How Game Designers Tell Stories

By Jennifer Marie Anderson


In this day and age, video games have become nothing short of exciting storytelling vehicles. It's a great way for creators to bring their ideas to life, through the art of interaction, and to say that game design holds popularity would be an understatement. With that said, though, I think that it's important to talk about how stories can be told through gaming. To better understand this unique topic, here are a few points that are worth discussing.

One of the ways for storytelling to occur, in game design, is with actions. Sometimes, a game can tell so little and yet convey a tremendous amount of detail. Many independent developers have been able to overcome the hurdles of big budget costs and the like by simply using their games to present narratives. Many of these titles - "Thomas Was Alone" being one of the more streamlined examples - have gone on to become favorites amongst gamers. This is just one of the many talking points to be illustrated by any Long Island advertising agency.

Of course, established companies with greater budgets have an easier time creating stories. "The Last of Us," while strong in terms of gameplay, presented a story of loss and tragedy that helped players empathize with characters. They wanted to see the characters in question succeed at survival, before reaching a conclusion that any user could be satisfied with. It felt like watching a movie, in some cases, rendering the sense of immersion that much stronger.

Creativity matters, more than anything else, which is something that students in various art colleges will become familiar with. This is no different in the field of game design, either, meaning that it's of the utmost importance to focus on all of the moving parts of game design as a whole. Even if someone doesn't have technological savvy on their side, creative genius through way of storyboard construction can still prove to be useful. Simply put, if one isn't creative, he or she might not thrive in this field.

Without question, storytelling has become one of the most essential components of game design. If it isn't set in place, depending on the genre, players have a difficult time connecting with what's being presented to them. More than anything else, it feels like conducting actions simply for the sake of seeing the end; this should never be the case. Game design is meant to immerse others, and one of the ways to do this is the creation of effective narratives.




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