of the gameplay, creating tales so rich that players find themselves sucked into the
game-world more than if the games had been storyless. And still other games, such as
A Mind Forever Voyaging,Myst,Ico, and theUltimaseries, have made the story such an
integral part of the game that one can hardly imagine them otherwise. So games cer-
tainly do not need stories, but it seems that when employed properly, stories can make
games that much stronger.
In fact, the dream of interactive stories is what drew me into game development in
the first place. Imagine all of the power of a story in a novel, with its ability to grab hold
and captivate the reader, to make her care about the characters in the story, to change
her perception of the world, and, in some special instances, to change the way she lives
her life. Now imagine how much more powerful that would be if, instead of reading
about the actions of other characters, the reader was the main character in the story and
was able to make choices that would affect the shape, direction, and outcome of the
story. This interactive reader could see the ramifications of different choices made in
different situations, and since it was her own choices that determined the nature of the
story, the interactive story’s draw would be that much more compelling than a tradi-
tional story. The mind boggles at the possibilities. Of course this dream is still a long
way off, with no available game close to achieving this ideal. But it does provide a com-
pelling reason to keep experimenting, with the hope of one day achieving a truly
interactive story.
Designer’s Story Versus Player’s Story ..................
So what do we mean when we talk about a game’s story? Many game developers con-
sider a game’s story to be a predetermined series of dramatic events, much like the
story one would find in a novel or a film. These events are static and unchanging,
regardless of players’ actions in the game-world, and the story is typically conveyed to
players between gameplay sections. For example, inCommand & Conquer, players are
told the story of the conflict between the GDI and Nod forces through cut-scenes
between the different missions. The story determines in part where the missions take
place and what players have to do in them, but typically once players have completed a
level, the story can proceed in only one direction. The only potential endings to the
Chapter 11: Storytelling 203
The story is so central to
Mystthat it is hard to
imagine the game
without it.