Hey, I’m currently in the making of a story game. As usual, I make things difficult for myself, I always want to prove to myself that I can do better, and so, I want to look at common issues with Story, or “Camping Games” from a game design and user experience perspective.
I, of course, don’t necessarily mean from a story writing standpoint. I’m quite happy with what I’ve written so far, I tried to walk away from cliches, and I’ve written up an original murder-mystery story with many cutscenes, a plot twist, and new types of tasks for the players.
To give an example of a common problem, and a solution I came up is with the lobbies. What most story games currently have is… messy and inefficient. You physically walk to a circle and get teleported into a vehicle of sorts, where you wait and hope that players join your vehicle.
My solution? A complete UI-based lobby, this will let me build more efficiently, as I will have less space that needs to be filled. I would also be able to use the camera to smoothly move between menu options for a nice aesthetic, and there would be no reason to load the players, which would improve lag.
This is just one of many things that can be improved, so, I’m wondering what are more common issues with story games? And if anything comes to mind, what could be possible solutions? Feel free to rant a little about what you don’t like, anything will help me out!
One of the biggest problems i see is a repetitive storyline throughout all the games.
You and a handful of other players with 1-2 characters leading go somewhere. (Old mansion, Forest, etc.)
The day goes on casually, until something that requires leaving the comfort area happens (Power goes out and you need to switch it back on, Fire goes out and you need to get more firewood, etc.)
When you return from your mission, the villain/monster appears!
You escape somehow.
This is the point where the story can go in 2 directions:
1. The guide goes missing!
2. The guide doesn’t believe you when you tell him/her about what just happened.
If direction == 1 then
You go exploring the area, and then you find the monster/villain! They chase you to some secluded area, where you are safe. You explore this area a little bit, and then (DUN DUN DUUUUUN!) you find the guide, revelaing that HE is the monster! Who could have foreseen this?
Boss battle, you rescue/kill the monster/villain and everyone lives happily ever after (Or not. Depends on the ending cutscene)
If direction == 2 then
The monster attacks again!! But again, the guide doesn’t believe you. The players then have a choice to get rid of the guide. Later, the monster attacks and the guide, if available, sees it and leads you to a hiding spot where you have the final boss battle! If the guide isn’t present, you automatically get the bad ending.
Other cliches i see all the time in story games:
The genre is strictly horror.
Rain, though it’s water, kills you… somehow.
The villain/monster’s hideout is oddly easy to find, despite it trying not to be found.
If a mirror is realistic, then it’s going to have a jumpscare.
Even if you’re in a city area, there is no cell service, so you conveniently can’t call for help.
At the end, be sure to shove a sequel hook somewhere.
Be sure to have a “Secret Ending” That makes absolutely no sense at all.
Add gamepasses that probably won’t help anything.
Make your game and story unique, and people will play it more. I think story games have lots of potential, but they seem to be so formulaic at the moment.
If everyone else leaves/dies, the game assumes you now have schizophrenia.
Most Endings are way to easy to get. I think this has gone too far to the point where it’s harder to get the other endings when the players want to get the others. In fact, there’s already a story game where I got a secret ending on the first and second completion with no idea on how I got it.
There always has to be a obby. Bonus points if it’s annoying and even more if you’re running away from dark smoke which is coming from nowhere.
Product Placements for the gamepasses. (Not as common but a few have them)
Sequels exists for games where if the first game happened in real life, the sequels would of never happened because nobody wants to go back on, say, an airplane. Then again, this all could be a Jojo reference and I’m unaware of it.
Inanimate objects cannot be trusted apparently. (Also not as common)
Considering that…
It seems to be lacking a lot of it, either by players ruining it, or the game not being scary in the first place. (I’ll give Daycare 2 credit for this as it has moment where, if it’s not ruined by players, will decently shock you a bit, but that’s really it.)
Which is mostly why Break In and The Camping Series still have players. They try to have a nice experience without any of the issues of similar games in the genre. They again, they all involve the same person in some way.
