[non technical] The Game Story

[SeiferTim]

:beam: Hi everyone!

I've noticed that in this forum everyone seems to focus on the technical programming aspect of Game Development, but seem to stay away from some of the other - less technical - parts.

marz has some really great coding tutorials on the forum, and there are other good tutorials all over the place (some of which are linked to from here), but what I've seen in all of them, is little to no mention of story development - almost as if it didn't matter at all...
To me, the Story is what makes the game. It sets the tone for the adventure, pulls the player into the game, and makes them want to keep playing. The player will (hopefully) connect with the characters (playable and/or non-playable) and want to find out what happens. Think about what Metroid would be like with a completely different story. If Samus was the bad-guy, who was murdering helpless innocent creatures to prepare the planet(s) for colonization, and Mother Brain is trying to protect her precious babys from being slaughtered. I don't think it would have quite the same appeal to players as it does now... the story makes a big difference!

I think I'm lucky enough to have a great Storytelling skill, which allows me to make connections, and build off of details in a way that can make my stories seem real. Some people do not have the same skill, and (surprisingly) several games end up having either no story, or a really horrible story... which makes the game no fun at all, even if the game-play is solid, and well thought out.

At this time, I'm thinking about making up some tutorials - well, I guess semi-tutorials... or just ideas and methods, and things to make you think - about Story Development, if anyone is interested... because I know that most people would rather play a game with a deep, and thought out story than a game that doesn't make any sense (unless it has some REALLY cool feature, like Magic Pengel: Quest for Color - I STILL have no idea what the story is in that game, but any game that lets you draw your own monsters doesn't NEED a story :crazy: ). Imagine if Resident Evil had none of the "back story" that was scattered throughout the mansion, that gave details on the incident at the mansion, you wouldn't have any idea what was going on :h: , and the game would lose a lot of credibility.

I've been (slowly, but steadily) writing my own Storyline for an RPG I hope to see finished someday (preferably before I'm 70 :drool: ) So far, I think it has come out pretty good, it still needs a lot of work, and some editing/revisions... if anyone is interested in seeing my incomplete work, visit: http://seifertim.no-ip.com

Let me know if anyone is interested in me posting the tutorials on Story Development, and if you have any related topics, or sub-topics you'd like to see, let me know. I'll try to post something soon, if I get enough positive feedback.

[kirupa]

Sounds great. I am in the process of adding Playa's tutorials to the site in a section called Games. I am sure yours will fit well there also :P

[Marz]

That's great man.. But storytelling and game developement.. Albeit one in hand.. are actually two totally different skillsets... Most programmers, like myself, have backup storyartists who draw out the stories and create a story for them. I didn't create the story for my oncoming rpg...

Or it would have sucked... :) And there really isn't a good storytelling method... One method may be great.. But then.. a totally off the wall other method may make an even greater story.. It's such a complicated task that I do believe story moding is extremely hard when compared to programming... To me at least.

[junahu]

Yay! I wanna learn about making the stories.

besides, less people developing a game means more focused development and a more coherant goal.

[SeiferTim]

And there really isn't a good storytelling method... One method may be great.. But then.. a totally off the wall other method may make an even greater story.. It's such a complicated task that I do believe story moding is extremely hard when compared to programming...

I agree with you there, marz, which is why I don't intend on doing a "Step-by-Step-here's-how-you-have-to-do-things" kind of thing. I want to bring up key things that I see should be focused on, give ideas and information so that someone aproaching the task can have a better idea how to go about it. With programming, tutorials kind of work like a map for a 2-lane highway. There's your starting place, and your destination, and not much leeway inbetween... sure you can add your own touches, but the outcomes generally going to be the same. any kind of story development is more like an atlas, I can point out key sightseeing points, and let you take your trip the way you want.

I will begin working on something.... probably tomarrow, depending on how crazy work is.

[Marz]

Good then,... Just making sure about that... You know how I am.. *smacks myself around for a bit*..

*lmao*

[SeiferTim]

Ok, hopefully this turns out okay... :pa:

As I stated earlier, this is not a step-by-step instruction guide on how to make an awesome and compelling story for a game. If I do a proper job of putting this together, you should be able to learn from it, in order to help take your ideas to the next level, and put them all together. Hopefully this will help you think, and give you ideas on how to get the most out of your game.
The methods I'll be bringing up should apply to most game genres, regardless of what content you're trying to put into it. Even though I may lean towards an RPG type of story, you should be able to apply the same methods for whatever genre you want, like action. It should work fine for just about any serious theme, and if you're looking for a comedy, by sparingly breaking "The Rules" you can end up with some funny content.
So, without any further delay, lets get started! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, feel free to e-mail me.

Game Design - Story Development
Part 1: Getting Ready

What are you trying to do? If you can answer that question, you're ready to begin! I cannot express to you enough, that from the beginning to the end of your project, you MUST have an idea of what your outcome is going to be. Even if it's something simple like: "Make a cool game that people will want to play", is something, not very well thought-out, but it's a start. ideally, you should have a general idea of what you want to finish with. For me, I wanted to create an Old-School Style RPG, which shifts the focus back on gameplay, and story, and away from Graphics. You can be more, or less elaborate if you want. You don't have to put this to paper, or anything, just keep it in mind as you work on your story.
Now that you know what you want to do, what kind of story do you want to go with it? You may want to put this answer down on paper, depending on how detailed you want to be... do you want to make a sappy love story? An action comedy? A serious post-apocalyptic tale of evil? Don't try to squeeze your idea into a tiny slogan, however, the best way to describe your story type is by comparing it to other games. Example: Worlds will be a serious sci-fi / fantasy story, similar in style to Final fantasy, mixed with a little bit of Star Ocean, but with a more English style to it. You don't have to show this to anyone, this is more or less for your reference.
There you have it! That's your foundation! Not very much yet, I know, but you're getting there!

