Enslaved to the Story

[ad7venture]

Gameplay alone will get a game recognised, but a quality story can keep you entranced long after you’ve tired of repetitive combat animations. Tameem Antoniades, creative director and co-founder of Ninja Theory, the studio behind Heavenly Sword, is an ardent believer that story is a game’s most important feature.

Platform Online

[blueskirt]

I don't agree.

The same could be said about every other aspect of a game. Plenty of times I replayed a games I had not played for more than 15 years, and upon hearing the music, I suddenly realized a particular tune had haunted my life all this time, tunes I whistled and played in my head for years. The Monkey Island main theme is just as important and memorable as its story is.

IMO, every aspects in a game are important but the gameplay aspect is slightly more. A game with passable, bad, even inexistent story, graphics and musics can still be good if the rules, goals and choices are interesting and the gameplay is well implemented, but amazing story, graphics and soundtrack cannot save a game with uninteresting rules, goals and choices or crappy gameplay.

It's not related but all this is reminding me of something I realized not too long ago: Gameplay will always be the most loved aspect of a game because you can ignore a game story if you don't like it, but you cannot ignore a game's gameplay if you don't like it. If you don't like the gameplay, you don't play the game in the first place and can't experience the story or any other aspect of the game.

[Igor Hardy]

It's not related but all this is reminding me of something I realized not too long ago: Gameplay will always be the most loved aspect of a game because you can ignore a game story if you don't like it, but you cannot ignore a game's gameplay if you don't like it. If you don't like the gameplay, you don't play the game in the first place and can't experience the story or any other aspect of the game.

I don't think any particular part of the game is necessarily more important than others. But I agree with the author of the article that the storyline usually is the thing that keeps you play till the very end of a single player game.

For example, I found the gameplay, interactions and puzzles in Syberia weak-to-average, but I liked the game nevertheless because it had such strong presentation and intriguing story.

Intriguing storyline is also the element that makes me very often try a game I wouldn't be interested in otherwise.

[Kickaha]

Relative importance of story / puzzles / gameplay for a game is hard to assess.  I'd say that for me story is fundamental, a game should start there.  Bad gameplay is a killer, as are unreasonable puzzles (for instance puzzles where only one out of many valid solutions are accepted by the game.)

[ad7venture]

The same could be said about every other aspect of a game.

Yes, I think story is only one thing in a combination, myself.  For some games it's much less important than others.  The trick with music for me is that it needs to blend into the background so it doesn't actually take focus, but only gives mood, so great game music is kind of under-appreciated.  If it's really good, I don't notice it, except once in a while.  It's great because it doesn't take so much focus that it becomes repetitive, yet it builds suspense, or makes me relax. 
I think most things in a game are like that.  When they are working, they don't stand out,  they feel a natural part of the environment, so what you remember and what does stand out is the story. 
I'm playing Tombraider Underworld right now, and I can hardly follow the story and I'm not that interested in it really.  It's all right, but it's not keeping me playing.  It took me a while to get used to all her moves, but it's the challenge of moving her through the levels.  The level design stands out as the make or break part of the game.  That would be different for different game play mechanics, but I would say level design stands pretty high on the list for most games.
Stories are normally pretty badly done in games, so when they are done well, they really stand out.  It's an underused game asset in my mind.  I think this guy had the right idea about hiring a good author and getting input early on. 

[blueskirt]

But I agree with the author of the article that the storyline usually is the thing that keeps you play till the very end of a single player game.

That I agree. While there are some games where the gameplay is so great that story is not even necessary, there are plenty of games in genres I'm not particularly fond where the story and atmosphere kept me playing for much more than the gameplay alone would have.

I think most things in a game are like that.  When they are working, they don't stand out,  they feel a natural part of the environment, so what you remember and what does stand out is the story

I don't know, I think all elements in a game can stand out depending on how great or bad they are, only OK stuffs don't get noticed. We all remember Half-Life 2's excellent Ravenholm level, just like we remember Half-Life 1's horrible Xen level.

[Alberto]

There are several kind of games (adventure or strategy games) that necessary build upon a well written story...I really love to follow characters adventure as reading a book and become sometimes a hero, sometimes a fish...(!)

The gameplay is a fundamental feature to give continuity, engagement in the costant interaction between player and game. There would be no game without rules.

Games similar Machinarium, with a quasi-null story and puzzles everywhere (not so originals) lack in this kind of relationship.

Grim Fandango, Monkey Island or idk WarCraft III are settled in that kind of relationship. This is also related to the concept of "immersion" (readed in an article here) that is the passepartout for entering into the game. 

For aspects just like music, that blueskirt says above, it's a wonderful example of how a well-defined game could, probably better than other kind of entertainment, evoke emotions and aspects of the past, even only with a tune.

As a psychologist I see gameplay as mechanical-creative-addictive engagement with its own (of the game) system of rewards & punishments that bind the player in interaction with her/his own motivation in playing.

The storyline is a bit more complicated kind of engagement (or pleasure) that puts player's tastes in interaction with the game style, feeding the player's curiosity. (eheh italian style of examples...it's a matter of cooking)

These are just thoughts poorly written in english!

[ad7venture]

Thanks for your thoughts Alberto.  I mainly agree with what you said.

[Kickaha]

If gameplay is a kind of addiction so is game-making!  Perhaps a worse addition?

[ad7venture]

If gameplay is a kind of addiction so is game-making!  Perhaps a worse addition?

I think of game making as a hobby, but game playing as an entertainment.  I guess you can go overboard with a hobby and they do kind of blur together.  It's easier for an entertainment to become an addiction because there isn't the work involved.  A lot of my free time gets spent looking at engines that there's probably no way I'm going to use, so that might be more the addiction part of it for me, and I have trouble not taking on a second project which ends up making a two project failure.  I wish I spent more time working on my games and less time dreaming about making them.

[Igor Hardy]

A lot of my free time gets spent looking at engines that there's probably no way I'm going to use, so that might be more the addiction part of it for me, and I have trouble not taking on a second project which ends up making a two project failure.  I wish I spent more time working on my games and less time dreaming about making them.

Maybe you just don't feel confident enough about your games and the value of releasing them? I'm quite a dreamer myself, but at the same time I'll never let any of the actual work I already done go to waste - I attach way too much value to it to allow myself to do that.

[ad7venture]

Maybe you just don't feel confident enough about your games and the value of releasing them? I'm quite a dreamer myself, but at the same time I'll never let any of the actual work I already done go to waste - I attach way too much value to it to allow myself to do that.

Releasing a game is usually a disappointment for me.  I don't get a huge amount of downloads or anything, but I don't think it bothers me that much either.  Games are just a lot of work and they get boring sometimes and I'm a bit of a scatter brain.  For whatever reason, I can never stick to one engine because I feel like I need to try something else.  I used Wintermute for 2 games.  Great engine, but there's just a lot else to experiment with, like Flash right now and probably something in 3d eventually.  I may try a multi-player game that isn't at all an adventure, also.

[Kickaha]

I can reach a point when I give up on a game project, when I realise it's not going anywhere, that I've bitten off far more than I can chew.

[ad7venture]

I can reach a point when I give up on a game project, when I realise it's not going anywhere, that I've bitten off far more than I can chew.

Same here.  I don't really worry about giving up a project.  Some people make this big deal about it, but for me, it's not relevant for whatever reason anymore, so it goes in the trash.  I consider it a learning experience whether I finish it or not.  I do like to finish projects, though, because it's the only way I can get feedback on my work.