I don’t know anything about video games. Truly. I’m embarrassed to expose the underbelly of my ignorance about one of the largest revenue markets out there, but here goes…
Video games have a character doing stuff — action driven. Character propels from one event to the next. Setting. Mood. Theme. Journey.
It’s a story.
There’s also a character doing stuff to reveal self — character driven. Character propels from one event to the next. Setting. Mood. Theme. Journey.
It’s another kind of story.
So many stories created today — online, hardcover, softcover, movies, music videos, plays, radio, newspapers, video games…
What makes for a good one?
Likable characters. Exciting action. Meaningful issues???
Enough, I guess. Thousands of stories are published in one form or another everyday.
The good ones are so rare.
Seems to me, a good story makes real time, rather than pass unconsciously, bring us to consciousness…
Okay, video games–not sure about that character-driven thing with them. Seems like the character gains strength & power, but I don't know that they ever change!
Good story–for me, it's layers, I think (at least today) that get revealed as you turn pages. I just finished an incredible YA called Me, The Missing, and The Dead that is just layer on layer of secrets that impact the main character as he (and we) find out about them.
There’s a million dollar question. If only I knew, maybe I wouldn’t be so stuck in the first draft of my story.
I recently spent time with an old friend under the guise of a “writers’ weekend’ as we discussed ideas for our novels–my one, her many. She amazed me with story line after story line–detailed plots, developed characters, believable dialogue. Ideas spring from her head almost effortlessly, or so it appears. I’m struggling with the one story–how to turn these ideas into a story that someone would care about.
I think I’ll quiz my 12-year-old son about his video games and what he likes about them. Maybe the answer lies somewhere beyond Yoshi’s Island as I meet up with Brothers in Arms.
I doubt video games hold the answer — yes, probably for how to keep people unconscious and engaged for hours….
But, what does it take to keeps us engaged and conscious??? Or is that an oxymoron when it comes to the stories we love???
I mean how many stories do you really remember?? Were moved by and changed by having read / watched them???
What made them so??
Having grown up and still actively engaged in video games (I’m 31, and female. Woot) and their stories, I can only speak for myself, but this is how I feel and sort of break it down in my own head.
Video game stories in terms of depth and complexity are highly dependent on the genre of the game. There are games with extremely involved stories, and then there are those without hardly a premise beyond, “Hey, we’re two fighters, let’s fight!”. Depending on what type of game it is will really dictate what the market expects in terms of a story.
I think writing for a video game is a little more akin to story boarding a movie or writing a comic than say writing a novel, with a sort of ‘choose-your-own-adventure” melded into the story flow. The player must be able to interact with the story via the world. Which means that worlds of some of the more complex story video games are obscenely detailed.
Generally, the best stories I’ve encountered have been from the roleplaying type games. For me, I’ve particularly enjoyed the Final Fantasy line from square Enix, although not EVERY game was a winner for me since they all have different stories, characters, flow, interface, etc. Although many share same or similar elements which render them familiar. Some of the most successful story wise I’d say was Final Fantasy 7, although it required a CG movie to finish the story to a satisfactory end. (FF7: Advent Children if you want to look it up.) I also thought Final Fantasy X was very engaging.
For most videogames, the story gets broken up into sections. I’d say three major sections, Narrative, Events, and Action.
Narrative is when information is being presented to the player in a way they can’t interact. FMVs (full motion videos ; mini movies inside the game) is the prime way of doing this. Events are key points in the game that set action in motion, although how the player deals with an event (which can be as simple as choosing the right dialogue in a box, complex such as having to master a mini-game), it will lead to a period of action. The action is the portion of the story where the player is left to explore the world and fight and struggle against the environment in such a way that they can either choose to go right to the next event or futz around in the environment discovering, gaining experience, and exploring until they are tired of it and want to progress the story.
Most videogames also include a LOT of antagonists aside from the main one that must be defeated in a certain order in order to get to the final one, who is of course the toughest to beat and should signify the climax of the entire game.
Most videogamers are interested in improving the character they control. Progression equates power, so the character getting personally stronger, better equipment, better powers, etc, is how an average player views progression. The world the character is in for the story has to allow this. Although, through the action, the best stories (obviously) provide twists and turns and insights into the character the person is playing and his or her relationship to the world and the current events. This is normally addressed during events or narrative portions of the game. Sometimes what is revealed depends on actions the player has taken during the action portion prior to the event/narrative.
These are very much ‘action’ stories, in the sense that for the most part MOST of the characters don’t actually grow as much story characters might in terms of personality. I think often designers leave the main character sort of purposefully vacant to allow the player to impose their own personality into them, but I feel the best characters in videogames come with a personality. Dante from Devil May Cry (the first one and fouth one) is a good example of a protagonist with a personality in a videogame. I’d say the best games have that element, IMO. Although most games are painfully short on epilogue.
The worlds of a video game require special consideration, as much a character might, as exploring it is such a vital part of the game. Look at World of Warcraft, the Massive Multiplayer online game. The lore of the world requires entire WIKI’s dedicated to sorting out the zillions of plotlines going on between the various non-player characters, and how those events are shaking the world down. You spend literally hundreds of hours WALKING through vast sweeping landscapes and exploring towns and hidden corners of the world of Aseroth. Although World of Warcraft deals with creating a character that not a pre-defined protagonist and using a modular ‘quest’ system to plug a ‘story’ together from a sting of little episodes which essentially send a player into the world (which results in much walking, btw.) to fetch or kill something. When the player returns to the event giving NPC, the player is rewarded with stuff to make the character better/cooler and the next portion of the story behind the quest is revealed. Rinse, repeat, ad nausium. But designing video games for a multiplayer base, and for a single play through I think is a totally different kettle of wax storywise because of the nature of MMO gameplay.
Some of the videogames that have had an impact on me personally:
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy X
Silent Hill 1, 2, 3, Homecoming
Fatal Frame 1, 2, 3
Devil May Cry 1
Lost Odyssey (for being the saddest game I’ve ever played, seriously, I couldn’t stop crying.)
BioShock
Legend of Dragoon
Chrono Trigger
Massive Multiplayer games that I’ve played avidly:
City of Heroes
World of Warcraft
Anyway, that’s my two cents. Hope it was at least interesting to read. XD
Welcome, ShadowsMyst! Thank you so much for such a thorough explanation about video games. What a wealth of information. Truly!! Deepest gratitude for sharing your expertise with us. Much appreciated. A fascinating read…