Next Section - Part 2: The Setting

[SeiferTim]

Part 2: The Setting
( note: At points, I'll be refering to my storyline for examples. If you would like to see the incomplete work in order to compare, you can find it at: http://seifertim.no-ip.com )

Now that you have a general idea of the type of game your looking for, now you need to come up with a setting for your story. The setting is basically the overall stage for your game. Some games benefit from completly original, and alien landscapes, while other games seem to make sense in settings that are familiar, and common. It all depends on your overall theme, the one you came up with before. If your making a post-apocalyptic game, you may want to have your game take place in an unreconizable wasteland, or smack-dab in the middle of Chicago. Most RPGs, with a fantasy setting take place on a foreign world, almost completely different from our own (Example: Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean) Platform games tend to use either a setting that is bizarre, almost humorus (Example Mario, Earthworm Jim), or a 'generic' setting that is easy to compare to something the player knows (Double Dragon, Ninja Gaiden). This should be something simple to come up with, don't spend to much time fretting on the basic Setting, you have to save your energy for what's coming up. My job was a little harder, since in Worlds, the player moves from world to world, in which each setting is different. I made my setting encompase the entire Omniverse, so effectively, my setting is as follows: Worlds takes place in an Omniverse, composed of infinate seperate universes (or universi?) similar to cells in a body, seperated by a substance called "Ether". Travel between univers(es/i) is difficult to accomplish, but possible.
Once you have this put down to paper, you should be ready (and hopefully excited) to elaborate on it. You should start thinking about the details of your setting, and how they all interact. This is where the hard work comes in. Break out those pencils people! Now you have to build your setting into a believable, and hopefully enjoyable environment for the PCs (Player Characters) to romp through. This is one of the difficult parts of Story Development. You have to make everything in your setting mesh smoothly together, nothing should contradict each other. For instance, if your setting says that in the ancient past, humans could wield all kinds of magic, that is now lost to today's generation, then compliment, and talk about this aspect of history by having Modern Mages talk about that era, and show artifacts, and other relics of the past era: magnificant castles, powered by ancient magic still working, or giant crater-scarred plain where ancient battles occured. However, you need to think about what this would mean to the currently living population: Do they now have an abundance of ancient magical items that still work? Is magic now extremely rare/non-existant? What happened to that race of Mages? Did they kill themselves? Did thy inter-marry with non-magical folk, and 'water down' the gene pool? Whatever you pick should be consistant with your setting: Don't choose to eliminate magic all together, and then decide you want your PCs to have powerful magic skills - unless you can explain it. Explaining things away can be easy, but be careful - make sure it makes sense, and don't just say: "they can do this, that no one else can do, 'cause they are cool/powerful/special!" - that's a cop-out, and is just sad. In following my example, you could say that they were gifted by some kind of magical artifact, or perhaps there is a fringe race of people who still have magical abilities, or something more sinister is going on... try to avoid the easy way out. It's always better, and sometimes more fun, to make something up that's interesting, than copping out.
The setting is one of the hardest, most rewarding, and most fun of all the aspects of Story Development, at least to me. I want to note, that at this point we're not making up individual locations, just a general world/area-wide collection of information about how things work, how they are, and their history. One method I've come up with to put everything in order, is to make sort of a list of things involved with the setting... I mostly use this list for my personal use, until I'm ready to publish to my Design Document. Here's an example excerpt on the subject of 'Ether':
Ether:

Has metalic Blue/Violet sheen
disappears quickly while in Material environment - looks like quicksilver floating away and shrinking....
has morphological effects on material organisms immersed in ether for extended periods of time.

I have pages, and pages of similar writing, which I reference when needed. Some of it has ended up in a final form in my Design Doc (lit. Really Big File Full of Really Important Stuff). Feel free to spend as much, or as little time in this section as needed to flesh out your environment, and don't think that once you've made up as much cool stuff as possible that you're done, you should come back to this section often to add things, remove things, and make changes to make sure everything is kosher.
Okay, so now we have our Destination Goal laid out for us, and a basic idea of the type of game it's going to be, plus, we now have a detailed chunk of paper full of information about our environment. We're getting there!

Next Section - Part 3: Player Characters

[SeiferTim]

