Pitfall #3: Character Development; Attachment & Detachment
In every great story, there is at least one character we love. We can't imagine reading, or watching this story unfold without this character. The character makes us laugh, and cry, feel happy for them at times, and sorry for them at others. This is what I call Character Attachment, and is a very important factor in character development. And funnily enough, sometimes we feel for a character that we didn't care much for to begin with.
Squaresoft did this beautifully with the death of Aeris. I can't speak for everyone, but *I* didn't care much for her during the storyline. While she was a decent character, I personally felt that after the adventure began she was rather shallow, and I lost interest in her. But then Sephiroth went and killed her, and while Cloud didn't shed a single tear, we could
feel the sadness that he emitted, the anger that he felt during that scene. We wanted to go into the game and kill Sephiroth ourselves, and ask him why he did it, and kill him again.
And that was our (unknown) attachment to Aeris. We loved her for what she was, and while we didn't care for her much during the storyline, we definitely didn't want her dead.
The flipside of this is detachment. Using Final Fantasy VII again, we felt detached to certain characters whose presence was awkwardly accepted, at best. Cait Sith is a great example--sure, he's not a bad character, but if Sephiroth would have killed Cait Sith, it wouldn't have mattered what music Squaresoft played during the scene. No one would have really felt sorrow, or cared at all.
Now, a different example from another game, is Crono from Chrono Trigger (SNES). To me, Crono sort of served as a vessel and leader of a group of interesting and diverse characters, from Frog and Magus, to Ayla and Marla. However, because Crono himself doesn't utter a single word, nor does he emit any sort of emotion at any point in the game,
we can't help but feel detached from him during the story. It's not even a conscious matter (which is evident from the death of Aeris), and the fact that this choice isn't conscious is important in itself.
So in our stories, do we feel that our characters are likeable? And not only likeable, but do they arouse an emotion inside of us
at some point? Read about human emotion and how/when it arises. Think about different movies, television shows, animes and video games that made you feel a certain way. How many of us felt like we were on the edge of our seat while watching Braveheart?
How many of us cried at the
end of Titanic,
even though most of the rest of the movie was light-hearted and fun? (Psst: Titanic is a great example of plots, subplots, and plots within those subplots. Watch it again, and you'll see what I mean.)
Pitfall #2: Closed-ended Storylines, and End-All Be-All Endings
One of the magical things about a game such as Final Fantasy X is that the ending involved Tidus swimming to a shore, after he was sent off to Dream Zanarkand. Sin was destroyed, and we knew that Tidus was alive, and somewhere in Spira, but we just don't know where. And the story closed out, and we had to wait until Final Fantasy X-2 came out and shell out another $49.99 to find out what happened.
The fantastic thing about not having an open-ended storyline is the buzz that it generates on online websites and forums. It's sort of like when a season of a television show is over--the very next day, the forums are alive with predictions and suppositions; Who is going to die, how and why they will die, etc.
Open-ended storyline generates hype and buzz. At the end of an episode of anime, or a good television series, you are feeling a myriad of emotion and mental stimulation. For example:
- a) You are distressed because you want the show to continue.
- b) You are excited to find out how the show will continue.
- c) You are thinking about the variable possibilities of the show.
- d) You are wondering how the show will end.
- e) Etc, etc.
How can we apply this to our home-made video games?
While I certainly don't suggest making someone play your game for 40+ hours and not giving them
something that can constitute as an ending (even if you leave a few threads of storyline available for a future edition), I generally always suggest that you end your
demo at a climactic point in the storyline.
For example, which one of these two endings would leave you feeling more apprehensive and mentally stimulated?
1) Jack enters the Cave of Truth, in which he will find out that his wife is actually not deceased, but a leading member of an anti-government organization that is conspiring to destroy the CIA and all of its super operatives. Jack's wife leaves a biologically enhanced monster to kill Jack, and crosses Jack off her list. Jack fights the monster and wins.
End of demo
Or:
2) Later in the storyline, Jack is searching for his ex-wife's secret organization to destroy them once and for all. While he is closing in on the base, he opens a door to find his children, alive, bound and gagged with a gun pointed to their heads.
"Move and I'll shoot, you son of a bitch!"
