Comments on: Designing story-based games

By: Ryan Barquet

Ryan Barquet — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:10:16 +0000

All the steps listed here are very good tips indeed. But #11 is kind of a 50-50 shot. It mainly depends on the the story. Example: Final fantasy. Those type of games have super long storys.It is hard enough to get the final level on games like those and then you want them to go back and do it all over again to see “what could have beenn”. Probably not. On the the other hand, using step 11 could be a good thing. just look at the geame “Infamous”. that game has alternate options to the game and how you beat it. This is just an opinion of mine

By: Adobe

Adobe — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:04:21 +0000

Design…

Designing story-based games | jordanmechner.com…

By: Ryan Henson Creighton

Ryan Henson Creighton — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:20:42 +0000

i don’t think this is a “one size fits all players” plan of attack.

One of the more popular ways to approach story-based game design is to offer the player choices. If i choose path A, that eliminates path B. This is one way in which designers hope to make their otherwise linear games replayable.

A lifelong gamer, a father of two, and an entrepreneur who runs his own games studio, the “free” time i have to play games is rapidly declining. i ALREADY don’t have enough time to play a game like Mass Effect. i gave it another stab recently, and it absolutely killed me that i was forced to make choices that excluded me from seeing other content in the game. i suppose a gamer with more time just says “i’ll have to play through again and choose the other path next time”.

As a gamer who fights to find the time to play through even once, i gravitate towards games that i know i can play through without worrying i’m missing anything.

i think what you’re saying is better applied to world-building – giving the player the sense that there’s a big, wide open world to explore, and many more stories to tell. The best worlds do this (and reap the benefits in sequels and spin-offs!)

- Ryan

By: Hattie Snowball

Hattie Snowball — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:38:37 +0000

Do you mind if I repost this over to my blog? I just want to make sure credit is given where it is due. Have a great day!

By: Tall Tales, Short Stories & Modest Musings » A good videogame story?

Tall Tales, Short Stories & Modest Musings » A good videogame story? — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 06:56:30 +0000

[...] stories for games, in particular a blog entry by Jordan Mechner (aka the Prince of Persia guy) on Designing story-based games. My favorite line (and there are many good ones): The story is what the player does, not what he [...]

By: Derek

Derek — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:34:58 +0000

“because it followed 11″

Are you kidding? #11 is just a cheap trick, and it doesn’t improve a game’s quality AT ALL.

By: Derek

Derek — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:12:51 +0000

Zelda = FAIL

By: metin2 yang

metin2 yang — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:52:49 +0000

You were absolutely right. Deus Ex was a great game, and it’s because it followed #6 and 11 better than any game I’ve ever played.

By: Tips for game designers « Flash Templates Today

Tips for game designers « Flash Templates Today — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:35:35 +0000

[...] advice, I think it stands up well and is more relevant to today’s industry than the 1996 list of tips for designing story-based games I posted last [...]

By: metin2 hileleri

metin2 hileleri — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:36:39 +0000

’ve been feeling number 11 playing Dragon Age, I think… definitely a well-designed “sandbox”