Part 3: Player Characters

This is where the fun really starts.
By Definition: A Player Character (or PC) is any character in your game that the person playing the game has control over. Depending on your game genre, you might have a whole lot of PCs, or just a couple. Usually, the term Player Character is associated with RPGs, but I see no reason, in story terms, to differentiate between Mario, Solid Snake, Jill Valentine, "Serious" Sam Stone and Zidane Tribal - they may be different in terms of gameplay, or programming, but for our purposes, they are the same. The PCs are the characters that the player will see, and deal with through most (if not all) of the game, so it is important to try and make them lovable, or at the very least, tolerable to anyone who might be playing the game. The player should be able to get attached to the character, perhaps even see a bit of themselves reflected in the PC. You want to decide how many PCs you are going to have in the game. If it's just going to be one character, you have an easy job ahead of you... if you plan on having several PCs, then you may need a bit more time....
I've come up with my own little method of creating interesing characters, which has evolved from my D&D and BESM-ing days. For right now, you don't want to worry too much about the technical side of the characters, such as what kind of skills they possess, or what kind of spells they can learn throughout the game - this is strictly story based information. Keep in mind, this is just my method, and you can use your own, or mix-and-match. I've just seen that this works for me.
[list=1]
Get a Job! - Now, this may seem like an odd way to start a character, but this seems to yield better results for me. Start by deciding what you want your PC to do... Should they be a monster hunter? A soldier? Super-intellegent Zombie-slaying Monkey? Come up with something that will mesh well with your setting. Let me make an example. I want to make a platform game, similar to Mario, but with a jungle theme. I want the main PC to be a Jungle Explorer, who jumps around in the jungle fighting tigers, and things. Not the most original of concepts, but it's a start :)
Cool Threads - Next, you want to start to form an image of the character in your head, or if your are artistically inclined (unlike myself), you may want to start sketching out some ideas for their looks... Dress them up in cool gear, and give them a few distinguising features. Distinguishing features are what make the character. Begin to construct an image for him/her. I read somewhere that if people can identify a character by shadow alone, you've done a good job. You may not want to put too much detail here yet, since you may change it later. For my example PC, I want to dress him up in a stereotypical lemon-yellow jungle explorer outfit. Complete with the big-yellow pith helmet. I picture his hat about 2 sizes to big, and he carries a large shotgun.
Personality - Now that you know what the PC looks like, you'll want to give him/her a personality. Try not to make them too far to one extreme, unless you have a REALLY good reason for it. Some of the best PCs are a mix of 2 or more types of conflicting personalities. Such as a Gruff, Testosterome filled Fighter, with a soft spot for small furry a critters, or the Secret Agent, who's as slick as dry concrete.... Start to flesh out some of your PC's quirks and other features of their personality. Let's give our Explorer a Paranoid personality, and throw in a little bit of scaredy-cat, so he's kind a easily frightened, jumpy hunter... hmm.. interesting... :huh:
A Name - Give your character a name. You can name them whatever you want, but try to stay away from silly, or stupid names. Don't name your main character in a Roman Olympics game "Bigus Dicus", or "Naughtius Maximus"... that's just wrong. It might add a bit of humor to name a non-important NPC (non-Player Character) with a silly name, but after playing your game for an hour, a silly name will just get old. Let's make our guy an Anthony.... Sir M. Anthony Wendington, Exotic and Dangerous Animal Hunter from England. Yeah, that sounds about right for our guy.... :thumb:
Background - now you want to come up with some kind of back-story for your PC. Where did they come from? Where do they live? Who have they interacted with in the past? Who do they interact with now? This may be slightly more difficult to flesh out until you have a good idea of the rest of your story... so for now, you might just want to throw in a couple of ideas, and wait until later to add to the background. For Sir Anthony, lets say that he was a normal, happy, non-adventurous soul, until one day, at the request of the Queen, he is sent into the jungle on a quest to find a secret treasure-trove of lost gems and gold. Why was he picked above everyone else? Well , that's because his older brother, Thomas, was sent on the mission a few months earlier, but hasn't been heard of in a several weeks... of course, if his brother is an expert Jungle Explorer, then obviously Anthony should be too, right? :pa:
Finish Up - You're basically done with your PC now, just add some finishing touches here, and throw some other information in that you think would be interesting... and you're done!
[/list=1]
For the most part, those steps should help guide you through creating your PCs, the steps for creating NPCs aren't much different, but we'll go over some more information about them later on down the road. Make up as many PCs as you think would be good for your story, and then get ready for the next section!

Next Section - Part 4: Location, Location, Location!

[SeiferTim]

Just curious, but what does everyone think of this so far? Good / bad / helpful / useless? I could use some feedback, and constructive criticism, please... :ne:

[junahu]

This is very good but perhaps visual examples are needed.

For example, your explorer character shouldn't wear a clown suit since A: He's an explorer and shouldn't stick out like a sore thumb in baggy pants and B: It disturbs the consistancy of the game world.

You could illustrate points like that with pictures to show exactly what you mean. I posted a pixel art link in game resources that uses visual examples like every 3 paragraphs.

But it's still very good.

[SeiferTim]

Hmm... good idea, the only problem being that I can't draw people at all! If anyone is interested in lending an artistic hand, I could use the help... :) If not, I think, perhaps, that I can do without illustrations. In a few more installments, I'll start talking about plot-lines, which would involve more theoretical design ideas, and not too many items that would benefit from graphics... still a good idea worth looking into.
So has anyone else actually read this at all? I'm starting to feel like I'm talking to a brick wall... :(

[junahu]

That's the price you pay for a thread based entirely on tutorials. Few people will reply because there's no reason to. They come here read what they want then leave. And don't be blue. You're doing a swell job.

[SeiferTim]

Part 4: Location, Location, Location

Okay, now I'm going to try to write up another section here... my computer is dead, so I'm doing this at work...

This is all about the locations that your PC(s) will be visiting during the game. By my definition, a "Location" is any particular area that the player will move through at some point. You can have a lot of fun here. You'll want to come up with interesting, and believable locations, which keep the player insterested in the game. Some genres won't focus too much on this area, since there won't be any reason to go into detail on most areas in, say, a platformer. RPGs, on the otherhand, benefit from having tons of detail and information on each location. So lets say we were going to be making an RPG, and we needed a bunch of locations. Lets say our RPG is going to be a Fantasy style, and take place on a world other than Earth (basically your stereotypical Pre-8 final fantasy.. ;)) So what do we need to do in order to plan our location? Generally, you'll want to come up with some kind of general map, or make one up as you go. Here are a few key points to look into:

