(I've moved this from Game Writing forum). What is an in-game story? How can we structure games so that we link the player's progress to the story in interesting ways? 1. mystery. We want to progress because we know that we will uncover secrets. (Or be told the answers by other characters). Examples, who evacuated the spaceship's spacepods, and why? Why is my character being followed around by assassins. 2. suspense. the bad guy has kidnapped your team mate and is holding them hostage, can you rescue her 3. Pushing the player through the levels, they are being chased through the levels. And have no chance of winning unless they flee. In this case there would have to be a reason why the player is being chased (or why the mines are being flooded etc.) Any ideas? EDIT: gah, sunandshadow covers a similar topic here http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/mod/journal/journal.asp?jn=263649&reply_id=1656077 basically I'm asking how things like motivation, suspense, etc can be incorporated into level and objective design and scenario design.