What makes a video games story interesting?

[oqnx]

Presently, I'm working on developing a video game with a small team of three other guys. As an aside, we are looking for more team members. We're all collaborating and considering the project as something to do for the hell of it. There is no wage, there is no money upfront. This is for anyone who wants to explore and develop a skill or a technical ability first and foremost. I don't have any idea how skilled any of the members actually are at the moment because we haven't started any technical work at the moment.

With that said, I am presently going to be doing the general design for the video game and I wanted opinions on what makes a video game interesting. It is a first person, predominantly single player, linear action game that we hope to make stand out with a strong focus on physics. So what would make this sort of a game more interesting? What do you look for in a video game's story? Do you have any suggestions on how to effectively provide insight into a character's personality without clunky, time consuming animations? I think I've got a few ideas that will work, but I'd really like to be able to write up the best concept and story that I possibly can because we've got a small team and the technical aspects of the game are probably going to be a bit weak.

I don't want anyone to try and tell me that this is a pipe dream. Yes, I know, the odds are really against us, but I'm trying to take this seriously because as far as I'm concerned, its a great opportunity to develop writing skills, and later on, skills with ableton software to create music.

 

[Shell]

I'm also working on a video game with friends and we have a much different approach, no story, just experiment and try coming up with a good gameplay concept, stick on story later which will come out of the game.

 

[oqnx]

I'm also working on a video game with friends and we have a much different approach, no story, just experiment and try coming up with a good gameplay concept, stick on story later which will come out of the game.

Ahh. I was trying to do that at first. Honestly that sounds like a much more intuitive way to do things, but the other guys I'm working with didn't dig the idea. How far are you guys along / any tips?

 

[Neuromancer]

RPG without story = fail.

FPS without story = semi fail

2D flash game without story = angry Birds

Writers have not stopped writing, they just stopped making books. And you cant have a successful game without a good story. Well, with angry birds being the exception.. they slapped a story on an old game and called it their own.

that to me seems to be the smarter idea. Grab an existing game, add some tweaks and a plotline and resell it.

 

[oqnx]

RPG without story = fail.

FPS without story = semi fail

2D flash game without story = angry Birds

Writers have not stopped writing, they just stopped making books. And you cant have a successful game without a good story. Well, with angry birds being the exception.. they slapped a story on an old game and called it their own.

that to me seems to be the smarter idea. Grab an existing game, add some tweaks and a plotline and resell it.

Which touches on the main idea of this thread. What do you think makes an interesting plot for a video game? Do you think there is such a thing as too much story / character? Are there ideas and issues you like to see?

 

[Shell]

Ahh. I was trying to do that at first. Honestly that sounds like a much more intuitive way to do things, but the other guys I'm working with didn't dig the idea. How far are you guys along / any tips?

Right now it's just lots of scribbles and an incomplete engine capable of rather large open worlds with fps/tps controls, and a library of placeholder assets.
Once the engine is good enough to give us the freedom to make the game however we want, then things will finally be set in stone.

 

[oqnx]

Right now it's just lots of scribbles and an incomplete engine capable of rather large open worlds with fps/tps controls, and a library of placeholder assets.
Once the engine is good enough to give us the freedom to make the game however we want, then things will finally be set in stone.

Nice man

 

[Neuromancer]

Which touches on the main idea of this thread. What do you think makes an interesting plot for a video game? Do you think there is such a thing as too much story / character? Are there ideas and issues you like to see?

No i dont.

My favorite games are Kotor/kotor2 amd dragon age

off the top of my head.

Star wars games are old and respectively early genres of the RPG. I replay them still with mods to make them better and add new content.

Gotta say that the new content for KOTOR, poorly written. Not just grammatically but a terrible story line. (Not to mention the awful dialog ugh) Never installing Brothers of Shadow Solomons Revenge again. Too much dialog with nothing to say.

Coders don't make writers.

That should be emphasized.

CODERS DON'T MAKE WRITERS

Get a writer, somone that's experience with PC is finding story boards to post at. Hit up story boards. Specifically ones for the genre you are looking for. Code your game with no premise at all. Let the story guy tell it and change the game to fit. A good game is like a novel. If it sucks you in and makes you part of the story.. thats a good game.

Aint met a FPS game like that yet. In fact I hate the whole COD thing with them trying to be dramatic, cuz it aint a dramatic game, you just CANT have a good story in a FPS. I play FPS, to escape for 20 minutes. RPGS suck me in for hours. the time I spend in one sitting of an RPG I can beat an COD game made.

then again I dont sit down to an RPG unless I am willing to spend hours at the PC. Because I know it is engrossing. (If it is good)

 

[oqnx]

No i dont.

My favorite games are Kotor/kotor2 amd dragon age

off the top of my head.

Star wars games are old and respectively early genres of the RPG. I replay them still with mods to make them better and add new content.

Gotta say that the new content for KOTOR, poorly written. Not just grammatically but a terrible story line. (Not to mention the awful dialog ugh) Never installing Brothers of Shadow Solomons Revenge again. Too much dialog with nothing to say.

Coders don't make writers.

That should be emphasized.

CODERS DON'T MAKE WRITERS

Get a writer, somone that's experience with PC is finding story boards to post at. Hit up story boards. Specifically ones for the genre you are looking for. Code your game with no premise at all. Let the story guy tell it and change the game to fit. A good game is like a novel. If it sucks you in and makes you part of the story.. thats a good game.