Climate - This is the first thing to look at. Where is your first location going to be? Desert? Forest? Swamp? Frozen Tundra? Make a decission here, and keep it in mind, the climate you choose will be important. Sometimes an exotic location makes for an interesting location, but if this is going to be the first place the player sees, you may want to make it something they'll recognize... Let's make an example. Lets say that our location is going to be a Heavily Forested Area, in a temperate zone. Easy enough.
Name - You can really give it a name anytime, but sometimes I like to make up the name first, so that you have a basis to work from. Let's call our area "Foalhaven".
Establishments - Now that you know the climate, you need to know the inhabitants. Are there any cities, towns, villages in this location? Or is it barren, except for the few wandering monsters... is the entire location a City in itself, or is it a section of a city (like Midgar in FFVII, I would consider each section of the city a seperate location, giving the Shinra building it's own location.) It's up to you. For our example, lets say that there is only one town in this location, not very large, and each pretty far from any other town. Around 300 people total.
Inhabitants - So what kind of people live in this location? Are they all human? Do they all have to work equally, or is there some kind of slave system in place? What kind of lives do they live? Think hard about all of these, and keep in mind the climate that your location is in. In our example, lets make our own town a logging town, filled with humans, and a few dwarves, where most of the men are loggers, and most of the women run any other trades, like inns, shops, government offices, etc (all the non-physical jobs). I kind of like to throw in a few things that are a little different when coming up with the towns. Feel free to make up whatever interesting features you want.
History - This is (to me) a fairly important feature of the area you're working with. Even if you're not dealing with a town, you can make up some pretty interesting historical events that can, at the very least, add to the player's experience, and can be used for interesting plot events/twists/or special events. Come up with some cool stuff, if you want. FFX had some great history tied into each area of the game... I remember the Calm Lands, which was where an epic battle took place years, and years ago, and was still sporting the craters, and battle scars from the battle in the landscape. Come up with something that will peak your player's interests, and (when possible, or benificial), try to tie in to other areas/people/events that the player has or will meet in the game. Let's go back to our example, and say that this area,
Foalhaven, was once nothing but forest, and until just recently was not inhabited by any humans... Hidden somewhere in the deepest section of forest was a colony of Forest Dryads, who have since disappeared to areas unkown, since the humans started moving in to the area. Some beleive that the Dryads are still hiding in the forest, and a few eye-witnesses say that they have seen them in small groups, while others fear that they are preparing to take back the forest. The logging town was established as a direct source of lumber for a nearby nation, which is the only source of external income to the town. As you can see, I tried to add a little bit of history that can be further explored if the player wants to. The history is not too difficult to come up with, if you try to think logically about the type of area you're dealing with.

Finishing Up - That's about all there is to making up a location, feel free to tweak my ideas if you want. You may want to make a map or two for this location, to help get an idea of what's in the area, or whatever works for you.
Later on, I'm going to make up a few "Cheat Sheets" to help out if you run out of ideas.

Next Section - Part 5: Non-Player Characters and Villians

[SeiferTim]

Part 5: Non-Player Characters and Villians

It's time for the 5th installment of my tutorial, and hopefully everyone is learning from it... a little bit... right?
Okay.
Here, we're going to talk about Non-Player Characters (NPCs), and Villians. as you may have guessed, NPCs are characters that the player does not control, but interact with the PCs somehow. Most game genres will benefit from this section, but, again, due to the in-depth story developments of the RPG type, I'm going to end up focusing on them once again. An RPG will usually have hundreds of NPCs, and at least one major Villian, with lots of henchmen. When I refer to Villians, I'm only talking about the characters that play a large role in the game, and seem to have viscious hatred for the PCs, not just every boss the player faces. The Dragon at the end of the cave who pops out of no where, and is killed by the PCs after a long, and gruelling battle, while considered a Boss, is not a Villian.

For the most part, most NPCs the PCs will encounter are going to be your average townspeople, walking around town, and giving out semi-helpful one-liners of information. They don't need a lot of details. The NPCs you'll want to focus on, are the ones that will play some kind of important role in the story. A good place to start with your NPCs is by thinking a little bit about your story in general.

For the most part, you'll want to build up your NPCs in a similar manner to the way you made your PCs, but you won't nesecarrily have to go into too much detail... Some good examples of NPCs would be:
Cid from FFV
Regis the Mayor from Star Ocean 2
O'aka from FFX-2
Red XIII's Grandfather from FFVII

Those are just a couple of good NPCs, there are a bunch others out there.
When building your NPCs, try to give everyone a little bit of history, even if it's pretty basic. Sometimes an NPC's history can be turned into a plot line of some kind....

NPCs help to fill your world with life, and add a touch of believability to your story, but Villians add a touch of chaos, and evil to balance out the world. Plus, Villians can be lots of fun to create!!

Creating a Villian can be done in only a few easy steps:
Name - I tend to start with the name, and build from there... sometimes, though, I change it a couple times before finding something that sticks. Good villian names are very ominous. Lets make our example's name something freaky, like: Valouse
Basic Description - Describe your villian - sketch them out... make them look sinister, and decide what their personality is like on a basic level. I want Valouse to be female, and wear lots of dark red/black armor with spikes, and things.
Obsession - All villians are obsessed with something, whether it's a person, an item, or a location, or whatever - the best villians will stop at nothing to obtain what they are obsessed with. Some good examples: Sephiroth (FFVII), was obsessed with becoming an omnipotent being. Kefka (FFVI), was obsessed with obliterating all life, and the classing Bowser (About every Mario Game) was obsessed with the Princess, for some inter-species breeding... or something....
Sometimes, it's a good idea to gradually reveal the Villians obsession over time, let the player try to figure it out on their own. For our example, lets make Valouse obsessed with a certain magical item... um.. lets see.... she's looking for an ancient relic that will allow her to rule the world. Sounds a little cliche-esque, but, no matter.... good enough for me.
Resources - A villian can't be really nasty if they've only got the clothes on there back, and $2.40 in change, most every villian seems to have nigh-infinate resources, and loads of henchmen. For instance, our ol' pal Sephiroth Had a bunch of Followers, and his Mam to help him slow down the heros' progress... not to mention some backing from Shinra. He wasn't going to be found easily. For some reason, most villians seem to have a lot of extra cash laying around, it seems to make them more viscious. You'll want to decide just how powerful your villian's going to be... and how much they have to spend. Lets make our baddie be in charge of a large group of warriors from a northern countrie. She's sort of like Ghengis Khan, in a sense, only more sophisticated. She is able to call on her troops for support, and she has a large amount of funds (from their hording) to use as needed.
Mania - While this can (and usually is) tied in to their Obsession, most Villians have a level of insanity to go with it. It's hard to find out where the line is, between obsession and insanity, but it can be fun to play with the line a little... kefka (FFVI) was absolutly insane, and that freaking laugh of his was bone-chilling... even in the days of the ol' Super NES. Let's say that our Villian hates wildlife, and wants to raze the forests, and build massive cities of iron and steel to cover the world.
Power - Here you want to have fun. Most every major villian has some sort of ungodly power, which gives them the edge, and the terrifyingly strong attacks... Sephiroth sort of had Meteor's power to call upon, among other powers at his disposal. you never see a villian who is clearly weak, and powerless (at least not unless their faking). Our villian will have the power of (once she locates it) the Acient Relic, but in the meantime, her arsonal consists of the ability to build terrifying robotic, and sentient creations of destruction to do her bidding.

