Hi there, I'm Dan.

I'm looking forward into getting a job in games design and to do this I'm making myself a design document. This design document has to be perfect and I'm currently working on the games script. I recently attended a lecture from the game director on enslaved: odyssey to the west where he listed the importance of not over-convuluting script and whatnot.

I'm confident with my skills of developing characters as well as forming their personalities into somehting three dimensional.

but, because I've been thinking about this subject so heavily, it's got me thinking, can the structure of stories in games be done better? (to me cutscenes feel a bit disconnected from the gameplay) And it got me thinking, do we really need to focus on characters when telling these stories?

focusing on characters in film works because they are the focus, it's on rails, they're nearly always in the eye of the camera. In a game environment the player often is alone and is left to explore an environment by their own will.

With this in mind, I feel that,when designing a games story, it should be very much focused on a place. After coming to this realisation I noticed something, alot of great games focus on their world as much as the characters in it. Final Fantasy games, the mass effect universe, and many more.

So when writing my script I'm not even thinking about characters yet, I'm thinking about places, cultures, secrets, and history that I want characters to experience, and in turn the player.

What's your opinion? should a game focus on characters or the universe it takes place in? should it be 50/50? please give me your thoughts.

I tend to lean on the 50/50 side.

When I create a place or location within my games, I focus on how large the place should or could be for the character or in turn the player can interact with the location.

And in your game design yes it is possible to create a focus point on the locations then the characters and then flip the verse side from characters to locations.

I like to explore my worlds. I want to see the nooks and crannies of the location I am exploring in. This pretty much falls under the replay value of the game. The creativity of the game designer involves him into what he or she would like his or players would or could see how find that hidden area no one hasn't been to yet.

Q: What kind of game design document are you working on?
Q: How large do you want your game to be?
Q: Places: Real or Fictional?
Q: How many characters are you allowing to game with in the storyline?
Q: Will your storyline be Past, Present, Or Future?

Just some questions to get you through the beginning if you haven't thought of yet, even if you already have. Just helping out a fellow game designer.

How can you have cultures, secrets, and history without characters? Personally I think people are what give meaning to places; games like the Myst series which are heavily place-focused and mostly empty of people tend to feel barren no matter how lush and intriguing the physical landscapes are. I don't like the feeling of being alone in the world. But certainly places can be interesting, and are worth thinking about.

Places are a major way to create atmosphere/mood in a game. Places can to a limited extant tell about history (ruins, a crater, an abandoned building, a pastoral village, a thriving metropolis, a skyscraper buzzing like a beehive with security and workers...) But please note that books, diaries, television, posters, graffiti, all of the standard objects that are used to allow the player to discover story within a location, are all character elements, not setting elements. One particularly interesting thing to do is to allow the character to make a permanent impact on the game world (often by repairing or destroying a pathway or obstacle blocking a pathway). I am personally fascinated by the possibility of returning the player to the same setting later in the game and showing the player by changes in this setting what effects their actions have had on the world.

Places are probably the most important element of structuring play. It's important that the player always has a goal to be working toward, and isn't distracted by too many things that aren't relevant to that goal; the setting channels the player along the path of the story, helping the player to experience the story elements with the order and timing that give the best experience. Even in a non-linear game places should help orient the player to the play opportunities associated with each particular place, and there should be some sort of reward or progress achieved by exploring each place (so they aren't meaningless).

hmmm interesting awnsers... thanks guys.

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
How can you have cultures, secrets, and history without characters?

The game's set in the future and the central character ends up stuck on a planet. In his time there he discovers past events, what cultures and religeons exist on this world and more. The idea for me was for the world to seem like its own character with the story sort of being a character study of the world with human character interactions being held of equal importance.

I think you could do that but it would be difficult to argue that games should focus on either. If you ask: Should all games have the same focus? Same proportion? You see that it is pretty hard to say 'Yes' and justify it.

this reminds me of Alpha Centauri, each faction had a leader character, and the planet was a character too (planetary neural network, like avatar)

Quote: Original post by Wai
I think you could do that but it would be difficult to argue that games should focus on either. If you ask: Should all games have the same focus? Same proportion? You see that it is pretty hard to say 'Yes' and justify it.

never considered it like that, I obviously think different games should get different ratios of world and character focus (heavy rain doesn't need to much focus on the world, very character driven whereas mass effect needs a very deep universe).

thanks for making me consider that, this industies best ideas are ussually started by questioning ideas.

Huh! I'm new to this place, but I've been thinking of game ideas for a long time. This thread makes me think of one I've been kicking around for awhile. One where you start young, alone, in pain, weak at fighting, unsure of yourself and trapped in a cramped surroundings, ending with the exact opposite adult, among friends, happy, a skilled warrior, large amount of self-confidence, and among very open surroundings. By changing the situation from world to character slowly over time or by mixing up the different aspects of character and world based design, you can create a real sense of personal change and accomplishment. I know games do this a little already, but more is better right?

You don't need to stick to the same world/character ratio the whole time anyway do you?

Quote: Original post by Phil_ATS
Huh! I'm new to this place, but I've been thinking of game ideas for a long time. This thread makes me think of one I've been kicking around for awhile.

Hi Phil,
Why don't you start a new thread rather than take an old one in a new direction.
If your question is about story writing for games, this is the correct board.
If your question is about game design, there's a separate board for those discussions.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
Why don't you start a new thread rather than take an old one in a new direction.
If your question is about story writing for games, this is the correct board.
If your question is about game design, there's a separate board for those discussions.

...
Sorry, I don't have much experience with forums, and I didn't notice how old the thing was.