situation that could have him/her understand what happens in this world. Many games have done that technique. Dark Souls and Borderlands is a good example.
3. The Suspense
We always need this. Telltale Games have given us the fate of characters in our hands without us knowing it and it really puts us on edge. You need to give the player a feel of "Oh No" and really make them scared to fail. Not Fear-For-You-Life kind of fail (Like in Dark Souls), but the fate of the world, a town, your family, and maybe even a friend will be in your hands. And you don't even need to do that, you can just have something happen to the player's character and have the player feel sadness of his character or have the player feel his pain. Game's like Black Ops 1 and Dead Space gives you the same suspense.
2. The Crushing Defeat
Even a story can end with a sad ending. If you ever play Diablo, the antagonist, Diablo, is defeated by the hero, the protagonist, but in doing so, Diablo possesses the hero to claim the land once more, make the land filled with demons left and right. Sometimes small twists like that can make bad ending a great one. Don't copy this ending, but make something similar to it. Have the ending where evil triumphs and beats the heroes of the world. Game's like Singularity has the story end where the evil wins the battle.
1. The Ultimate Win
Just because I said try ending with a bad ending doesn't mean you have to do it! A lot of games have the heroes win ultimately in the end destroying the evil, but to make this good, you must give a powerful conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist. A conflict that just makes you question what you already know. Many games carry this factor, and most have done it right.
This is just my advice for those people struggling on making a story for the players out there. But know that a memorable game doesn't always have a memorable story. Dark Souls doesn't have straight story at all and it's what gamers love. I hope this helped and for those of you smaller developers reading this, thanks for choosing this blog. And 'til next time...
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