Hi, I am trying to develop a game with a story to it, but I am running up against the issue that I have no idea how to go about writing the plot. Can anyone give tips to writing story and backstory for a game?
Thanks,
novasharp
I’m not sure if there is anything game specific to writing a story. So I’d guess you can use any resource about writing in general. Google for “common story plots” and “common story twists” also “commin story twists”, each of those gave me an interesting list of results.
Your plot: Survive. Defeat the bad guy. Prevent said bad guy from doing something bad by taking something valuable from them.
Gameplay comes first. Then make something up to fit the gameplay.
Worst advice ever.
Figure out who the protagonist is, what’s he doing and why? What’s his goals? What’s the setting he’s in? Future? Medieval? Once you’ve figured that out, it’ll be easier to write a story that fits him(And also to start making a game that fits the setting and style…). After this, figure out the big details in the world, and slowly just add more details.
Bad example:
[quote]Bob is the protagonist. He’s an ass. But he’s addicted to peanuts, thus he’s doing his very best to prevent peanuts to be banned.
Because he’s an ass, he’ll use the means he has, without much regard for whoever happens to be in the way. He wont help other people out of the good of his heart, he’s an ass after all.
Richard(Henceforth known as Dick) hates peanuts and wants them banned. Why? He once choked on one while watching his favorite tv show.
The world, today. (This way there’s no need to actually invent a whole world, just add/change a few things if you need)
[/quote]
With this in mind, it’ll be easier to actually make a game that suits it. And with more and more detail it’ll actually turn out to a story(Though this one might not be the grandest of stories).
Another thing you have to keep in mind when coming up with a story/plot for games is how you want the story to be able to progress?
Is it an old-style linear RPG where each major plot event has to occur before the next is allowed to (Think games like older Final Fantasies, where you have to go to Town A and complete some plot event before you’re allowed to go to Town B and really do anything.) Or, is it a splitting style like many of Bioware’s games, where the story is generally linear, but certain events can be taken from different sides such that you have some choice in the outcome? Or is it like a sandboxed RPG where there are things for you to do, but order is generally left up to the player?
Note that immediately jumping to the second and third answer, which look like they can provide the better gameplay, isn’t always the best idea! Some games lend themselves to different styles.
Stories where the player character is forced into a ‘reactive’ role tend to lend themselves to the first style. If they really only have one course of action due to something (Having to combat the forces of evil attempting to destroy the world by thwarting their attempts at stealing certain objects) then it doesn’t make sense to give a sandboxed world to play in. It removes the sense of urgency that should be there.
If the story you decide you’d like comes with situations where there could be a branching of the story based on decisions (Such as the Evil Vs. Good) then it’s better to go with the second or third one. If the story is there to provide the player merely with something to do, then the third option tends to be the best.
Who: “Bob is the protagonist. He’s an ass.”
What: “He’s doing his very best to prevent peanuts to be banned.”
Where: “The world, today. (This way there’s no need to actually invent a whole world, just add/change a few things if you need)”
Why: “He’s addicted to peanuts.”
Survive: “Because he’s an ass, he’ll use the means he has, without much regard for whoever happens to be in the way.”
Bad guy: “Richard(Henceforth known as Dick) hates peanuts and wants them banned.”
Stopping the bad guy: You forgot how the bad guy would achieve his goals. You cannot win the game if the enemy is just some guy muttering to himself while watching the news.
Game stories are very simple. You sometimes need one, but you can easily make them up on the spot that fits your game somewhat well and just change artwork. Players only care about plot twists if it means they end up getting more play time then they first thought they would. (Sorry Mario, but our princess is in another castle.)
Of course it’s good advice. 1) Your game does not need a story. 2) It is easy to adjust an existing game to fit a dozen different stories. 3) It is difficult to create a game that fits an existing story.
Yes, in most cases. And that’s a real pitty. Why not try to improve things?
It depends on the game. A role playing game (if it’s not a kind of rogue-like) needs a story and an adventure game certainly does too. A shooter at least largely benefits from a good story. It also depends on the player. I, for example, wouldn’t touch a shooter without a story. Shooting people in glorious ways just doesn’t cut it for me unless you are giving me a good reason to do it. And if you don’t, you might have implemented the greatest shooter game play of all time, i still wouldn’t play it.
