Research

Research - How Game Designers Use Story to Improve Gameplay Experience


A lot of the time, games designers use narration as a form of storytelling. They will start the game with a cutscene that is interesting to watch, which will have a narrator or the main character's voice speaking to explain current situations in-game, or the back story of the game's history. Sometimes, the story can be told by items picked up in game, such as in Resident Evil you can find journals which have nuggets of information in them. The way that the story is played can improve gameplay by telling you exactly what is going on and placing you squarely into the game.

The journals in Resident Evil. A screen comes up when you want to read them. In other games, the story is spoken whilst you are playing so it is possible to miss things. There are even still more ways, there could be sections in the menu specifically for learning the story, such as a 'library' to look through at various pieces of information.












Depending on the style of the game and the player's preferences, certain games and types of games may appeal more. To a first-person shooter fan, a game like Call of Duty (which is a first-person shooter or "FPS") would be ideal and on that basis alone it would probably be enjoyable for that person, sometimes regardless of the quality. However, if a person does not have any preferences when it comes to games, then the game's style has no impact on whether the player will enjoy it. It is then up to the game itself to be a good game of its kind.
It is still true, however, that a game can be so unenjoyable that the player would rather play different games even if this unenjoyable game is their preferred type of game.

Sometimes in a game, there are many background images/scenes and objects that do not particularly influence the game directly, but do enhance the gameplay. If a game has well-drawn or painted backgrounds, the player may feel as if they are more 'into' the game than if it was sloppily drawn. Also, if a character looks better and more detailed, the player may subliminally think higher of that character (or lower, depending on if the character is good or bad). An example of good artwork in games is the Street Fighter franchise. They are known for their artistic approach to the characters and scenes. This may not seem like the main pulling power, but it is definitely one of the iconic parts of the games.

This is an example of artwork of the Street Fighter games. Very different to other fighting games.







Some games like to show emotion. In a game, it can be hard to show emotion, as to convey emotion you would need to hear a voice clearly, see a face's reactions, and see any hand gestures they may make. This can be hard or tedious to programme into a game, so it may not be worth it in some developers' eyes.