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Machine Made: Rebirth

Machine Made: Rebirth Fri Feb. 05 (Story-line Friday)

Hello ladies and gentlemen — welcome back from our break, this is indeed the Machine Made: Rebirth blog where I talk about all things related to rpgs, steampunk goodness, game development and the fun and mischief that goes along with trying to make good art along the way! Today is a Friday and as such, we're going to be talking about what makes a good story-line, especially as regards rpg games, and what common threads we can expect to see that are going to be useful tools for finding a good resolution to your plot…

 

thread one — the heroes journey (what started everything in motion regarding the heroes' motivations…under what circumstances do they meet their friends and how does this change their goals?)
thread two — the fate of the world (or the important aspect of the world that is altered during gameplay) …some questions here are — just how far are we willing to go to show that the heroes have made a difference? Sometimes, this involves the passage of time, overlapping plotlines or the death of a character who martyred for their cause. Always keep in mind what your players will be expecting and what you can offer them in terms of a moving and satisfying resolution that will tie up this thread.
thread three — bad ending? is it possible for your player to not meet all the requirements of the good or normal ending? is it possibly desirable for your player to have the option of a bad ending? Keep in mind what your player will expect and don't force them to feel heroic or villainous unless it seems that they have earned it.

 

So what do we have now that we've established that there is more going on than just leveling up and reading dialogue in an rpg game? What do these threads allow us to do or to shape in our game experience that would otherwise be unavailable to us? I think it's the relationship between the growth of the complexity of the plot as well as the power and influence of the characters that gives us this extra textural ability to play with branches and endings to our game.

 

As always I hope you enjoyed this Friday's edition of Story-line Friday. Leave comments, message us, and stay tuned for our latest game update!
Cheers,
Allsvin

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Ryan Ferris

  • Posted February 5, 2016

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