Aint met a FPS game like that yet. In fact I hate the whole COD thing with them trying to be dramatic, cuz it aint a dramatic game, you just CANT have a good story in a FPS. I play FPS, to escape for 20 minutes. RPGS suck me in for hours. the time I spend in one sitting of an RPG I can beat an COD game made.

then again I dont sit down to an RPG unless I am willing to spend hours at the PC. Because I know it is engrossing. (If it is good)

Thanks. This is the kind of input that I need. One last question though, what do you mean by story boards? I've been running the plot summary by a few gamer friends / one friend who writes for a hobby, but are there forums for this sort of thing?

 

[robble]

CODERS DON'T MAKE WRITERS

Get a writer

beat me to it.

What make a good game story? A good storyteller/writer.


It's like asking, "what makes a book have a good story?"

Get a good story and make a game around it. Perhaps get a an old "best seller" fiction book of some kind and make a game around it. If you think you can make a game that would sell, pay royalties to a great writer to use one of his stories as it may be tough to find a great writer who'll write something original for you.

 

[oqnx]

beat me to it.

What make a good game story? A good storyteller/writer.


It's like asking, "what makes a book have a good story?"

Get a good story and make a game around it. Perhaps get a an old "best seller" fiction book of some kind and make a game around it. If you think you can make a game that would sell, pay royalties to a great writer to use one of his stories as it may be tough to find a great writer who'll write something original for you.

Good idea. Thanks

 

[noname2020x]

I find moral conundrums, and character relationships interesting personally. That said, I also find character creation and customization to be of utmost importance in a game.

 

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

I like games that have choices in how to develop your character as well as party members or enemies. Choose your own adventure

 

[freakdiablo]

I find moral conundrums, and character relationships interesting personally. That said, I also find character creation and customization to be of utmost importance in a game.

I like games that have choices in how to develop your character as well as party members or enemies. Choose your own adventure

Agreed. Not only does this add to the re-playability of a game, it adds an extra level of involvement that you won't get if the story is simply told with a cookie cutter character.

 

[oqnx]

Agreed. Not only does this add to the re-playability of a game, it adds an extra level of involvement that you won't get if the story is simply told with a cookie cutter character.

Now how extensive does the choice need to be? I'm fine with writing in decisions, but ultimately we don't have the resources to create completely different endings (we might not have the resources to finish the game )

Right now I'm working on the moral conundrum bit. I want the game to ultimately focus on the player character attempting to make up for a year and a half of hydromorphone addiction, as well as a number of unwilling brutal murders at the outset of the game. Does this sound like a move in the right direction?

 

[Neuromancer]

Choices with no impact on the story aren't really choices.

Story boards, I actually meant writers forums. there are a ton out there and they love having people read their work. Might not be hard to get someone to help you write a tale for the game.

Basically you want to make a flow chart of teh games progress which each "incident" having it least one of two possible out outcomes (maybe more)

Of course you still need to direct the player along the basic plot line of the game.

IE the local crime lord asks the players to help him out, giving him access to his space ship to get off world. Now for the good players you can have the local authorities come in and say "we know XXX asked you to hjoin him, we would like you to go undercover."

This is what most games do. What would be more unique is the ability to follow two other paths to the same objective (Evil: rival crime lord wants you take out the first one, Good: poor people need help because the crime lord is killing them etc) This gives more illusion of choice. Have very few lack of choices if you know what I mean.

Are you even looking at building an RPG?

For an FPS the story can be much more linear, having side objectives helps break it up. Like finding "secret intelligence" or rescue "XXXX hostages" that are not important to the play through of the game but help to flesh it out a bit.

I would like to see an FPS that use s a little more of the RPG style of setup though, lets you choose whether to be the good guy or the bad guy, sacrifice yourself or someone else etc etc. (I always play the good guys though, I find it hard to play through as an evil character).

 

[oqnx]

Choices with no impact on the story aren't really choices.

Story boards, I actually meant writers forums. there are a ton out there and they love having people read their work. Might not be hard to get someone to help you write a tale for the game.

Basically you want to make a flow chart of teh games progress which each "incident" having it least one of two possible out outcomes (maybe more)

Of course you still need to direct the player along the basic plot line of the game.

IE the local crime lord asks the players to help him out, giving him access to his space ship to get off world. Now for the good players you can have the local authorities come in and say "we know XXX asked you to hjoin him, we would like you to go undercover."

This is what most games do. What would be more unique is the ability to follow two other paths to the same objective (Evil: rival crime lord wants you take out the first one, Good: poor people need help because the crime lord is killing them etc)

Are you looking at building an RPG?

For an FPS the story can be much more linear, having side objectives helps break it up. Like finding "secret intelligence" or rescue "XXXX hostages" that are not important to the playthrough of the game but help to flesh it out a bit.

I would like to see an FPS that use s a little more of the RPG style of setup though, lets you choose whether to be the good guy or the bad guy, sacrifice yourself or someone else etc etc.

Alright, but is it okay if i mix in some "pointless decisions" with some bigger decisions? Also, do you know of any writing forums in particular that I should look into? I cant find any writing forums with a sizeable user base.

 

[mjw21a]

Heck, I'm still waiting for someone to update Strike Commander using the same game engine but just updating the graphics..... My favourite game of all time. Along with Transport Tycoon (preferred it to Transport Tycoon Deluxe), Traffic Department 2194, and of course the civilization series.

Every single one of these, with the exception of Transport Tycoon, had a decent story line. They didn't bother with fancy videos, mostly just pictures with text. Strike Commander remains my all time fav

 

[oqnx]

Thanks guys. People on this forum are incredibly helpful.