Design Elements of a Story

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Lithalean

Guest
Originally I was going to put this in off-topic, and make it more about using Mind Mapping software, and the benefits I've found personally from using it.
Then, I decided to just upload a simple mind map of elements of a story.
Elements of a Story.png
Did I miss something? Any additions I could add to make this more complete?
Thank you for your time.
 
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For me the most important part of the game design is the game part. I always see story as a nice bonus. A bad story isn't going to ruin a game for me, but bad mechanics or gameplay(or bad implementation) will.
 
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Lithalean

Guest
@Siolfor the Jackal

To each their own. Bad story, or poor character development is an absolute game ruiner for me.

Chrono Trigger, Seiken Densetsu 3, Star Ocean, LoZ, & FF3. (My childhood)

If all you’re interested in is someone buying your game and enjoying it for 6th months, then sure, put all your eggs in the coding/mechanics basket.

If you want someone to fall in love with your creation, and still think of it, half a lifetime later; good luck accomplishing that with lack luster character development, and a poor story.
 
To be fair, all those examples you listed had fantastic gameplay, as well as amazing music and art. They were the whole package.
I've put thousands of hours into games without a good story, like various Monster Hunter games. The story on those games is almost always very passive and forgettable if it's evem there, but the mechanics are so fine tuned that I could not put those games down.
 
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Lithalean

Guest
They were the whole package.
Yes they were!

I've put thousands of hours into games without a good story, like various Monster Hunter games. The story on those games is almost always very passive and forgettable if it's evem there, but the mechanics are so fine tuned that I could not put those games down.
I completely understand what you're saying. I've highly enjoyed many games for the same reasons you listed. Also sinking countless hours into them. Although, I didn't love them. Highly appreciated, and throughly enjoyed, but not loved.

Think of it like baseball: 1st base is Code. 2nd base is Graphics. 3rd base is Sound. Love requires a home run, and that takes Story.

No game like Monster Hunter (its a good game), could ever deliver the emotional punch of Breath of Wild, or Final Fantasy 10.
I enjoy reading real books, but even books don't hit me like the games I've mentioned.
Games with stories so good, they could be books; that's my jam man!
 
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dannyjenn

Guest
Did I miss something? Any additions I could add to make this more complete?
Your "plot" section could use some more bullet points, but what you include would depend on which theory you're going with. (At my school we were taught Blake Snyder's 'Save the Cat!' structure... but that's mostly for movies rather than games.)

Also, under "character" you also need to include non-physical stuff, such as motives, personality, goals, backstory, etc. This is for heroes as well as villains. Because all conflict and plot events should be character-driven, not just random happenings. If the characters don't have motives, and don't consistently act "in character", then they're not going to seem like real people, and the overall story is going to be a lot less believable.
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
Did I miss something? Any additions I could add to make this more complete?
You've captured the main elements from most text books. Although some may include "symbolism" at the same level as conflict and plot.

The defining aspect of most stories is contained in the conflict element. So you could expand those sub-sections almost indefinitely.

What the goal here? An exposition about literary structure?
 
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