Android Game Development: All About Storylines

Statistics say 61% of people find value in a game with a good story. The statistic is stated to draw your attention to one of the important factors that makes a game a winner that is the narrative or the script. Yes, video games have become a great medium of storytelling. A gripping story of a game intrigues the gamers just like an interesting book or a stellar movie that fascinates a reader or the audience. It is an immersive experience that a player asks of a game.

The PRE-PRODUCTION PHASE is the first phase of android game development where the script for a video game, the dialogues, the character creation, worldbuilding, etc. are framed. It involves belief, value, experience, interpretation, or simply content. Storylines in video games is a piece of fiction that can be experienced and focuses on a series of linked incidents with the purpose of invoking an after effect. H. Porter Abbott, a professor Emeritus of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara gave an appropriate and simple definition for narration in 1978, “the representation of an event, or a series of events”.

When we start upon an interesting story, we want to finish it, like starting a novel and being curious to know the closing. Similarly, it is the need to know what happens in the next-level of the game is what makes players stay. 

A game app developers principal objective is to create a game that is interesting and entertaining for a player. Nevertheless, the narrative gives meaning to the game and helps the player understand the game better while giving him the chance to be a part of the story as the main character with other minor characters along. If the story is not catchy, the gamers have the tendency to quit halfway while narrative based games have a higher completion rate. 

“Designers and developers need to be able to think like storytellers”, quoted Emily Ronan. The story makes a game hit rather than the technical aspects. While integrating a narrative into the game production, a designer or developer has to take into consideration the needs of gameplay. In-game storytelling should contribute to a more immersive and satisfying video game experience while also encouraging skills that come as useful to players. There are expectations of long-term work on narration in video games for yielding promising opportunities.

Storytelling is a critical part of any video game and is expressed in two styles - Videos and Animation which are supported by dialogue, sound effects, and player’s actions. Aristotle’s concept of narrative is that a story must have 

• a beginning - where a problem is encountered

• a middle, in which the characters struggle to overcome the problem, and

• an end in which the problem is resolved (happy ending is what you call it as)

  .

Image caption: Diagram image of the elements of a plot.
Image source: Pinnguaq Association 

Science says, humans engage with a well-told story. The narrative-driven video games make profit as people enjoy stories. A human’s brain places itself inside the story and this is how one lives the story. We are biologically and neurologically wired to connect with stories. The video game stories give the player a fixed beginning, a narrative pathway to follow, and a predetermined ending. Players tend to not return to games that lack a narrative structure. 

The internet has made stories more accessible, important, and interactive. From 1962, when the first video game was made until today, the world has come a long way. It has become technology-dependent, advanced, and more evolved and so have the video games. While we have just been talking about the narrative-focused video games, there are a few others that do not require a story or context. Types like sandbox games, sports games, and simulation games fall into that category.

Types of storytelling in gaming

The story that the video game bears has two parts - first is the structure and these structures are connected to form a plot and second is the execution bit. There are different types of storytelling methods used in games - 

LINEAR (one path) - In linear storytelling, the story moves directly from one event in the same direction without any deviation, flashbacks, or skipping ahead. This type of storytelling involves zero interaction of the player with the game’s story and thus the player is unable to authorize how the story plays out. Rather, the developer of the designer is the one who dictates the story as it was written. Examples, The Walking Dead, The secret of Monkey Island, and Mass Effect Games.

STRING OF PEARLS (also known as ‘rivers and lakes’) is the narrative structure where the story is told in a linear style but the player is given some freedom to control the storyline. This is the most popular narrative type used in video games especially in role-playing games where pieces are usually text and cutscenes. The scenes have little to no effect over the plot of the storyline.

FULLY BRANCHING STORY is the third type of storytelling where a gamer’s choices are focused on and that dictates the plot, characters, and the ending in the game world. This narrative gives the players choices and every choice takes them to a different chapter.

AMUSEMENT PARK MODEL is a lot like the branching story model and allows the players to get at the story by exploring rather than by completing missions. This type of model is used in Open world games. 

CUTSCENES are stories that are exhibited in the form of a short cinematic that combines dialogue and action to keep the player in action just like movies. They  break the gameplay.

TEXT BLOCK - The most basic-level storytelling in the video game industry. Blocks of text convey plot and are used to give context to the player.

NON-LINEAR NARRATIVE - Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end except for a non-linear narrative. To go against the chronological order is strange but is achieved through flashbacks, flashforwards, flashshadowing, and dream sequences. It can come as a challenge to pull off this kind of storytelling by incorporating different time periods into your story but if done right it can add depth into the character and the game.

Storylines in games ensure interaction between the player and game through the human interface device (a mouse and a keyboard or a controller) and yes, that impacts the gameplay and the narration. It is the foundation of the gaming world. It makes the player a part of the narrative and allows them to identify and understand the player character better.

Story-based games are on the rise as games have become an interactive medium that opens up a world of possibilities for narration. Game designers and developers don’t just tell a story, but they craft characters and design worlds. They are using technology to execute stories in new and creative ways. Logic Simplified, a game development company is based out of Dehradun and its efficient developers don’t just specialize in crafting unity android games, android 2d game, C++ android game, android game in java, etc. but are capable of giving life to your video game story.