And that's about the jist of it! Try making your Villians someone that wll scare the crap out of you, or try another method, and make them someone you would perhaps idolize, until they show you their 'other side'... and you'll be on your way to making worthwhile villians in no time!!

Tune in next installment for: Part 6 - The Plot

[SeiferTim]

Part 6: The Plot

Now we're getting to the fun part. The Plot is the Meat of your Game Story, without a Plot, your story has no drive, or motivating force. Your characters have no reason to do anything, but laze about on large sofas watching TV, and eating pork rinds.... mmm... pork rinds..... :drool:
Ahem.
Anyway, since the Plot is so important, I'm going to dedicate several posts to it. The first post is going to start with some of the basics of developing your story out from start to finish. Now, everyone works differently, and most people find their own way of looking at things, but I'm going to lay out a few different methods that I've seen work, and then I'm going to explain the way I do it. :evil: We're going to have fun... :beam:

First off, now you have a bunch of characters, a few locations, and a few bad guys, you need to figure out how to get your story assembled. Now, like I said, there are many different methods to build your story. We'll start with the Bubble Method. Essentially, the Bubble Method is sort of a way to brainstorm some of your ideas, and bring them together. It's also a good way to put together a non-linear storyline. It works like this: Draw a bubble in the center of a sheet of paper. Make it sort of small, so you can add to it later. In the center of this bubble, write down an event, or some kind of scene. I don't really have access to a graphics program now, so bear with me, I'll try to describe this as best I can... Here's a crappy example:



Next, draw a line out from that bubble, and draw another bubble:

[Bubble 1: Intro Scene] -------- [Bubble 2: Training Session]

Now, it's hard to display it very well with these resources, but you'll continue to add these bubbles, and keep adding more sections of the story, eventually ending up with a whole bunch of bubbles on sticks, with ideas inside. This can help you form a representation of all the items in your game, and when they occur. This is one method I've seen lots of times before, but doesn't work for me very well... Some people like it, so you should give it a shot, and see if it works for you.

The next method I've seen is a little bit more like my method, but a little too logical for me... basically, you want to write down each of your events, the people involved, and give each a ranking to determine when they happen, and then apply these events to a timeline. This works for some people. Example:

1: Introduce Characters
2: Tutorial
3: Boss Fight
4a: Find Lock Pick
4b: Find Key
5: Open Door

1----2----3---4---5----

This can be good for those who are very logical thinkers, and who keep track of things through numbers, etc. I find it very hard to keep track of things this way, so my method is a little more straightforward.

My method is simple. I start with several sheets of paper, or to be able to read it later, I will probably use Word, and I start a Numbered List. I start out similar to above, with just a few words to descibe each event:


Intro Movie - Lab
Intoduce Eta
(optional) Learn how to play
Explore Ninja Ruins
Boss: RagMan
Scolded by Sensei
Etc.


Next, I open a new Word Document, and just start filling in the blanks. I'll start with a Numbered event in my first list, and fill in the details:


[b]Intro Movie: Lab
Lengthy Description of Intro Movie
Lengthy Description of This Event
Etc.


---continued later----

[SeiferTim]

Haven't had a chance to work on this lately... I'll try to add some more today. When i get my PC going, I'll re-type it all, edit it, and send it to K-Man, in the format that he uses for the site, so that it would be easier for him to add to the tutorials. Anyway, lets go ahead and try to continue with the Plot.

---Plot: Continued---

Now, we were talking about my method of Plot Building. For the most part, I lay it all out in my head, and then let my fingers go wild on the keyboard. I know that this method doesn't work for everyone, but for me, it ends up with me getting a lot of the story done in one go. While I may not yet know the precise ending, I sort of imagine, and act out the story in my head, like a movie...
Anyone who's seen my Design Doc (Kit ;)) will probably say that it almost reads like a storyboard, minus the pictures. And with a lot of details. Some people will find it easier to leave out most of the details until far later in the process, but for the most part, you want to find a method that works for you. Some people like to work in chapters, or sections, or scenes, and I try to break up my story that way myself, but eventually end up with a long list of events that just keep going, and going. I end up adding the chapters later on, as I re-read the finished product.

Don't struggle too much just yet with the overall plot layout, we still need to figure out how to create the plot.

Why did I talk about all this crap about bubbles, and stuff? Because I want you to start trying to come up with a method of your own on getting your plot written down, to be converted to real use later. We're going to start talking about the actual story itself now, and you need to know how to lay everything you're going to make up out. So there. :P

Okay, so you have a couple of Good Guys, a Villian or two, a settings, and, essentially, a world in which your Game will take place. Now what? Well, for some MMORPGs, this is it. Your done. Throw in some crazy tasks, and adventures, and a few billion different types of items, and you've got your game, and people will flock to it, and stand around all day chatting, and showing off the fact that they played for 6 months straight, at $20 a month, and have just now gotten strong enough to defeat the big bad monster, and obtain the Black Dye they used to make their shirt black. Fun.
But if you're like me, and require, rather, demand some kind of adherable story, or relish the fact that when you play the game, your actions matter, your're going to want to come up with an interesting, mysterious, and fun story for your Players to follow, and treat them to a game they can have a good time with.
So the story is going to play a big part. Better not screw it up. ;)
At this point, you should know something of what your story is going to be like... some inkling of an idea, but if you don't there are some tricks that I have up my sleeve, to help you out.
There are several Key Story Points that we have to discuss, in order to build our story:
The Quest
The PCs' Role
The Villians' Role
The Path
The Reward
The Consequences
Misc

We're going to discuss each of these items in turn, and hopefully go through a process of getting your story together.

