How do you give players control in your game story?

What is the long term goal of the story? Is the controller character going to have multiple endings? Is this a survival theme where the player's decisions impact whether their character survives? These elements help determine and give power to the player. Example of a great game giving power to the player is Mass Effect an overarching story about galactic conflict and an end that is soon to come.

There is strong belief in AI as the way to give much more flexibility to users in adjusting the story to their needs. There was very interesting research about that just recently (National Research Group, gamers from the United States and United Kingdom, research done in March 2023, 1,504 respondents; 18-64 years; gamers with some awareness of generative AI). According to 66% of them, players will be beneficiaries of generative AI use in game development. What is interesting only 25% of those gamers had opinion that "AI is a powerful tool for game development that studios should embrace wholeheartedly" (with 58% of those gamers being after "AI can be a useful tool for game developers, but only if used carefully and responsibly").

Empowering players with narrative control makes the gaming experience personal and engaging. It adds meaning by letting players shape outcomes, fostering emotional connections and enhancing replay value. Interactive elements like choices, character customisation, and real-time consequences make players feel valued and immersed in the story.

Key word: meaningful Using a recent example, Baldur’s Gate 3 has allowed players to truly cultivate their own story where each choice made can have reverberating consequences immediately after or even further down the player’s narrative. You are truly able to enact the “role-playing” aspect in an RPG, or in D&D campaigns in which the game is based on. Allowing players to immerse themselves in a sandbox while still being able to tell a core story is no easy feat. However, it should be what any storyteller in the gaming space strives for when adding player choice. It’s an extra difficult challenge beyond creating a linear experience that can pay dividends in terms of engaging players in your world.

When a player does something, they want something that seems real to them. If you are given the choice to stop a cataclysmic event, then you should expect to see something great come out of it like a celebration, rewards, etc. Lets say we went into the middle of a firefight and you have two teammates that were both wounded and were on the brink of death, those two choices should hold a considerable amount of impact on the story. Were those characters relevant to the story and will saving one or the other impact the story later down the line? If the answer was yes to it making an impact, then it falls in the category of being a meaningful choice.

Meaningful choices are to be just that, meaningful. It's a critical aspect of the story and engagement. Without meaningful choice it feels forced upon the player sacrificing player engagement and replayability.

We are an evolving species based on communication. Narration is becoming a rather important part of story driven games as there should be multiple different choices to choose when talking to NPCs in game. When you open up the ability to have a multitude of choices to speak about to NPCs it tends to make the person feel more involved with the story that's taking place in the game, not to mention the potential to gain more info from listening to all the options. Provide emergent narratives. Your players will thank you for it.

Overcomplicating the storyline from the beginning is a recipe for failure. Start with a base storyline, move into minor adjustments that keep you on the same track as intended, bring in a few extras to entice the player or twist the expectation.

Player input is allowing the player to do what they want when they want. Give them the ability to customize their dream character with their own loadouts, appearance customizations, etc. It will make the game user centered and give them power over their own story. Plus, people tend to be more satisfied when they can customize the content they're playing. It makes it more unique.