well every game has some story but it differs from 1 to the other like Serious Sam dumbest story but great shooting game u dont have time to think about whats going on u just fire. Unreal,Quake a simple story but great games. In my opinion the only games with no story that sell good r action games and sports. Story games: my personal favorite is Badlurs Gate1&2 the best story for a game(my opinion). Diablo2 is the most boring game i ever played well close. Great story but gameplay is repatitive nothing new happens just the same old CLICK i only played the game to watch the movies and after i finished it i found out there was a patch to unlock the movies lol. BG vs Diablo: BG is best by far. They both have great stories but when it comes to gameplay BG is by far better and more interaction , u dont always have to fight your way to get something or finish a quest. Simulation games Mechwarrior series not much to say but dam they good. StarLancer Vs WingCommander: WingCommander is by far better (not including graphics lol) your charcter is the story the game evoloves around u. in starlancer u in the background and u dont even see your character only when u pick female or male. WingCommander 4 was a little too much story 6 hours lol and only 30 or 40 missions in 6 CDs lol rest was movies and in wincommander u could take different paths. Wing COmmander 5 was good too. IW2EC:Independnce War 2 Edge of Chaos im speechless. My all time favorite is Privateer 2 best DOS game great graphics,gameplay,story Non Linear missions. I tryed to get it work awhile ago on DOS it worked but i had 2 problems my joysticks only worked on Windows and my Laser Mouse too. even the sound Blaster live didnt work on dos. I might go get my old 486 or maybe a P66 mhz lol. Long post lol Startegy Games too many good out there and they dont need storys to be good even though most of them have good storys. Adventure Games the only games that MUST have a story no story no game. My all Time Favorite games: RPG: Ultima series, Baldurs gate Simulation:Mechwarrior series, WingCommander,privateer1&2,Comanche VS Hokum(HOKUM IS THE BEST) Strategy:most of them lol Action games:UNREAL Tournamnet Adventure: Monkeys ISland all of them, Longest Journey, SPace Quest,Hero Quest, King Quest & Leiusre Suit LARRY I might have missed to add some great games i have like 400 games since 1990s so i problably forget most of the names.

I don''t think there''s all that much room for discussion here (although others may prove me wrong). At one end of the spectrum, you have puzzle games, such as Tetris, where no matter how good your story is, it will make no difference to the quality of the game. So the importance ratio is something like 99% gameplay, 1% story. At the other end of the scale are your adventure games, and certainly interactive fiction, where the story is paramount. In this case, the game engine still has to be decent, as it provides the interface, but the story has to be good or it''ll be a waste of time. I''d say the importance ratio was 80% story, 20% gameplay. In between those points, the ratio swings from one side to the other, as you pass through RPGs, RTSs, wargames, shooters, simulations and sports, etc. So it''s all proportional to the type of game you want to make, I''d say.

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Story for the sake of story helps nobody. We''ve all seen games that have some sort of crappy story in the manual for no apparent reason than that were told they needed a story.
But when used well by the designers, even a naff story can be the glue that holds all the game elements together in a consistent way, and make the game better than the sum of it''s parts.

i think it is good to have a story in any game. the story gives the player a reason for playing. even action game like unreal/quake need at least a simple story.

the only games in my opinion that dont need a story are games like the flight simulators, or racing games (some racing games do have stories tho they dont need it) simulation games dont need storys.

when i planned my game (i am just starting to code my first one, thats why i said "planned my game") i thought up a story that would make players want to play the game. Try to make the story interesting so the players think "I cant wait the get through this to see more of the story unravel."

hmm, i hope thats some good advice in your opinion

quote: Original post by Samith
the story gives the player a reason for playing.

I''d argue that gameplay gives the player a reason for playing.

Storylines are what enhance a game that doesn''t have enough gameplay. If you think your player might get bored at any point in your game then throw a story in just to give him something to go after. On the other hand, if your world is endlessly flexible and creative then a story is unnecessary because it will be made by the player anyway.