The Quest

First, what is the purpose of your PCs? Why do they have to do whatever you want them to do? Perhaps they have to find a secret item, or rescue someone, or anything... you should decide why their leaving home. In my RPG, Worlds, our main PC, Eta, is accidently sucked into another world through a portal, and after an accident in the Lab where he ends up, Eta is blown to another world, and lost within the Omniverse. He's now on a Quest to find his way home. (See that? That's like pointing out the key word, that is... oooo... :beam: )
Now the Quest can (and probably will) change periodically thoughout the game, as more information becomes available... but they should generally stay static through most of the major sections (only really changing ocasionally). Now a quest is the overall goal of the PCs, which is what they're trying to do in a big-picture type of thinking, a path is sort of like a mini-quest, that only lasts for a short time, until the PCs get to the next Path. Try not to get them confused... :beam: Alright, so you're having trouble Picking a quest. Well, I've got help for you! Anyone who's familiar with the D&D Dungeon Master's Guide on Building a Dungeon should know this trick. Get out your d6es (six sided dice) (or made a quick random-number generator), and roll to pick out a quest (roll for each catagory, and then add them together):
Type of quest:

Find
Destroy/Kill
Escape from
Steal/Kidnap
Free/Release
Re-roll

Item/Person Involved:

Royalty (King/Queen/Prince/Princess)
A City/Town/Building/etc
Magic Item (Ring/Gem/etc)
Ruins
Monster
Regular Person

[Kitiara]

I think these are a great idea for anyone making games - you have to have something to make before you can start coding. :) Keep 'em coming.

Oh, and if I have time, I could always try and do the odd illustration... :)

[SeiferTim]

Could you really? That would be helpful... :beam:
I'm trying to get this as complete as possible... I would really appreciate the help :beam:
Thanks! :D

[SeiferTim]

--Continued from Last Tutorial entry--

Okay, so lets make some rolls....
<rolling dice>
:block: :block:
And it looks like I got........... a 3, and a ....1... hmmm, so we consult the tables, and we get: Esacape from Royalty. Well, so how do we work this in as a Quest.... let's see...

Our Main Character, who happens to be some sort of political activist, is under survailance by the Duke of a neighboring Dukedom. The Character is suspected in a plot to overthrow the government, but he continues to state his innocence. After a failed assasination attempt on the Duke's Brother, he sends a team of warriors to take out our main character. While having a quiet evening at home one night, our PC sees a group of mercenarys snooping around his house, so he picks up his well-oiled sword, dons his ebon cloak, and steps out into the night to confront the sneaks.

Pretty neat, huh?
Came up with that on the spot :beam: You may find that you have a little trouble coming up with a good quest right off the fly, so you may want to think it out for a while. I've kind of touched on a little bit of a path as well, at least the begginings of one...

You may decide to come up with your own general quest generator, or just make up a quest out of your head... You'll want to try and make it a coherent path from quest-to-quest, so you may decide to do a few rolls all at once. Lets say I roll again, and I get: 5 and 2.... Release a Town/Place...
Okay, so our hero escapes from the Duke, but then comes back to Free the town from his tyranical rule. It all should lock together. Remember, Quests are big events, that take a lot of time to complete, and are composed of tiny Paths.... it will all make sense soon...

[SeiferTim]

------The PCs' Role-----

We're going to talk about the role that the PCs have in their quest. While this is sometimes something you want to come up with before you make up the Quest, you can usually base it off of what the Quest is, which is why I wanted to bring it up after the Quest. Generally, what is the PCs overall role in this adventure? Are they trying to save the world? Save a country? Find a particular item? Are they good guys? What? This is going to be the overall general thing that's going on in the game.

Example (continued off of the last example):

Our heros are going to eventually go on a quest to find a secret, magical item to save the world with, and keep it from the villians.

If you look at it in sort of a heirarchy of how the story breaks down, the PCs' Role is at the top, which is made up of slightly smaller Quests, which are each made up of even smaller Paths.

You can go ahead and roll for your Role, if you want, but I would recomend looking for a bigger connection to the whole thing yourself. If you want, you can save the Rold for last, and put everything together then.

------The Villians' Role-----

Just like the aforementioned PCs' Role, the Villians' Role is what the overall goal of the Villians in your story. Make it simple. Why do they want to stop the PCs? Or what goal do they have that the PCs are interfering with?

Lets bring out our Villian again from the earlier NPC section.

The Villians are looking for the same magical item, to bring total chaos and darkness to the world. They are racing against the PCs to locate the item first.

Short and sweet is all you really need. :beam:

----The Path----

Really, I should call this "Paths", and this is where things start getting complicated. You'll want to create several mini-obsticles for the PC to navigate through. You may want to simply make a list of simple things for them to do:

Investigate Duke's Mercinaries
Infiltrate Duke's Castle
Find plans for world domination
Run into Dukes warriors
Escape from Castle

...and then expand on these:


Investigate Duke's Mercinaries
-- Find 3 Mercinaries outside your house.
-- Defeat Mercinaries
-- Find note with Duke's Seal on it
Infiltrate Duke's Castle
-- Locate Supply Route to Castle
-- Bribe Guards for entrance
-- Sneak inside Castle
Find plans for world domination
Run into Dukes warriors
Escape from Castle


And so on and so forth...
(I couldn't get the Nested Lists to work right in the Forum, so it looks wierd... sorry...)
Anyway, just add whatever seems natural to the story. And take baby steps from point a to point b. It should be pretty simple, so don't try to over think things. (For those, like me, who think better in a narrative way, go ahead an just explain the whole story between paths, and it should work out fine. :beam: )

-----The Reward-----

So what are the PCs going to get out of their Quest(s)? If they win, do they save the world? Become rich & Famous? What motivation do they have to go through with it? Come up with a logical jump from their quest, for instance, if they're on a quest to locate a magical item, then don't have the reward have something to do with the cute girl down the street....