BTW, this is a nice book on the topic: http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Video-Writing-Design/dp/158065066X
Story writing is a different beast than writing a game. The 3 bare essentials for a game story is this.
- Character: The object that you are controlling
- Conflict: The problem(s) the object has to overcome.
- Conclusion: What happens if the object can/can’t complete the objective.
If you cover those 3 basics, you have all you need for a basic game story. I just don’t buy into the notion that games need a really elaborate story. Most of the games that are very enjoyable have a very basic story, or no story at all…
[offtopic]
I was a big fan of Chrono Trigger, and I really enjoyed that game. However, my reasons for enjoying that game was not because I liked grinding to level up my characters. I enjoyed the character interactions and the story the game was trying to tell. If that game did not have a good story, I probably would not have finished the game.
That is the major problem with gaming today. The whole notion of “gaming” is messed up. Gaming companies are using other media, such as books and movies, to spruce up and make people want to buy games. The funny part is that we have always had access to movies and books. However, the moment that a gaming company decides to force a book and movie combined in their game, suddenly everyone wants it.
The essence of a game is interactivity. You do specific actions in a game to affect the world. Every time we watch a cut scene, or read a bunch of dialogue; It is stripping away from the gaming element. The key is not to let the player lose control of the situation for long periods of time. You aren’t gaming if you are not interacting.
Can games tell a story? Of course… but if you strip away the story, will you still have the same passion to complete the game?
That is the deciding factor between a good “game” and a good “story.”
Good games don’t need a backing story, they can keep you interested just by the mechanics alone.
A good story doesn’t need any interactivity at all, but they can be told through mouth, books, movies, or games.
[/offtopic]
TL;DR: Games don’t need a story to be good. They just need to give a player something new and innovative.
Planescape Torment may not have needed cutscenes (and it sure would have been nice if the top level spells didn’t have them), but Mass Effect wouldn’t exactly have been the same without them. It just might be possible that different games may entertain in different ways. Dare I say that no one gets to be the gatekeeper there?
Anyway, good writing in a game, other than demanding a lot more interaction points, and possibly branching storyline, is still not altogether different than writing in any other medium. Don’t be afraid to ask a writer for help with your plot, just as you would ask an artist for help with your visual assets or a musician for your soundtrack.
Before starting my game I got 150 pages into a fictional book, for which my game is loosely based on… during that time I did a lot of research on plot developement… to sumarize this is basically what you need to think about:
Characters:
1.) Create a protagonist (good guy).
2.) Create an Antagonist (bad guy)… this bad guy doesn’t have to be a person, it can be one of the following:
a.) An entity (example: Any person, animal, alien, etc…)
b.) The world (example: The world is tired of our pollution, and set out to destroy us all, and only the protagonist can convince the world that we’re worth saving)
c.) Time (example: The protagonist’s (wife, daughter, father, etc.) is going to die if the clock strikes midnight)
d.) The protagonist himself (example: The hero thinks he’s too weak/scared/ugly etc… that he must overcome in order to complete his/her task.).
Plot:
1.) Why is the antagonist trying to do this bad thing?
2.) Why does the protagonist want to stop the antagonist?
3.) Why is it that only the protagonist can stop the antagonist?
Conclusion:
1.) forumulate how the story should end.
After you’ve done the above… simply connect the dots from start to finish… include supporting characters, have the protagonist learn something or overcome an obsticle.
Finally, and most importantly…
Don’t think you need to write the next ny-times best sellers though…One of the best indi-games of 2012 was “Journey”, and it had the basic plot line of “follow the light”.
Good luck on writing your story… hope some of my advice helped 
-Pickle
Thanks guys. I had been planning on writing the game as two “parts” (well, two phases actually). The first would be, I have to write a game as a final project for a CS class I am taking (unfortunately, I believe in overdoing all school projects). In this part, I would just have the basis of the game, like training and first mission. After that, I would focus on making the actual game. My plan was to make a science fiction game drawing inspiration for some basic elements from other games like Mass Effect and Halo, like the general idea of flying around a 2-D ship in the galaxy to navigate between planets (no need to re-invent the wheel). I had plenty of ideas for mechanics, but none for story.
