A lesson on Story Telling PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Dubealex   
(1) Introduction

This class reflects my opinions about story-telling and game design. I will use my own terms and vocabulary to explain what i have in mind; I haven't rip that from any book, so you are free to agree or disagree with anything I will say here. Story-Telling and good Game Design cannot really be taught; you have to be good at it whether by experience or by nature (or both). This is why I must say that what is written here must not be taken as an absolute solution; if you want to learn about Story-Telling, read more stuff about it, and use what you like from them.

Also remember that many official "guide" on story-telling/scenario making or game design have been created by big corporation; reflecting a standard procedure... Just like the Hollywood movies: They all have the same rules on how to make the story. I won't use any of those "standard" here, because I am against it.

(2) Different kind of Story

There are many different way for a writer to tell a story, and there are thus many different way for a player to interact with that story. In our case, we are talking about RPG Making, thus talking about a game. A game must be interactive and entertaining, or else it isn't a game anymore. So, when you do your story, try to think about what elements of your story will add interactivity in your game.

I will list different kind of story-line here, and remember that those "type" could be mixed in the same game, for as long as you do it the right way.

A. Direct Story-Telling
A "direct story" is the most common type of story you will see in a video game. You are the hero that is set in a world, called the "Game World" where the story evolve, and you witness those story as you play the game. Some games that uses this kind of story are: Chrono Trigger on SNES and Landstalker on Genesis. This kind of story is most common on video game console.

B. Narration Story-Telling
In this kind of story-line, you are told the story by a narrator a certain point of the game. This kind of game is, most of the time, supported by a "direct story-line" in-between narration part. Some games that uses this kind of story are: Xenogears on PSX and Shining Force on Genesis.

C. Inductive Story-Telling
This kind of story-line is based on induction. The player is oftenly confronted to a choice, which the answer will decide upon the next story elements. This kind of story oftenly has many different kind of endings, and are complex to create. Those story-line also have a lot of "variation" of the same story, which variation you see depend on the choices you do in the game. Chrono Trigger has many different endings, depending on some choices you do, so it also falls in this category. There is also Star Ocean on PSX that does something like that.

D. Free-Will Story-Telling
This kind of game is mostly seen on PC. Some of you may not call them RPG, but they still uses this type of story-telling. In this type of game, the player is totally or almost totally free to do whatever he or she wants, and the player actually "creates" the story; as the story is the player. Almost all MMORPG are of this type. (MMORPG = Massive Mutiplayer Online Role Playing Game - I think.) In this kind of story, the writer usually create a background for the game world, and the player is set in it and evolve as he wants; the level of freedom the player has is in relation with how much story-elements can be present in the gameplay. The most freedom you want the player to possess, the less story elements you can include during the gameplay. The Sims and Diablo on PC uses this kind of story-line.

All those type of story-telling cannot usually be used alone; to do a great game, you must wisely uses features from many of them.

(3) The Game World

The "game world" is the most important thing in your game, because everything is contained in it, it is your game; but more importantly, this is where the player interact with your game. The game world have components, that we call "Game World Components". I will list those components now, and I will then explain more things about them:

A. Story-Line
Of course, your game have a story-line since it is an RPG. The story-line defines the rules of your game world. Depending on your story, you will decide what would be possible to do in the game world. What the characters in your game are able to do; what is normal, what is mystery and what is science-fiction is decided upon your story. I.E: If, in your story, the world in wich the game is set is a world where magic always existed and everybody always used it, magic thus become "normal". But if someone cannot uses magic in your game, it thus become "mystery". This is what I meant by the "story sets the rules".

B. Characters
There are 3 main type of characters in a game world: There are the player(s), the enemies and the NPC (NPC = Non Playable Characters - I.E: The villagers in a city). Most of the time, the main characters of your game will be created as the story-line is created, but the NPC are usually done after the story-line is done. What will make your game unique is by a big part your characters. Once again, your characters must be "true" to the story-line, wich means that theirs emotions, philosophy and behaviors must reflect what is happening in the game world and their lives. More on that later.

C. The Environment - The World
What are the "places" the player will visit and discover in your game ? All those places should be in relation with the game world's story-line; remember what we said about rules: What is logically normal, mystery or science-fiction is set by your story-line; thus the locations in your world too. If you want an extra in your game, try to give a story-line to those places too; where does it come from, who build it, why ? This add sub-story elements that makes a "substance" in your story.

D. Gameplay
Finally comes the Gameplay Elements. What the player can do in the game world, and how he does it is a gameplay elements. How the game is played, and how the player interacts with the different components of the game world are what makes your Gameplay. A poor gameplay will make a poor game, even if the other components are great. The gameplay is the most important thing in a game, because it is the first thing the player will see, and if it is bad, it is the first and only thing he might remember. So take great care of refining your ganmeplay.

(4) The Game Characters

In this chapter, we will talk about characters creation. Your characters have emotions, and they think. If one of your characters is always depressed and sad, he cannot instantly changes and become happy and funny; if you want to make this kind of transition, you need a story-line to support that transition. And that transition must have a logic length.

So, this means that when you create your characters, make them true to themselves: They have a certain philosophy and state of mind, and depending of that state of mind, your character will perceives things in a different way; thus having different reactions and emotions to the same story elements. If a monster appears, some may be afraid, some may run away and some may fight; this is only an example.

When you create your NPC (Non Playable Characters), don't create it and then try to think about what he might say; it is not the right thing to do. If you do it that way, most of your NPC will be useless and boring. Let's say you want to do a city, which have NPC to talk to. The first thing you should do is create the entire city, keeping in mind that the largest the city is, the most work it will require to create NPC for it; unless you don't care if there are many large area without anybody to talk too. Then, think about your game world story-line, what is that city ? Where is it ? Then, you might be in a better position to make better NPC that would says useful things about the world settings and the city reality. All those NPC in the game will actually be useful, if used that way, to deliver small bit of information to the player about what the world is about.

Example: If there are 2 cities near one another, you can make some NPC talk about what is happening or what happened in the other city. In some situation, some NPC may know the main characters, wich add more interactivity; it makes your world and characters look more alive. Make conversation that will, as time pass by, defines the characters personality to the player. I.E: Instead of making a narrator says what a character did in the past, make a conversation with a NPC that talk about it, it is more interactive that way.

(5) How to write the story

The way you write your story, in other words your writing skills, will directly influence the quality of your game. Try to never uses sentences like this:

"I dont want to go cuz Im afraid"

It should look like this:

"I don't want to go because I'm afraid"

I'm personally not against swearing in a game, unless it is abusing or out of context. If you use a swearing word, make it rare, so it actually have an impact on the story being told. If a character is on the verge of dying because his best friend betrayed him, it is a good moment to make him swear. But once again, do not abuse it, and if you want, you can also just never swear; I'm just not against it if it is used logically, as in real life after all.

Also try to write well, found synonyms for words you use a lot so you do not repeat the same words over and over again. Example:

"The forest is hidden behind the crystal shield. In this forest you will found a big tree, the Legendary Sword is hidden near that tree. By discovering the hidden sword, you will gain magical powers."

Can be said as:

"The forest is hidden behind the crystal shield. In this forest you will found a big tree, the Legendary Sword lays concealed near that tree. By discovering the secret sword, you will gain magical powers."

Or something better...

(6) Taking a break

If you are out of ideas, stop developing your game. If you continue, some part of your game will look bad. Sometimes, when you have worked a lot of hours on the same things, you need a break to think about other things. This will also make you see what you have done from afar; you are too near to the story and the overall project. Going away will probably even give you ideas on what to do next, so a good advice is to take a break when you feel like you are out of ideas
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