What elements contribute to a strong story?

I’ve been designing and collecting concept art for my game for a long time. I’ve chosen to have a story in my game. I’ve been researching games with solid plots, such as Piggy and Entry Point, but I can’t seem to come up with a strong enough plot to keep the player engaged.

My Goals for the Story

  1. To provide a connection between the player and the characters. (For example, if a character dies, the player will experience grief.)

  2. Create a thrilling story (For example, a character betrayal in which there is a whole new storyline) That was a horrible example.

  3. Backstories/Side quests that shape the main plot.

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TL;DR

For your goals: make the character(s) strongly connected to the story and make them likable, follow standard story structure and have a couple of roadblocks, use plot twists, cliffhangers, and other writing techniques to add excitement and intensity to your story, and side quests and backstories should be primarily in the exposition and the rising action. Also, some general tips: Define your character’s traits and flaws, have a moral to the story (not a necessity though), make cutscenes optional, and proofread and have other people proofread your plotline.

Here are some tips for you based on your goals:

  1. The best way to do this is to make the character(s) strongly enveloped in the story and to make them likable. A minor character won’t generate a strong reaction, and a character which the player doesn’t like (talks too much, etc…) could be a sigh of relief instead of grief when that character dies.

  2. Follow the standard story structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and finally resolution. This helps with strengthening the plotline and adding some structure to it. Also, in the rising action segment, have a couple of roadblocks (about 1-3, dependent on length) where the main character hits a roadblock. An example of this is halfway through the storyline in Entry Point. With the climax, make it where the player seems to have no hope whatsoever (but challenging, not impossible). This makes the player think that they have accomplished something great. Plot twists, cliffhangers, and other writing techniques are great ways of adding excitement and intensity to stories. The same example I stated earlier with Entry Point is also a plot twist. Another thing I’ll like to add, have one or multiple antagonist(s). Someone needs to appose the player to make it an interesting story. The player shouldn’t be able to accomplish their goals with little to no interference.

  3. Backstories are easy to fit in the exposition and you can have characters talk about their or other’s past in the rising action (preferably when it is a calmer setting). Backstories can fit nicely in the falling action and resolution to tie up loose ends. Side quests can also fit in the rising action area. Side quests shouldn’t really be used after during and after the climax.

Here are some more general tips:

  • Each character (less so on minor characters) should have defined traits and flaws. These make the characters seem more like real people than fictional. Also, in writing the main character usually has to overcome their flaw(s) to beat the antagonist and get what they want. On another topic, some situations and roadblocks only work with certain traits. A character who is feisty might try to break away from a weird and unknown group, while a character who isn’t will stay with the group to avoid conflict.

  • It’s good (but not a necessity) to have one or more moral(s) to the story. Done right, this can lead the player to ponder about it and the story the character they played went through -which in turn- makes the player remember more about the game and like it more.

  • Make cutscenes optional. Not all players are interested in the plotline and having to sit through cutscenes will just distract from the gameplay.

  • Go over your plotline and have other people proofread your plotline as well. This helps to refine it even more, makes it better, and helps to avoid mistakes and areas which aren’t interesting. With this post, I’m going over it multiple times to make sure that it is readable (I usually post stuff that is very hard to read).

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the most important thing:

make the bad guy have a reason to exist

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Thank you for this very detailed checklist. It really helps me a lot with the story I’m making.