A logical jump would be to say that once they find the item, they can use it to rid evil from the world, and live out their days in blissful peace. Sure, why not? :sure: :beam:

----The Consequences----

What will happen if your PCs fail? While this won't nessecarily be used for an "alternate ending" type thing (though it could), you still want to come up with some kind of threat to hold over the PCs heads, to help keep them moving. In this case, we want to say that if they don't find the magic relic before the villians, then the world will be plunged into darkness. You will most definately refer to this cosequence often throughout the game, in a manner that the player will want to try and make sure that they do what they need to do.
Using FFVII as an example, the 3rd disc, with Meteor hanging over the horizon was an ominous reminder of the consequences of failing, as well as a push to kind of get the player to keep moving. Who knew when that thing was going to land... scary...

By now, you should have everything put together, in many, many different files, and sheets of scrap paper. The last thing you need to do is Type it all up in a coherent, easy to follow document, called the Design Document.

So the next section, is going to be all about that Document. Tune in!

[SeiferTim]

----Part 35: Design Document----

Okay, so I forgot what "part" we were on... so what... ;P

So now we're working on putting all these things together, in order to make it easy to follow, clear, and have all the details in one place :sure:.... well, we can try, anyway....

Most game developers put all their story information into a large document called the Design Document, which should hold every last bit of information that all the people working on the project will ever need to know. As well as the Story, the Design Document will hold biographical information on all the characters, general information on the overall game, and a whole lot of information on the code, and programing of the game itself. You can read some of Marz's Tutorials to help get some of the Design Doc things out of the way, I think he's a much better tutorial writer than I am, but when you're typing up the story, you'll want to keep a few things in mind:

Try and keep the story easy to follow, make references to other parts of the document. Include illustrations of things if you need to! Just try to make it look professional, and you should be okay.

You can see my design doc (so far) at: http://seifertim.no-ip.com , once my server is working again, which should (hopefully) be by the end of this month (Feb)... Please let me know what you think of my tutorials!!

Unless I think of anything else to add: The End

[junahu]

(applause)

[SeiferTim]

:beam:

[SeiferTim]

So, does anyone have any cunstructive critiscism for my tutorials?
I'd like to think I did a good job, but I'm biased... :beam:

[Marz]

Looking good so far... I don't ahve time to read it all right now but whne I do get time, give me a hollar.

[SeiferTim]

Coo'
Thanks man :beam:

[SeiferTim]

I know, I know, I haven't had time to edit this into Kirupa Tutorial Ready Format, I'm going to get around to it, eventually....
In the meantime, I wanted to post the link to my in-progress Design Doc for Worlds: http://seifertim.no-ip.com - Near the bottom of the page are a pair of links: One for .doc format, and one for .html format. Also, if anyone is interested in seeing some of the technical ideas and things that haven't yet made their way to the Design Doc, then check out my little Forum, which is where I add ideas when I'm away from home (most of the time). I'd like to hear some feedback, so feel free to post in the forum I have there about the storyline exclusively.
Thanks! :beam:

[junahu]

That's wonderful! It actually inspires me to start making design documents for future projects (although a game called 'Mr happy in clap clap world doesn't exactly lend itself to extensive planning'). Some of your characters (if not all of them) are brilliant and enchanting ('diabolical impervious Bob' made me laugh though).

[SeiferTim]

:beam:
Thanks for the comment!

[BlueBoots]

This is really neat! I like the way I can pick and choose, I'm doing a game in a genre that I don't think is really a genre (online sandbox visual RPG) and it was great reading through and seeing the little bits that I've missed out, that I really need to work on!

Here's a couple of things that I thought could be useful:
- Villians don't just have to be horribly wealthy etc, being clever, coldly, cruelly calculating can work really really well. Sometimes being too sane can be scarier than being sane!
- You've stressed the need for your PC to have a drive, like Sir Anthony's brother is stuck in a jungle and he needs to find him, and stop Valouse.
But, an alternate way to do it is have a twist ending. His bro may be nice, but Sir Anthony may still hate him for getting all the glory. He wants to save him, so he can gloat; but we don't know this till the end. You could have snapshots of him in his younger years with his bro having fun (or maybe not that much fun, but the smiling brother takes pride of place) in the pre-loaders, to make his bro seem really nice and someone you want to save.
And then you find out the truth in the end...
I haven't played enough games to relate this to anything, mind. But I write books and stories and an even better example, comix, so I know about stories!
- Attach NPCs. You wanna get involved with these people, so when they cry 'please don't let Valouse hurt Sir Anthony the 1st!" you really wanna stop valouse.

One thing you could definitely go into detail about would be the 'Hero Quest' (Can't remember the proper name for it)
You know, the classic plot: (which i've totally forgotten, being 11ish and i'm still at work... sigh.)
- Introduction
- 1st stage
- 2nd Stage
- 3rd Stage
- Climax
- Denoumont (sp?)

Can't remember the proper names! *pulls hair* will post again when I can think
Blue
PS
Keep up the good work!

[SeiferTim]

It sounds like your talking about the Hero's Quest Formula, which is something like this:
Hero's girl/town whatever is in danger
Hero Has to go on quest
Hero meets mentor
Hero is reluctant to go
Hero Goes on quest
Finds magic elixer/cure, whatever
returns home

I don't remember it exactly, I saw it on a web site alooonng time ago... I'm probably missing a lot of it.

[BlueBoots]

No, it's more general than that and it comes from the classic greek stories, like the Oddessy(sp?). It's basically a guide drawn from analyzing(sp?, I hate mornings) epic tales that work really well. I can remember a few basic rules, most of which can be bent, and in games some are totally ignored.

~ You start with an intro where you meet the character. This is him(Men were heroes/the main character in greek stories) in his everyday life. Often they'll start way back with his birth, like Archilles, which told an intro about his parents and how his heel was left un-dipped. (Can't be bothered getting detailed) And then jump forward to where we meet him, doing something which demonstrates his personality and tells us he's a good guy (If he's good...) or whatever. (Namely the Trojan war!)

~ The first stage I still can't remember the name for, but I know there is something called a Plot Point. (In modern terms anyway...)
You've introduced your character, now you want some action to happen.
This is where you introduce your plot, define what your character wants to/ has to do.

