Game stories can be a powerful way to immerse players in a fictional world, engage them with meaningful choices, and evoke emotional responses. But they can also be a source of frustration if they are poorly written, inconsistent, or intrusive. How can you create a compelling game story that doesn't frustrate players? Here are some tips to consider.
Different players have different preferences and expectations when it comes to game stories. Some want a rich and complex narrative that explores themes and characters, while others prefer a simple and straightforward plot that serves as a backdrop for gameplay. Some enjoy branching and nonlinear stories that offer multiple outcomes and paths, while others like linear and coherent stories that have a clear beginning and end. Some appreciate environmental storytelling that reveals the world through clues and details, while others expect direct and explicit exposition that explains everything. To create a compelling game story that doesn't frustrate players, you need to know your audience and tailor your story to their tastes and needs.
The most common shortcoming in understanding an audience is reducing them to demographics. Human beings are not labels and numbers, and something relevant to a white 30 years old american guy can be totally irrelevant to his 30 years old american neighbor. Understanding player psychology is essential, and traditional Design has already provided us with countless tools such as Empathy Maps that can serve as a starting point. If you want to go beyond that, there are some awesome tools such as Solsten which grants meaningful insight into how to design experiences that effectively resonate with human beings.
Understanding your audience ensures an engaging and enjoyable VR game: 1.)Demographics:Tailor content to age and culture. Younger players may prefer educational elements, adults might enjoy complex stories. 2.)Experience Level:Design for both seasoned and casual gamers. Adjust complexity and controls accordingly. 3.)VR Comfort:Address motion sickness and accessibility. Offer intensity settings for varied tolerance levels. 4.)Genre Preferences: Understand preferred genres to guide mechanics and storylines. 5.)Tech Familiarity: Cater to different levels of VR knowledge. Newcomers need simpler experiences; tech-savvy players can handle advanced features. 6.)Interactivity Expectations: Gauge desire for interactivity versus narrative focus.
Game stories are not just words on a screen or voices in a speaker. They are part of a larger interactive experience that involves gameplay mechanics, systems, and rules. A compelling game story should complement and enhance the gameplay, not contradict or interfere with it. For example, if your game is about stealth and infiltration, your story should not force the player to engage in loud and chaotic combat. If your game is about exploration and discovery, your story should not limit the player's freedom and curiosity. If your game is about choice and consequence, your story should not negate or ignore the player's decisions. To create a compelling game story that doesn't frustrate players, you need to balance story and gameplay and ensure they work together harmoniously.
My perspective on VR game design at RWTH's Virtual Reality Chair: 1.) Story-Gameplay Integration: Blend narrative with gameplay using environmental storytelling and NPC interactions. 2.) Pacing Alignment: Match story pace with game tempo; fast-paced games should have quick-moving stories, while puzzle games benefit from gradual narratives. 3.) Player Impact: Ensure player actions significantly affect the story. 4.) Character Evolution: Develop characters through gameplay, not just scripted events. 5.) Feedback Loops: Create a dynamic where gameplay influences the story and vice versa. 6.) Inclusive Storytelling: Make the narrative accessible and inclusive, appealing to diverse players and enriching the story with varied perspectives.
As the old saying goes: Show, don't Tell. Do not underestimate the capability human beings have of filling in the gaps. Sometimes it's okay if players didn't get the story you wanted to tell, especially if they believe in a more interesting story their own minds created. Some games such as Ghost of a Tale beautifully present a story while offering links to glossaries explaining the lore and backstory for those who are interesting - allowing players to focus on what is happening at each given moment rather than pontificating through dialogues.
First, get this, games are all about gameplay, like movies are about stories. What I mean is if gameplay is good but story is bad, people will still play. Although, people will not play if gamplay is bad, however good the story might be. What makes a good game story is when story is revolved around gameplay. In games, story is not been told, its been created. Every part of the game adds an element to the story, from music, environment to NPCs and enemies. This player explores and derives the story out of it. You can create games with however story you like, but in order to make it compelling you need to break it a down and readjust it around gameplay as the game needs.
