I'm trying to think of a way to have a really cinematic and emotional storyline in a game, but only tell it through gameplay. No triggering cutscenes when you get to a certain place. (like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, etc). In fact I'd rather not use cut-scenes at all. And you wouldn't just walk up to some NPC in the game and he talks to you either (like Half-Life and Splinter Cell do)... This storytelling method is an issue with alot of game designers (as far as I can tell), any ideas?

I'm assuming now a 1st/3rd person action game because all your examples except Final Fantasy fit that category, hope it isn't a terribly wrong assumption :)

Basically, if there is to be no cutscenes and not much "talking", I'd say the story has to be heavily kinetic in nature. You are doing something and moving from place to place, and the stuff you watch happening around you is the primary source of the story.

For example, it could be you and several other beautiful teen-angsty experimental subjects escaping from a facility that's selfdestructing, with multiple enemy forces (+ the existing evil personnel of the facility) trying to get a piece of you. I'd imagine you'd meet the other NPCs only occasionally.

There could be some special events sparingly used: maybe at one place you'd for get trapped in some enclosed space for a while, while having to witness something horrible happen to one of the subjects, therefore fuelling your rage towards the mad scientist etc.

Sorry for corny examples :)

Well I wouldn't exactly call what is in the Half-Life series a cutscene, since you never actually "cut" away from the game. That was kind of the point of how they did it, the player was never actually removed from the character. The only thing I can see is to do something ala Half-Life to style, but make it more interactive.

Have the main character start soliloquys from time to time, like when running along an empty hallway, I liked those in the Legacy of Kain Series.

Why not do like Sin City? Remember when Marv was running across the rooftops, beating people up in alleys, and walking up the bridge. The whole time he was narrating over the the action.

Story and backstory at the same time. Instead of triggering cutscene, trigger monolgues and turn the main game sound down while it plays.

Yes, monologues are a great idea, just a couple of problems I see if not used carefully..

- Can distract if you have to perform too difficult actions at the same time. Maybe only during some sort of easy, but still kickass feeling action if necessary?

- Again, if you have to hear the same monologue over and over while retrying an action bit, it can get irritating. Refer to Cave Story's Hell levels with the backstory narration :)

So, no cutscenes, and npc's arent allowed to tell you things when you approach them either. (What's wrong with the latter anyway? Isn't that how you usually find out stuff?)

So what's left? monologues by the player character? I don't really see how that's an improvement.

Story doesn't always need words at all, for example you can watch something like Ong-Bak with no proper subtitles and still understand & enjoy it nearly fully.

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Original post by AgentC Story doesn't always need words at all, for example you can watch something like Ong-Bak with no proper subtitles and still understand & enjoy it nearly fully.

That's because it's story is a "cliche": basically, guy A pisses guy B off enough that guy B proceeds to open a can of whoop-ass on a gang of ancillary characters until he faces off with guy A and hands him a spectacular defeat. Wait, was that Double Dragon or <insert Van Damme movie here>? Or the "backstory" for all eight of the characters in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior?

You'll need a better example to substantiate your argument.

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Original post by Spoonbender So, no cutscenes, and npc's arent allowed to tell you things when you approach them either. (What's wrong with the latter anyway? Isn't that how you usually find out stuff?) So what's left? monologues by the player character? I don't really see how that's an improvement.

I didn't mean that the player would never talk to NPCs that would be the main way of progressing the story, but It always seems sort of lame how you can just move around and the NPCs just stand there still talking to you. I guess I'm saying is that it'd be better if they really interacted with you and did things. If you walked away from them they'd grab you and make you listen to what they said or something. (Maybe have better [not confusing] camera angles too.)