~ The next part is where you introduce all secondary characters vital to the plot, the Villian might have popped up in Plot Point 1, but might not. Here they Must be named/identified. Or at least the character that your hero thinks is the Villian. This stage is pretty bulky, you're building up what you have so far.

~ Twist/Plot Point 2. This is the fun bit! Here your character must discover something new. Whether it's an un-expected challenge, a change in allegience of a friend, or whatever it is your trying to prevent getting closer, etc. Something to:
a) Make the goal seem more important than ever before
b) Make the goal harder to attain
c) Make the journey more difficult
d) Add Sub-Plot etc.

~ Stage 2 is the next bulk content bit. You've shown us the character, built up a really good ourney setting, and watched it all come crashing down. Your character should be kinda desperate, sorta yearning, by now. (If you're not going for comedy anyway) You need to work on build up to the climax now, keep stressing the goal and most importantly, the reasons why it's important.

~ Climax/Revelation. This is the clash bang action sequence! This is IT. Does your character win? Or lose...
Really neat climax's have unexpected twists in them too.

~ Denoument/What happens next. This is the aftermath of the climax, does the kingdom get restored to it's glorry? Etc. Pretty self-explanatory.

So yeah. There are additional bits, like:
- Tangent/Development. Bits like this develop sub-plot, or expand on relationships with the characters or the enviroment etc. Not exactly vital, but often makes the story far more believeable.
Can be placed anywhere, works best for me in a build-up stage. It depends on what it is. (See example post)

- Anti-Climax
This bit is definitely not vital but it's great for twisty turny plots. You follow the above, but replace Plot Point 2 with what the character thinks is the climax. So you build it up, it happens, but the world is still going bad! Hahahaha...
You can also create an Anti-Climax for a Plot Point 3, if your story is really epic.

So yeah, I think that's it...
In games I find they usually combo the intro and the plot point, something that can work, but I generally avoid. Just keep the intro short and sweet if you wanna jump straight to game play.
ALSO:
Foreshadowing! It does exist! I find that foreshadowing is only always included if the game is an RPG/puzzler (You have to solve puzzles to complete) and then it's always stunningly obvious, like you find some co-ordinates on a piece of paper you use late. Nice.
If you have a character changing allegiences, have them acting edgy, or not wanting to participate. Not so you don't like them (Or the change won't matter) but just something to make you think something isn't right.
If done well it can often make you care more for the character.

[SeiferTim]

Cool. Very deep :D I'll try to find the other thing I was talking about, but I think its based off of the same principals... If I find it, I'll post it up... You could probably make that into a flowchart or something to help illustrate the story development process...

[BlueBoots]

Whoa that post was huge...

Anyway, here's my work in progress comic book series Vamprina the Teenage B****.

Target (I always identify this first, very useful)
Young teen-mid teen zine lovers, people interested in independant publications.

Style
Piss-take humour, mocking the juvinille-ness, and using a classic DC type plot with gross detail and twists. Contrasty black and white woodcut style graphics.

Intro:
We see a shadowy figure watching/leaving the area around a olde style Manse/Tomb.
Cut to scream, Vamprina wakes up with bloodlust!
We meet her two aunts, who have been sharing her tomb and preparing for her to awake for many years. Comical scene where all the 'stock' of meat/blood etc has turned rancid, from the 'I thought it was alive?' Aunt 2 'I think it was last july...' etc. Disgusting graphics of Vamprina eating.

Tangent/Intro:
Calm down, sometime later. Vamp sits around and has a chat with her aunts about her life, and after-life, and the weather over a cup of steaming blood. (Man in corner beggin for life?) We get to really like her scatty aunts. Vamp learns some of her past, but so tired she drops off to sleep.

Plot Point 1.
Ext, shadowy figure enters tomb.
Time passes.
Vamp wakes up and find her two aunts slaughtered! She now has a purpose to find and kill their murderer, and well, find out why they died and more about herself etc etc.

Secondary, or bulk:
Vamp meets Doc, her guide, and they gather a little troup (Over time)
learn that murderer is also a demon, associated with the evil queen ruling at that time. Vamp doesn't care, just wants revenge and knowledge.
Meet her 'nemesis' an annoying vampire hunter with entourage.

Anti-Climax:
She finds the henchman and slaughters him after grueling battle. He doesn't reveal any info and she gets mad as. She demands the info from the queen, and gets carried off for a public, graphic, execution. Annoying Vampire hunter receives a reward. Vamp's in a pickle.

Build Up:
With the execution buzz, there are a lot of rumours. Doc and the gang know the 'truth' bout Vamp, and they pool sources to free her. Lots of gross 'how she's being treated' frames.

Climax:
Vamp replaces herself with annoying hunter, who dies disgustingly infront of massive crowd. Queen is furious, but can't admit she made a mistake.
Vamp and fellows storm the place, most of the workers revolt to.
Massive fight scene queen has really cool death scene, crowd goes wild. And then...

Tangent- Info:
Queens son, a soppy prince scared of his mother, who popped up in rumours etc, basically as a wet weak, reveals himself to Vamp as being her creator.
"I knew you could do it! you're perfect, did everything as I planned, etc, thanks to doc etc etc. Marry me and rule!"

~ Denoument:
Vamp kills prince on spot.
Friends fall to knees and start worshipping her as queen.
manic laughter...
Last few frames:
Doc on the back of a paddy wagon looking inconspicious, riding out of town and out of Vamps life...

[SeiferTim]

That's..ah... something else, there... :stunned:

[BlueBoots]

I'd seen the begining and the end pretty clear in my head, but that's the first time I'd written it down in a linear 'what happens next' way.

I just used the headings and filled in the blanks, hence the terrible writing.

Seifer, if you're talking about it being graphic and bloody, that seems to be a popular theme with young comic lovers in NZ, and I would really like to sell something one o these days. The game I'm working on is targetted slightly younger and would have a G, maybe PG rating. It's all about magical fun and stuff, kinda kiddy but still adult enough to get lost in it.

Blue