Creating a good storyline for adventure games

Started by ShadowMan, Sat 26/12/2015 04:29:09

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ShadowMan

Hi everyone,

I have started writing the plot of my adventure game, and I noticed the lack of plot related dramatic structure diagrams, about adventure games.

I found this diagram online, I though it might be helpful to people:



Most adventure games have fantasy elements near the climax of the story.Is this still relevant in modern games in your opinion?

Also do you think that they should have a big topic? Knights Templar, Voodoo murders...

Currently my game is a crime fiction, and there is a central theme and a big question. I am trying to decide between a short and a sweet game with a French style ending, or an epic climax with magical elements.  Which one works better for an adventure game in your opinion?

  I understand that I am a bit vague, but it is always quite difficult to write an ending.


SilverSpook

You're asking if you should have a big magical ending or a small French ending?

I think this kind of thing really depends on the overall story itself, but generally either could work if it made sense with the rest of the story and is interesting, reasonably well written.  I think if you're going to have magic you might want to introduce it earlier on so it doesn't seem like you just threw some magic in out of the blue at the end because it was the trendy thing to do.  Unless your game is heavily comedic / slapstickish.

Generally, you want consistency, I guess is what I'm trying to say.  Otherwise you risk kicking the player out of their immersion.

vertigoaddict

I feel like this graph isn't that much different from the Freytag's pyramid, honestly there isn't much difference in how to make a good, sound, narrative structure in any medium.


^ Exhibit A

When it comes to the content of your story, unless you're one of those people/companies who base their final game making choices on analysing popular statistics (not a bad thing per se) then the genre or sub-genres you decide to add into your game should be completely up to you, do whatever feels right or whatever you want despite that, it's the beauty of anything indie innit?

On another note, surrealism lends itself well to the whimsical and magical, why not do a combination of both?

SilverSpook

kind of tangential but still on topic here:

I have discovered that I hate writing adventure game stories while creating/programming the game.  I always end up becoming distracted by the minor details in character position, animation, etc.  and totally forget the salient details of the story pertaining to the scene.  Like the character's names their motivations in the scene, etc.  Unfortunately I also have had a tough time taking an existing story and "adventure game-izing" it. 

I guess I'll just need more practice with one or the other method, or hire a bunch of artists, programmers, etc. once Neofeud gets big or I fall into a massive inheritance.

Uhfgood

Quote from: ShadowMan on Sat 26/12/2015 04:29:09
Hi everyone,

I have started writing the plot of my adventure game, and I noticed the lack of plot related dramatic structure diagrams, about adventure games.

I found this diagram online, I though it might be helpful to people:



Most adventure games have fantasy elements near the climax of the story.Is this still relevant in modern games in your opinion?

Also do you think that they should have a big topic? Knights Templar, Voodoo murders...

Currently my game is a crime fiction, and there is a central theme and a big question. I am trying to decide between a short and a sweet game with a French style ending, or an epic climax with magical elements.  Which one works better for an adventure game in your opinion?

  I understand that I am a bit vague, but it is always quite difficult to write an ending.



I don't know anything about 'french style endings' but I do notice that with that graph where it says "Crisis (wave three)" where it starts going down, instead of going down a little bit, it should go almost all the way down before coming up again for the Climax.  I just notice in a lot of movies and games and such, that the main protagonists tend to look like they've lost everything before they pull themselves back over Climax-hill...

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