End of demo
While I can't speak for everyone, I think the second one would make a much better ending to a current demo, even if you have more storyline already developed. Your players will definitely remember your storyline, and you better believe that they will be clamoring for an update sooner rather than later. And you can even start a thread to have them "suggest" what happens next (generate more buzz on your game) and predict the ending, etc.
In saying that, why do I see that most demos end the first way? It's something of a mystery to me, and should be corrected, for your fans' sake! Think about the ending of a great Bleach, or Heroes episode---it ends on a cliffhanger, and you're clamoring for the next episode!
Pitfall #1: Static, and slow, story development.
Finally, this is the most common problem with stories on the market today, both novice-created and published/released. It is the rate, and flow, of which the story is being unfolded. This pitfall
not only applies to big-name RPGs, including Final Fantasy VIII, parts of IX; it also applies to many books (Lord of the Rings, amongst others), movies (Rendition, amongst others) television shows/animes (Dragon Ball Z; Lost; amongst others), and pretty much any medium that tells a story is susceptible to this pitfall.
As I stated at the start of this article, RPGs are doing so well because of the story they are trying to portray. If, for whatever reason, this storyline becomes boring, hard-to-follow, or generally loses the interest of the player, they are very, very likely to stop playing your game. Period. It may only be for a period of time, or it may be indefinite. Let's look at an example which is sure to cause a stir of memories: Xenosaga: Episode I.
Xenosaga is the sequel to the underrated, and much sought after (especially now!) PSOne hit Xenogears. Xenosaga was HUGELY anticipated by it's fans, and it offers over 20 hours of awesome-looking CGI-animation cutscene (Yes. 20. Hours. Of. Movie.) Now, because they are offering so much storyline, you would figure that they have an exciting, and interesting story that will grip you from the beginning and won't let go until you are watching the ending credits.
Wrong. In fact, almost from the beginning, the whole storyline is a snoozefest. This is a shame, because it was originally slated to boost sales of the PS3 by releasing six parts of the storyline: 3 on the PS2, and 3 on the PS3. We would play the first three parts, clamor for more, and buy a PS3 along with the next three parts. However, because of the failure of Episode 1, the idea was scrapped, and they hastily told the story in the following two parts. In fact, the failure of Episode I lowered the sales of the succeeding episodes, which in itself is a shame...because the succeeding two games are where the storyline picks itself up.
For our purposes, stagnation in our storyline will be slightly difficult to diagnose, but it is possible. One idea I had to find out where your storyline lose steam:
Ask fellow members to "beta-test" your game. Then, ask them to record on paper at what point they start playing, how long they play, and at what point they stop playing. Of course, the next time they play they will record the dates and times they begin playing again. This is an example of how this would work:
October 1, 2008
9:00 AM
Start playing: Beginning.
11:30 AM
End playing: After I defeated the robot and recovered the scrap metal.
October 1, 2008
12:30 PM
Start playing: Use the scrap metal to build the airship.
1:00 PM
End playing: Have access to the airship, not sure where to go.
October 3, 2008
4:00PM
Start playing: Have access to the airship, found out where to go
11:00PM
End playing: Beat the game, ending credits.
With this (horribly narrated) example, we can see that they played the game for two and-a-half hours. The plowed through the beginning, and we can assume that they enjoyed the game until they defeat the robot, and recovered the scrap metal. For some reason, at this point, they found something better to do with their time (maybe lunch-time?) but returned an hour later to build an airship with the scrap metal. Half an hour later, they had no idea what to do with the airship, and didn't play for two days.
Then, on October 3rd, they found some time in their afternoon---found out what to do to continue the storyline, and played the game for 7 hours straight until they beat it. We can assume, then, that this game needs some revision between having access to the airship and the next event, which might be to return to the characters hometown to show it off to his friends. Since we never made it clear to the player, they lost interest at this point and decide that they have better things to do with their time---and ultimately, they don't think highly of your game.
Many stories encounter some of these problems at some point, and it's important to correct the problem as soon as it turns up. Sometimes, it's a simple solution or tweaking---however, some storyline problems can take days to plan out and apply. The most important thing is to make sure that the characters remain true to themselves, and remember:
they are their own being. A character will grow as the storyline moves on....he may have been talking about saving the world at the onset of the game, but he's beginning to realize the price that his family will pay at the expense of his meandering.
Hope this helped!
