I started making a game, for a month, I was creating a fighting system that is heavilly based on character traits and story. It is finished, but now the harder part for me awaits..

I cannot think of any story at all. I have a base concept, but dont know how to build on it.

i want it to be about characters, that are aware about their levels and they will try to defeat you and steal a level from you, so you can level up, but also level down. What do you do, to think of something, to make an interresting plot, to break a mental block im having right now ??

You can check my BLOG to see, how my game works. 

23 minutes ago, kseh said:

So... a game with a fighting mechanic at it's center and the player goes up or down rank depending on wins and losses. Seems to me the player's primary goal will be simply to become number 1.

Somewhere in there you'll probably be trying to make the various battles interesting through the introduction of characters with different skills or abilities. Maybe there's back story to those characters that takes your plot somewhere. Maybe the environment you fight in comes into play somehow and can be expanded upon in some way.

In my fighting system, you can fight with enemies, but you can also defend yourself and they will show mercy if you are lower level than you. You can also kill an enemy, but the enemy can also surrender and you can choose, if you want to fight with him to the death, or you steal things from him or let him go. I want the player to get to know the oponent via dialogue during the fight and by that, he decides, if he wants to kill that character, or spare him, or dont fight him at all. 

BUT, the main problem is, that I dont know the whole story. Where are they fighting, whats the motive of the main character etc.. Just need something to break my creative block. Any help would be great

3 hours ago, DasunSet said:

i want it to be about characters, that are aware about their levels and they will try to defeat you and steal a level from you

"Levels" seems too abstract a resource. Obviously they function as levels, but unless your story is about characters in a self-aware computer game... It might help to figure out what the levels represent, and what the reward for attaining them is.

I could see a setting where people steal magical-power/life-force/chi from each other, maybe as a means of survival, maybe to attain some ultimate objective (a throne, a relic, etc) that holds meaning in the world.

You could frame it as representing honour, in some feudal society where honour is  highly valued. Fits well with the level loss and mercy mechanics you describe, as it would not be honourable to take from a lesser opponent. Gaining sufficient honour is necessary to curry favour with the emperor...

There are a lot of possibilities which can fit your game mechanics

15 hours ago, swiftcoder said:

"Levels" seems too abstract a resource. Obviously they function as levels, but unless your story is about characters in a self-aware computer game... It might help to figure out what the levels represent, and what the reward for attaining them is.

I could see a setting where people steal magical-power/life-force/chi from each other, maybe as a means of survival, maybe to attain some ultimate objective (a throne, a relic, etc) that holds meaning in the world.

You could frame it as representing honour, in some feudal society where honour is  highly valued. Fits well with the level loss and mercy mechanics you describe, as it would not be honourable to take from a lesser opponent. Gaining sufficient honour is necessary to curry favour with the emperor...

There are a lot of possibilities which can fit your game mechanics

Thank you so much, this is something, I was also thinking about yesterday.

I think, that levels in my world would act on everyone differently. Somebody is as strong as his level is, but his other skills are weaker and arent affected by his level. Somebody will get smarter, faster, more beautiful. But when you decide to fight, you are fighting with pure level energy, not the skill the character is good in, so I dont have to spend days just making one type of fight for every skill. 

Again, thank you, very helpful

The game may not need a story at all. Or each character can have his/her own story, which can be added in anytime.

1 minute ago, Tom Sloper said:

The game may not need a story at all. Or each character can have his/her own story, which can be added in anytime.

That is also an option. Im creating some diversive characters, that would also fit in bigger story.

I will decide, which way to go, but Im feeling it more like an Undertale style game.

In a situation where the main characters and their enemies have the primary purpose of fighting and defeating everyone else, the fighting itself is rarely interesting enough to represent "plot".

Being stronger is a straightforward game mechanic, and the reason for being stronger is usually that the player is skilled enough to play well, which isn't usually worth underlining, nor a part of the game's plot. As an example of game that is purely about being good enough as a player to win, consider Street Fighter II.

Hokuto no Ken can spend whole episodes on enjoyable flashbacks about how a major character learned some never before seen epic maneuver and how they came to winning the current fight with it. but a game is necessarily much more transparent and unsurprising when character skills are involved.

In fiction, the most common plot implications of a fight are usually character background and development, or secrets and surprises altering the formula of having a sequence of fights. In a game, apart from tactical novelty, the main point of major fights should be getting to know an interesting opponent and causing irreversible changes.

On 11. 4. 2018 at 3:36 PM, LorenzoGatti said:

In a situation where the main characters and their enemies have the primary purpose of fighting and defeating everyone else, the fighting itself is rarely interesting enough to represent "plot".

Being stronger is a straightforward game mechanic, and the reason for being stronger is usually that the player is skilled enough to play well, which isn't usually worth underlining, nor a part of the game's plot. As an example of game that is purely about being good enough as a player to win, consider Street Fighter II.

Hokuto no Ken can spend whole episodes on enjoyable flashbacks about how a major character learned some never before seen epic maneuver and how they came to winning the current fight with it. but a game is necessarily much more transparent and unsurprising when character skills are involved.

In fiction, the most common plot implications of a fight are usually character background and development, or secrets and surprises altering the formula of having a sequence of fights. In a game, apart from tactical novelty, the main point of major fights should be getting to know an interesting opponent and causing irreversible changes.

I think, making some good characters, that are not neccesary your enemies, where you slowly uncover their history and reason for them to fight you sounds like an amazing idea. First I must finnish my fighting system, so it is easy to reflect enemy characteristics.