Well, other than the basic sci-fi storyline of:
- Humanity develops spaceflight
- Humanity colonizes stars
- Aliens discovered: Dangerous?
[list]
[li]Yes - Plot = Defeat aliens, save human race (and maybe find more aliens along the way) - No - Plot = Well, I guess we just need to find some more aliens
[/li]
[/list]
Which almost all, if not all, Sci-Fi games/books/movies/tv-shows follow.
I guess the main problem is that in games, the story generally has to be inferred by the player. Cutscenes help make it more like a normal story, but otherwise users can miss out. Also, if you are writing a branching or open-world game (as I am hoping to), you run the risk that the user will miss story cues or that they will find them, but in the wrong order.
It’s true that cut scenes help steer the player in the direction the story is going, and having them go in a linear order is crucial to how well the story unfolds.
There’s also other storylines in space than just aliens. Here’s a few that might help:
Affecting Humanity:
1.) (Asteroid/comet/rogue planet) headed to earth.
2.) Earths gravity shifting to where it:
a.) Tears earth into pieces that are drifting apart.
b.) Sends people into space due to lack of gravity or reversed gravity.
Affecting the hero/crew of the ship:
1.) There’s an oxygen leak.
2.) There’s a strange illness.
3.) There’s a mysterious passenger.
4.) The ship has ran out of fuel, or the ship is damaged.
5.) The ship’s mass is to great that unless they unload some cargo, they will all crash into a planet or won’t be able to leave a planet.
6.) A crew member must sacrifice themself in order for the rest to achieve their goal (i.e. we only have enough food or oxygen for 4 people to return home).
Plot devices:
1.) Newly discovered alien device that:
a.) Does something amazing like turning kittylitter into gold.
b.) Comes with the terrible cost of removing a year from your lifespan.
c.) Causes you to become some threat to the aliens that created it.
2.) New technology that enables humans:
a.) Travel to anywhere in the universe.
b.) But ravages the planet every time it’s used.
Using these in combination you could get something like:
A newly discovered techology allows a crew of 10 to travel to a distant alien planet where they discover a device that will turn kittylitter to gold. The use of this technology came with a devestating cost of shifting the earths gravity and thus tearing the earth into giant floating pieces that are slowly drifting apart. Upon returning the ship was badly damaged and few crew members were sacrificed so the remaining crew could re-enter the fractured worlds atmosphere and turn the worlds kitty-litter into gold thus funding a device that would save humanity (because nothing is free apparently).
Just a rediculous suggestion that hopefully gives you some ideas on how to formulate a story
-Pickle
More plots:
- Crew brings a deadly plague with them on return, cure must be found
- Knowledge (weapons?) has been stolen, must be intercepted before the enemy gets it.
- Sentient androids (droids) struggle to be given civil rights
- Criminal organization spreads new drugs, player must find source and destroy organization (not sci-fi per se, but fits into sci-fi as well).
Make a story about how hard it is to write a story.
I read it too, quite nice. Can’t hurt if you read it 
Funny how most of the posts are specific plots and not advice for the writer.
Okay, advice:
- Get (paper && pen) || (computer)
- Write story.
Best advice ever. 8)
Ok let me try a few.
Develop characters. Have motivations and emotions. Keep in mind who and what a character is and why he does what he does.
Dont try to introduce ideas just because you think they are cool, and for no other reason.
Create world, a theme, and a plot; then insert supporting characters.
Keep track (write down) all places, characters, items and their role in the story.
Be aware of:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/52666052/story_plot.png
And I really recommend reading and listening to critics of stories.
For example I truly believe Mass Effect 2 is a great game - Nonetheless it’s plot is crap: Check out Smudboy’s videos:
rR558wTjOUU
Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR558wTjOUU&list=PL67454ADAC2BDA8AA
Also dont be too hard on yourself, but also try to keep it simple.
Thanks. If the game turns into something worth posting, I will put it up here.