Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
creating something that may inspire others to extend it. This is true of the worlds of written
works; the
Harry Potter
topics have inspired thousands of works of fan fiction. Many of the tools
to extend a fictional universe, or continue telling the stories of its characters, are available to
audiences already. Fan writers and artists do so with words and images.
As a game creator, you have an additional option: you can open up your code and tools so that
your players can become “fan” game designers and programmers. You can even create or refine
tools to let players do this, although designing and building tools that make this easier for play-
ers can often be as much or more work as creating a game. Many open-world games, including
ones we've already discussed like
Skyrim
and
Fallout: New Vegas
, come with tools that help play-
ers extend those worlds with mods that include new characters, scenarios and quests, different
kinds of weapons, and even changes to the systems of the game. By putting the evolution of
game worlds in the hands of players who become modders, those games continue to live on
and be played for much longer than they would have if they were limited to only the original
authored content.
Since the early days of digital games, creators have sometimes included level editors that let
players become designers.
Lode Runner
(1983) is an example we discussed in Chapter 6. Even as
a child, I was able to learn how to use its level-editing system, getting inspiration not only from
trial and error but from the examples and techniques used in the levels that were built into the
game by its creators.
Lode Runner
has a simple story, not much more than a premise. Games
that involve worlds full of story and character, and then invite players to extend those worlds,
give players sparks for their imaginations to build on.
Games have a rich tradition of creating and extending worlds, going all the way back to
nondigital role-playing games like
Dungeons & Dragons
. Played with dice, pen, and paper, the
purchased materials of the game provide a set of rules to play by along with some ideas about
story and setting, scenes and objects. One of the players in a traditional nondigital role-playing
game is more like a game designer: the dungeon master or game master, who often acts like
a modder. She extends the materials of the game with her own ideas, perhaps changing the
rules along the way, and can dream up her own worlds for a story that's a collaborative creation
forged by her and the other players through playing.
In recent years, more and more digital games have been trying to appeal to potential players
with their ability to be extended with stories and content made by players, for other players.
Shadowrun Returns
(2013) is a digital role-playing game based on a pen-and-paper roleplaying
game. In that tradition, it was released with a single, relatively short piece of authored content,
a scenario with quests and objects that can be played like any other game, but which also serve
as an example to take apart, study, and use as materials for new scenarios. Beyond the authored
content, the promise of
Shadowrun Returns
is largely based on what the creators of the game
hope players will do with the game system and the tools they've provided to extend it (see
F i g u r e 7 . 1 5 ) .