One of the most common pitfalls of game stories is telling too much and showing too little. Telling is when you use dialogue, narration, or text to convey information or emotion to the player. Showing is when you use visuals, sounds, actions, or interactions to demonstrate information or emotion to the player. Telling can be useful and necessary in some cases, but it can also be boring, tedious, or confusing if overused or misused. Showing can be more engaging, immersive, and memorable, as it allows the player to experience the story firsthand and draw their own conclusions. To create a compelling game story that doesn't frustrate players, you need to show, don't tell, and use the power of the medium to its full potential.
Can't stress this enough! Mechanics, levels and narrative can be cognitivelly mapped so you have a clear understanding of what you want players to actually perceive. Good designers use that as a starting point to identify the most effective layers of information to convey that information in a way that makes sense in the context of the game, deliberately leaving gaps players can fill with their own imagination. There is really no other way to really make a player's experience feel like their own.
Another common pitfall of game stories is being inconsistent or incoherent. Inconsistency is when you have contradictions, errors, or gaps in your story that break the logic or continuity of the world or the characters. Incoherence is when you have a lack of clarity, structure, or direction in your story that makes it hard to follow or understand. Inconsistency and incoherence can ruin the immersion, credibility, and impact of your story and make the player lose interest or trust. To create a compelling game story that doesn't frustrate players, you need to be consistent and coherent and avoid any mistakes or confusion that might undermine your story.
Have a clear theme and goal for the story. What is the main message or idea you want to convey? What is the player’s motivation and objective? Create memorable and believable characters that drive the plot forward. Give them personality, flaws, and motivations. Make them react to the player’s choices and actions. Integrate the story with the gameplay. Make sure the story fits the genre, tone, and style of the game. Use the game mechanics and environment to tell the story. Avoid breaking immersion or creating plot holes. Offer meaningful choices and consequences. Let the player influence the story and feel the impact of their decisions. Balance the challenge and reward of the gameplay. Provide feedback and closure for the player’s actions.
This is especially challenging in highly horizontal teams - such as many game development teams tend to be. This is where using frameworks such as MDA and abstractions such as Beat Charts and Cognitive Maps can help a lot. If the team can't agree on abstractions and broader definitions of how different elements coexist and synergize in a game, only luck can allow a consistent and coherent experience to take place. Narrative dissonance is usually easy to identify from a player's perspective, but sometimes mechanics or levels just "feel wrong". This often results from misaligned design intentions in the team.
One of the most satisfying aspects of game stories is getting feedback and reward for your actions and choices. Feedback is when you get a response or a consequence from the game or the story that acknowledges or reflects your input. Reward is when you get a benefit or a payoff from the game or the story that validates or gratifies your input. Feedback and reward can be positive or negative, depending on the situation and the outcome. They can also be immediate or delayed, depending on the pacing and the structure of the story. Feedback and reward can motivate, challenge, surprise, or delight the player and make them feel more involved and invested in the story. To create a compelling game story that doesn't frustrate players, you need to give feedback and reward and make the player feel that their actions and choices matter.
Balancing rewards also plays a big role here - it's important to understand how much withholding is ideal to amplify enjoyment. Too much praise and reward, the game becomes a toy. Too much withholding, the game becomes a chore or a torture. This is extensively explored by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his theory of Flow, which I cannot recommend enough all game designers study.
Always focus on the player's goals instead of the player's actions. What that means is: don't try to force players to do certain things in a specific way. If you have quests or missions or even simple objectives, give the player agency enough so they can approach the situation from multiple angles. Let's say a quest is to find a stolen item from an NPC. Give the player the freedom to figure out who stole, how, and how to recover it (or even the option to not do so). A story should be about stimulating the player to pursue a goal, not to force them. Doing that does not only enhance player agency but also enables a lot of replayability.
While creating a compelling yet non-frustrating VR escape room game based on "Season Change" we created vividly distinct seasonal environments with specific seasonal elements, enhancing the storytelling and engagement. The room has a straightforward goal - find and activate the seasonal clue, providing clear direction and reducing player frustration. Utilising VR’s capabilities, the game creates a multi-sensory experience, increasing immersion and enjoyment. Lastly, the most important element - the puzzles are designed to be challenging but achievable, keeping players motivated without causing undue frustration.