Creating Story from Game Mechanics

Writing for games is different from other forms of creative writing because, almost always, the story takes a backseat to the gameplay. With the exception of some narrative-driven games, the story exists to give the player context and an emotional hook for the actions they take in the game, but should not be the player's primary experience. I've made a couple of blog posts analyzing the ways in which a game's story supports the gameplay and player fantasy, using Ori and the Blind Forest and The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood as case studies.

Today, I wanted to analyze my own work for a change. As part of my recent Narrative Department Masterclass from Susan O'Connor, I wrote three different story pitches that could work to support a single game mechanic. Now, with a little bit of distance from that course, I'll analyze each story concept and identify the things that work and the things that don't.

The Mechanic

In this hypothetical indie action platformer, the player can selectively rewind time when they die. The rewind power is dependent upon a resource that they gain from killing enemies. They can rewind a minimum of one second, and any longer costs extra resources. If they’re out of the resource or choose not to rewind, they return to the last save point and lose any remaining resources.

Story 1: Be Kind, Rewind

The Blockbuster employee responsible for rewinding VHS tapes is sucked into a cheesy horror movie about killer robots, and they now have to fight their way through the movie. They appeared in the movie with the remote control they were holding in real life, but its battery is low. They have to collect electrical charges from the robots they kill to rewind the movie and save themself from death by robot.

What Works

This story grounds the rewinding mechanic in an experience that everyone can relate to: rewinding a movie. Even folks too young to have experienced VHS tapes will be familiar with the rewind button on a remote control.

What Doesn't

The existence of an entire remote control implies actions other than rewind. Some fit the game seamlessly, such as a diegetic pause menu and volume controls. But the fast forward button creates an odd situation; either it is disabled for some reason or fast forwarding becomes a mechanic in the game. If I were genuinely pitching this story I would find a reason for the player character to not have access to the fast forward button.

Story 2: Time Demigod

The player character is the child of the long-dead god of time. They’re traveling through the realm of the gods to find and revive their father. Along the way, they draw the ire of spirits who originally killed their father, and as the player defeats them, they absorb a little bit of their father’s fractured power. As a time demigod, they’re able to harness these fragments to save themself from death and keep progressing toward finding their father.

What Works

This story has a clear goal and an emotional hook that gives meaning to the gameplay. The player isn't just slaying random enemies; these are their father's killers.

What Doesn't

In this story, the resource used to rewind time takes on a different meaning. In the original concept of the mechanic, there is no reason to save the resource; it can only be used for rewinding and your current stash disappears if you die. But with the time demigod story, the player would naturally want to save their resources. They're pieces of their father who they are on a quest to revive, after all. It seems logical that they would also be used to revive him.

Story 3: The Collapsing Server

The player character is a line of code trying to escape from a crashing server. Corrupted lines of code attack the player and, when defeated, provide the player with functions they can use to change the code. Each time the player uses the rewind mechanic, they’re not rewinding time per se, but rewriting the events in the code and re-executing them.

What Works

This story has the most unique take on an action platformer and explains the rewind action in a totally different way. If done well, the player could experience the most satisfying parts of programming without writing a single line of code.

What Doesn't

While this story interests me as a former software engineer, it's definitely the hardest concept of the three to grasp, especially for folks without a tech background. No matter how the story is communicated, it would likely be lost on some players.