Storylines in Games

[Bane_Star]

I'm not sure if this thread goes in here or elsewhere, Mods can move it and delete this line.

I was watching Stargate Atlantis, the Episodes to do with the Wraith becoming humans and losing their memories.. got me figuring..

What if a Game storyline was instead Hey you are Tom X and you come from place Y and your quest is ABCD..

but instead, you don;t know who you are, where your from, or what your doing.. which is more likely, since you as the player DONT know..

Sure there are alot of games that do this.. but that begs the question.. How much story is required, how much back-story is required?

Do we like games that create our characters for us, or do we like to create them ourselves.. and how MUCH of that character creation process should a player go through before they get to play?

I have got to the point, where I don't like to 'join' new games, create a character, a password, etc before I get to play.. because I've been let down so often by poor game design so I just quit.. (diablo experience point system anyone?) ..

Actually I think I put this in off topic, because I don't know where I'm going with it.

[hallsofvallhalla]

i love memory loss storylines or new world storylines. Where the player knows nothing of their current surroundings. It ws the story I used for FS. New world and no back story other than crashing on a new planet. I do not want to read 100 lines of a prelude before playing or read the instruction manual

[windextor]

I do enjoy blank slate stories where you truly get involved with your character in every way possible (even in discovering who it actually is).

Planescape: Torment is a fine example of this. FF7 could also be an example.

That being said, I don't think a well constructed background story is in any way worse than playing in the dark. It's certainly better than having those creepy silent heroes which are supposed to be easier to relate to because... they don't speak? I never got the idea behind that one.

[hallsofvallhalla]

haha yep, the blank memory opens up much to the imagination. I had always wanted to write a series of books where the first book is the character waking up in a field, he doesn't know who he is or where he came from. It is a fantasy setting. Throughout the books he learns more and more about himself and the final book would be him learning that the author, (me) is the character. I got tangled up in vodoo, or magic, or sold my soul to enter that world.

[windextor]

That would seriously freak me out. I'm the paranoid type

[PaxBritannia]

Unless the story line is open-ended or player decided, I like to be told enough to satisfy me.Which is:
Age
Name of current town.
Maybe a map.
Where to heal.
What to do next.

Thats it.

Pax.

[hallsofvallhalla]

haha wow your easy to please! The perfect player!

[PaxBritannia]

Not really: I demand very complex gameplay, a place where I can find all the formulas so I can predict most battles, and a lot more, I just don't really care about the story line. I mean, I good storyline is great, but when it comes to actually playing, the gameplay is the determining thing (but then again, the storyline can be considered a part of the gameplay).

Pax.

[Bane_Star]

I was thinking about this some more, and fleshed out a situation..

I used this on my RPG team a few weeks ago, and heres a more well thought out version.

Player starts with little to no background knowledge or understanding, and over the course of the first few levels, gains memories of his/her past, The player CREATES the past, AND the skill bonuses associated with the memory.

The point: Players who don't care to understand their character can jump straight in, backstory and subplot quests can be worked in as the player chooses, and if a player doesn't like the game and quits, they spent less time understanding whats happening, and more time playing.

e.g. Player gets to level 2, and gains 1 background point, when standing infront of any 'key terrain' a background icon is on screen and the player can choose to press it. If the icon appears over a fishing hole.. the player remembers going fishing with his grandpa and gains +1 skill to fishing, folk lore, and adds a grandpa family line to the background...

many locations could have associated background packages built into it, allowing a wide and varied opportunity for players to build their story.

Players who WANT to spend hours creating a very decent background, before playing, can go through the same process but before starting the game, choosing each step of their background and the skills matched.

I.e. Player can choose 4 toddler memories, 8 childhood memories, 8 young teenage memories, and 8 apprentice memories. Each has a set of background skills and bonuses which translate to skill advances to their character..

I'm using this system now for my paper and Pencil RPG, as a testing ground for my game idea.

[PaxBritannia]

For me, that is a bit... strange maybe?

If it were me, I would rather:

Your journal has a few faded pages: a picture of a cave, a forest, and a beach. You then, subconsciously chose your storyline / skills through many of these multi-choice decisions and eventually you decide your storyline.

E.G. as soon as you arrive at the cave, you discover that your father died there? and now going to the forest or the beach will have no/little effect.

Pax.