It is like framing a photo so that only a little bit is visible. When you have your world, your characters, and your Grand Story, it is time to take a tiny little piece of all that fluff. These events should be mapped out in your Grand Storyline. But every now and then, there are events that shape the course of history. You see them breathing and bleeding, and you get to know them. The books and series alternate between lively “close-ups” of the main characters. How are different characters plotting and clashing?Ī beautiful story to take as an example is Game Of Thrones.Which unknowns are revealed along the way?.Is there an event (in the past or future) that shakes up the world?.What is the role of the hero in the grand scheme of things?.Which nations / rulers are in conflict?.The Grand Storyline should tie in with the World design. The true scope of the adventure is still hidden, and that gives us plenty of opportunity to raise the stakes and introduce new characters and obstacles. You see Momo’s village under attack, and you see that Panda rescues him. But when you play the game, you only see a tiny little bit of that grand story. In the case of Momonga, we are stepping into all-out war, with the momongas at the center of it. You probably don’t want to reveal this in your game all at once, but with little bits. The grand storyline is the overarching conflict. (if nothing else, your game characters make for some great business cards) Step 3: Write the Grand Storyline I am guilty of that too and I am ashamed of it. (Also note that if you are a man, it is very easy to forget to add women in your game. (Note that I am guilty of defining the looks first. Then, and only then, do we define the looks. The events and environments shape a character, and this in turn determines their personality. What is their personality like? How would they react in specific situations?.Were there life-changing events in their past?.Do they have particular skills? (Use this for your game mechanics!).What were they like at age 5? At age 15? 30? 50?.In what environment did they grow up? (Link this to the world design!).This is where you start the construction. But most importantly, they have a history. They have emotions, assumptions about the world, goals, likes and dislikes, enemies and friends. What makes someone “human”? They have flaws, a history, and somewhere deep down they have good intentions, no matter how messed up they are.Ĭharacters are constructed. This means that he or she is “human” (even when they’re not). A good character is someone the player can relate to. The characters are the most important asset. (I generated the world of Momonga in Minecraft. Think hard about this step, and the rest will be much easier. The world will also be your point of reference for any future games you might be making in the same “universe”. When you have the world set up, you can use it as a guideline for your characters’ backstories. Are people thriving or struggling in this place?.Is there free trade? Freedom of religion?.What technologies exist? (magic? teleportation?).Do people have enough resources? (food, water, wood etc).How did the nations come to their current form?.What could spawn conflict in this world?.Geography is important, and it gives you a whole range of ideas to work with. How to write good stories for games Step 1: Create the world With that in mind, here is my process for writing stories. We need to provide players with stories to give them context as to what they are doing. There is conflict, there is an imaginary world. The Angry Birds story is one of thievery, sacrifice, parenthood, and ultimately revenge. I say chess has a story, dammit.Īnother example is Angry Birds. It’s all-out war, with conflict, death and victory. Even little pawns have an adventure and a transformation ahead. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end. But if you look at it closely, it has characters, a world, progression, and a plot. Look at chess – chess doesn’t seem to have story. Surely there are games that don’t seem to have a story – but if you look closer, you see that they actually have a lot going for them.
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