Game Storylines: What are they? Why are they Important?

What you'll learn

Importance of Game Storyline

Elements of a Storyline

How the Storyline Affects Users

Matching the Storyline to the Gameplay

One of the critical steps in designing a strong game is in the creation of the Storyline or narrative for the game.  This is different than the Core Experience and the Core Loop, but is just as critical in the early steps.

Elements of a Storyline

The storyline comprises design elements such as a backstory as well as a theme for the game.  It also provides a narrative for game elements to follow along as they progress in the game. 

In our example of a 4x4 Truck Racing game, we could take the storyline in several different directions:

1. A group of friends meetup every year to race across numerous dirt tracks in their 4x4 trucks
2. Professional 4x4 drivers compete in a global circuit for title and rank
3. A group of wildlife conservationists drive their 4x4 trucks to chase down poachers.  

Each of these storylines provide a very different narrative to our game.  Each also opens (and shuts) doors to different competitive mechanics and features.  

Each storyline also dramatically changes the “feeling” and “vibe” of their respective game.  In the “group of friends” storyline, the race might be carried out more like a road rally with more obstacles and not so focused on overall time, etc.  By contrast the professional 4x4 drivers might have more focus on timed tournaments and leaderboards.

The storyline also introduces the theme of the game.  The theme plays a major part in marketing the game to users.  Choosing a theme that has a small market potential may limit the number of users that are exposed to your game.

How the Storyline affects users

In the last example above of the conservationists, a lot of users may choose to avoid your game simply because it has some element of “hunting” found within it.  This doesn’t mean that it is a bad game or that you shouldn’t create it.  From a design point of view there is nothing wrong with creating a hunting based game.  Just understand that certain design elements will appeal to some and be rejected by others.

When you create your storyline, ask yourself the following questions to understand how your storyline will affect players.

Is the storyline believable?  

This doesn’t mean “is the story real?”  Rather, even in a fictional game, the storyline has to make sense from a basic comprehension perspective otherwise players will reject it.  

Is the storyline limiting?  

If so - that may be ok - just make sure you are willing to accept those limiting factors.  If you want to create a first-person-shooter (fps) game - there will be a lot of users that will not want to play it.

Does the storyline provide a connection?

Users will be more connected with a game that has a storyline that provides elements of connection with the users.  This isn’t to say that the connection has to be direct - the connection may be indirect.  For example, a game about investing might provide the player with a feeling of success and wealth even if they are unable to attain that in their current career.  

Is the storyline entertaining?

This may seem like an odd one to analyze - but at the end of the day - your players are playing your game to be entertained.  If your game is depressing or dull in its storyline, then users will not feel a connection to it.

Matching the Storyline to the gameplay

If you are creating a first-person-shooter game, your storyline needs to match the gameplay.  If not - you will have a very hard time finding users for your game.

Let’s assume that you created a first-person-shooter game.  Now let’s assume that you added a storyline to it of shooting butterflies and flowers.  The game might have beautiful art, well performing tech, but won’t find success with a lot of users.  The user market for people who want to destroy butterflies and flowers in a first-person fashion is probably very small.