And here''s a rough chart to illustrate how a story versus gameplay relate to different types of games. (Obviously a story without gameplay is called a book. )

STORY     ---  BOOK (Lord of the Rings)           |           |   INTERACTIVE BOOK          ---  TEXT-BASED (old Zork)           |   ADVENTURE (King''s Quest)           |          ---           |   RPG (Zelda)           |          ---           |   STRATEGY (Starcraft)           |          ---           |   ACTION, PLATFORM, SIDE-SCROLLER, SHOOTER (Mario)           |          ---           |   CARD, PUZZLE, CASINO (Solitaire)           |   RACING (Wave Race)GAMEPLAY  ---

Just my opinion. Maybe others would arrange this list differently. Is so, be my guest. I''m curious.

U right about the gameplay is the most important but story makes the game that more fun to play.

for example WingCommander at its time had great gameplay and a great story.

baldurs gate GREAT Gameplay but with no story it would have sucked bad

my opinion

Did anybody actually read Kylotan''s post? This isn''t a question of absolutes - the need for/usefulness of story swings from "very important" at one end to "very unimportant" at the other. What story is there in Tetris? What story do you need for Wave Race or NBA Live <this year''s model>? There have been lots of gamers quite discontent with Metal Gear Solid 2 because there''s too much "story" (told via cutscenes) and not enough "game".

Give me reasonable gameplay, or shove your title.

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Thanks to Kylotan for the idea!

GameCreator: I think you saved about 20 posts worth of arguments with that chart. Like you mentioned its not true for all cases, but it does a great job in summarizing how genre''s are more affected by gameplay and story, and also interactivity and narrative.

When your making a game, no template will tell you where you should focus your efforts on. The most important thing when making a game is to make it fun. If the gameplay is an afterthought, most people will not enjoy it.

If your going to make the story an important part of the game, spend awhile thinking of a good interface to display it. Games are a different medium than books, so you must adapt your story to the medium or else it will feel "seperate" from the game. If your going to use text to display long dialogue/narrative sequences, PLEASE do not lock the speed. People that read the text faster than the game allows them to skip to the next sequence will become irrate and start to just click through the story as fast as possible.

I prefer games with good gameplay that are fun over games with great storylines and poor gameplay. If a game manages to have a good interactive (doesn''t have to branch!) story, I will appreciate it a lot more then one that has a lot of dialogue that I have to click through.

And please writers, don''t make another "epic" story. I don''t like heroes that always do the good thing, romance among royalty, and dialogue that is overdramitized. Spreading out character development throughout the game, and making noone pure evil or good goes a long way.



- Kevin "BaShildy" King
Game Programmer: DigiPen
www.mpogd.com

quote: Original post by Oluseyi
What story is there in Tetris?

Not just what exists but what could exist. A story could be given to Tetris.

I don''t know if anyone''s ever played Puzzle Bobble but despite the fact that the gameplay pretty much has nothing to do with the story, there is actually some sort of a story (at least the version I played). Same could be done for Tetris. Would it help the game? ... I really don''t know. Maybe someone would like nice cutscenes between every couple of levels to reward them for their time. Others might consider reaching the next levels reward enough. I guess it depends on your targeted gamer.

Hello -- this is my first post to this forum -- here goes.

There is a difference between "having" a story, and "telling" a story. Many games opt for the former -- it''s much easier, adds a "reason" for the games existence, and serves to at least spark the imagination. Even an arcade game like Tempest included some kind of concocted story -- an invading armada, fight them, something to that effect.

"Telling" a story is a much different thing. You could say that the Ninja Gaiden games (NES) told a story by way of their between-level cut-scenes. That''s true enough, but not exactly what I''m talking about.

Interactive Fiction (what some of you might call "text adventure games") tell a story (I believe this is even on the chart posted earlier). I think this kind of thing *can* be adapted not only to graphical games, but to multiplayer games (with some thought and work). I''m working on a browser-based graphical MUD (have been for 3 years) which is designed not only to provide an interactive world with quests and interesting situation, but to actually tell a story. It isn''t just a game for the sake of having a game.

Developers, especially independent developers without the large staff and financial backing that some others have, really can break new ground in the area of storytelling. This can also give a game a wider appeal. There is a reason people still watch movies (and it''s not always for the cool special effects) or still read books.

Mike Snyder
Prowler Productions
http://www.prowler-pro.com/