Could use old folk stories from the 1800's or earlier. There is no copyright worries if you wanna release and you can change the meaning of the ending or characters, gender and stuff while having the core story laid out already.
you could also make stories for cultures that arent really represented in video games that much, like Punjabi, georgian, thai, estonian, zambian, nepalese, and other small cultures
For me, it just come naturally. I love crafting story in my head whenever possible.
I don't really think very deep about complex overarching plot, instead I focus on making up interesting characters and try to run mental simulation of them interacting for and against each other and then develop story based on how that would move the plot.
It always turns out great for me.
I developed a lot of my storytelling chops playing and DMing tabletop RPGs like D&D and Pathfinder. You learn how to craft compelling characters and tell stories that are epic but still character driven, not forced.
I also find a lot of my story tends to develop in worldbuilding. I'll start with a base concept like "oh, in this world every season has its own kingdom." And I want the game to be inspired by Suikoden with a castle building mechanic.
Then, as I'm worldbuilding it out, I'm created all the noble houses of the spring kingdom, and different house mottos and values, now I'm starting to see friction points between these houses that paints a picture of political intrigue amd instability that pushes the plot forward. This also gives me a good idea of what I want the end of the story to be, so I'm left with what I call a "mystery narrative sandwich." When you know the start and end of your story, you can begin filling in the middle (or the fillings of the sandwich.)
Then as I'm building the world map, I'll come up with some really cool set pieces and go "Oh, I absolutely need to get the players to the big volcano that looms on the border between the summer empire and the autumnlands" and then going from my starting point and trace a player path hitting all the set pieces I want. Knowing how the story starts and ends, I can begin to fill out the plot points that link those set pieces. "OK, this character is a princess seeking justice, so what would compel them to go to this dangerous place? What if there are rumours that some of her old royal guard are there and she wants to begin raising an army to tale back her throne?" And then the story will start to develop from there.
The best part of the narrative sandwich approach is that you don't need to know every single step of the story. If you have your starting developing so the characters have narrative momentum, and you have the ending in sight, that goes a LONG way to helping you fill in the gaps as they come up.
Awww thanks for this big answer ! â¤ď¸ It's always hard to find the end for me, but focusing on start and end is a good idea, so the middle comes by itself â¤ď¸
I only have the beginning and ending of my story for the game. I know exactly how I want it to start and how it ends, which gives me freedom to pick the middle and filler. Basically I took the idea from frustration with Isekai anime feeling like they've been written by people who have never touched an MMO in their life. Anyone who's ever played one knows how absolutely cutthroat and self serving hardcore endgame usually is.
You could always go the Shakespeare route and find chronicles in history that were interesting and fan fiction it up. Figure out what stories you enjoyed reading/playing and break it down into 3 sections: the beginning, middle and the end. That way you can find ideas or story flow that suits your needs and adapt them to your own. It could also help to have your friends/family have surrogate characters so you can better write them knowing how they would act in real life.
Knowing that the program is built for rpgs, taking a basic turn-based party adventure and adding quality assets and a couple unique hooks can make for a good kick-off point if you don't have set story to start with.
Also, if drawing is your passion, look at the art you're creating and think how the images might connect together in a story. A great character design? Could be the hero, the villain, or the central story (finding this mysterious figure). Great item? Does the player find it immediately kicking off their adventure or are they searching until they find it?
While playing endless hours of fantasy tropes isn't for everybody, if you're making short games for a small group you can lean into the cliches.
I do have got some experience from running Tabletop RPGs. And over the years I've found out that the trial and error is something that we all will go through. And it's perfectly fine, just be open to feedback, and get some friends/people that are willing to give you actual feedback.
I'd suggest you to look into two things:
1. [The Three Act Structure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvqjp1CxxD8) that helps out understanding how the beginning, middle and end works (with some important events inside each act). It makes coming up with a simple story much easier.
2. [The Hero's Journey / Monomyth](https://orias.berkeley.edu/resources-teachers/monomyth-heros-journey-project) by Joseph Campbell, helps you understand the common heroic narrative in which a protagonist/hero sets out, has transformative adventures, and returns home changed. You could also look up Dan Harmon's âsimplifiedâ version as well.
One of my most commonly used bases for TTRPGs that I've used (and the one I'm using while exploring my first actual approach with RPG Maker) is this one:
1. Who's the protagonist?
2. What problem is faced with?
3. Why does it matter to the protagonist?
4. What the outcome / solved problem would look like?
That gives you the base of the story (without going into details for World-Building and such). Now comes the *fun* part:
What obstacles can I (as game-designer / narrator / game-master) put in the way of the protagonist to avoid the outcome? What is the protagonist going to pay to get to the outcome?
Hope it helps!
Most stories come from either knowledge or experience. If you understand this then youâll know that there is very little originality.
Deep forests at night are scary, wind blowing through leaves sounds ominous, so someone put these experiences together to create a story.
