Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Fans and Game Lore
Enthusiastic game designers spend a tremendous amount of time writing and
cataloguing the lore for the worlds they create. The lore helps them generate
the excitement that emerges in the gameplay. It provides the reason one faction
wars against another and makes clear what instigates elaborate quest lines. It
explains why cultures developed they way they did and allows fans to get caught
up in the passion for why the game exists in the first place.
Some of this backstory can be revealed in the opening for a game; in addition,
during gameplay the lore can surface in the form of quests, challenges, maps,
diaries, logs, and charts related to the game. What makes this method of game-
play intriguing is that as players progress, they get glimpses into the mysteries
behind why certain things happen. Information is revealed to them through
their efforts, and most players respond favorably to this method of design.
They're intrigued and usually want to learn more, especially if the lore is fun,
unique, and captivating. Some gamers play to find out the end result of a quest
line because it will add to their understanding of the lore.
Lore is one of the reasons many games develop fan bases. Understanding the
basis for conflicts between heroes in the story, gaining a clearer idea of what
you're fighting for, and knowing the history of people and places adds to players'
attachments to their characters and makes the game world even more real for
them. The lore you create should be apparent in the overview you write as the
first short synopsis describing the game.
When avid fans get caught up in the lore for a game, they often create
YouTube videos to show how to play segments of the game. These YouTube vid-
eos, along with tutorials on how to play character specs, can also narrate how
the lore relates to the tasks being completed. Go to ThePinkkilla's channel on
ThePinkkilla?feature=mhee
.
In addition to videos, players create blogs and entire websites devoted to
explaining lore, showing screengrabs from gameplay, and creating their own
new stories based on that lore. Just like some players
mod games
—that is, cre-
ate their own levels to play in—they also take existing lore and write extended
stories or create new characters for the existing world.
These fans, especially long-time ones, keep track of the lore and often present
it more clearly than the official websites related to the games. Some games, like
World of Warcraft
and
Final Fantasy
, have such long storylines that it takes an
act of love for the game by these fans to catalogue and present the material the
Character specs are
any special attri-
butes a character
may have.
