Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Do stories need to affect the outcome of the game to feel meaningful? Think about
games you've played and a situation where it felt difficult to decide what to do. What
hinged on the outcome? Is it meaningful for you to make reflective choices, such as
ones that change what your game's avatar looks like but don't affect the story? Why or
why not?
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Discuss a story that you and someone else you know, like a friend or relative, both
experienced. Did you interpret the meaning of the story, or what happened in the
story, differently? Why?
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Have you had experiences while playing a game where the story felt irrelevant to what
you were doing? How about a choice that didn't feel significant, or was just annoying
or distracting to what you wanted to be doing? Why was this, and how do you think
the experience could have been improved?
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In Chapter 2, we described the story of Janet Jumpjet, involving ancient robots that come to
life deep in the mines of Venus and start kidnapping miners. Work in a group to figure out ways
that this story could be told in that particular game. You could use cutscenes, create characters
in the story who interact with Janet, find ways of including exploratory story elements, or cre-
ate branching story choices. Which way of storytelling in this game feels the most satisfying to
you, and why?
Now come up with an entirely different setting for Janet Jumpjet, using the same game
mechanics that have been described for that game in earlier chapters or that you added to it in
an earlier exercise. Instead of a space hero who fights robots in the mines of Venus, can you tell
a story where Janet is a pirate queen, a wolf, a high school student, or even an ancient Venusian
robot? What would you need to change about the way the game's system works to go better
with this story? What storytelling techniques would make sense for your new
story?