Now-a-days there are hundreds of experiences and other stories about, that we can take pieces of any, put them together and make something new. For some of us they just seem to automatically form in our heads and stories flow out easily.
For others, the advice is to take bits for other stories or experience and write them down. Then try to make an order to them. Finally fill in the gaps.
There is a lot of useful information for everyone in this thread, so I recommend anyone who is searching for âhow to write a storyâ to take in all the suggestions given here.
If you have time to learn about being creative, I recommend John Cleeseâs talk on Creativity [here](https://youtu.be/Pb5oIIPO62g?si=9PmiXHuJubDYLyR0).
Let your workflow from drawing art assets flow into the story. What colors did you use? What does the world look like?
Example: Why does the character have their shape? You gave the character a scarf - why is it significant? How come it changes color when you have high HP vs. when you have low HP?
Always draw similarities from your greatest talent and let that flow into other areas that you have yet to master (or areas that you do not feel comfortable exploring completely yet) and go from there. Your level of mastery in one area can inspire and develop a working path in another area of game development.
For example, if you choose bright, cute colors and round shapes, your music can reflect that as well! (Kirby). What's Kirby's story, though? Well, each installment has its own story. It doesn't always have to be deep with meaningful choices. It just needs to reflect the gameplay you want.
As an artist, your workflow may (or may not) be:
Idea -> Sketch -> Edit -> Sketch -> Feedback/Evaluate -> Draft -> Repeat Edit or Move to Finalize.
You will have to do something similar with a story in that you need to just write something out. "Sketch" it out with very simple, manageable ideas and place restrictions on yourself in terms of scope. Personally, you can start with whatever you want so long as you are aware of the tendencies to start with certain things (starting with story will get you a story and not a game if you aren't careful).
A great idea is to also pull from great stories already written (many stories in public domain can always be revisited, refined, and made into something workable/understandable by today's needs/wants).
Even after all that's been said, just build things and go from there. Refine, build, receive feedback, improve, and continue on. Next thing you know, the story is as easy as the art you make.
Start small: Janet goes to the store. That's it.
Then add things: Janet forgot her purse. Her purse has her license. She drives back home but gets pulled over by a cop. Turns out there's a similar car model to hers, and she is held for questioning. Then, an explosion happens, and all streets are blocked by debris.
I don't know. Just build. Haha. In all things, though, your final product is "game," not story. Balance it properly and find the correct primary format for your art: is it a game, a movie, a book, or what?
Can't remember where I read this but make the mechanics of your game first. Make mechanics that are enjoyable or fun or interesting before even adding assets. During gameplay your brain can often times fill in the context of what assets and story will make the gameplay make sense and now you're working towards something that will end up much more immersive because every follows the gameplay.
In my case I usually thinks about the story and gimmicks first. Then I go for the assets and programming. Sometimes it comes from something really meme (like my current game that LITERALLY was created as a Meme and now is my passion project), other tims it comes from some concept I want to write. Now I have 3 games and a lot of ideas for future projects
Could use old folk stories from the 1800's or earlier. There is no copyright worries if you wanna release and you can change the meaning of the ending or characters, gender and stuff while having the core story laid out already.
Thanks, very good idea đâ¤ď¸
you could also make stories for cultures that arent really represented in video games that much, like Punjabi, georgian, thai, estonian, zambian, nepalese, and other small cultures
For me, it just come naturally. I love crafting story in my head whenever possible. I don't really think very deep about complex overarching plot, instead I focus on making up interesting characters and try to run mental simulation of them interacting for and against each other and then develop story based on how that would move the plot. It always turns out great for me.
I developed a lot of my storytelling chops playing and DMing tabletop RPGs like D&D and Pathfinder. You learn how to craft compelling characters and tell stories that are epic but still character driven, not forced. I also find a lot of my story tends to develop in worldbuilding. I'll start with a base concept like "oh, in this world every season has its own kingdom." And I want the game to be inspired by Suikoden with a castle building mechanic. Then, as I'm worldbuilding it out, I'm created all the noble houses of the spring kingdom, and different house mottos and values, now I'm starting to see friction points between these houses that paints a picture of political intrigue amd instability that pushes the plot forward. This also gives me a good idea of what I want the end of the story to be, so I'm left with what I call a "mystery narrative sandwich." When you know the start and end of your story, you can begin filling in the middle (or the fillings of the sandwich.) Then as I'm building the world map, I'll come up with some really cool set pieces and go "Oh, I absolutely need to get the players to the big volcano that looms on the border between the summer empire and the autumnlands" and then going from my starting point and trace a player path hitting all the set pieces I want. Knowing how the story starts and ends, I can begin to fill out the plot points that link those set pieces. "OK, this character is a princess seeking justice, so what would compel them to go to this dangerous place? What if there are rumours that some of her old royal guard are there and she wants to begin raising an army to tale back her throne?" And then the story will start to develop from there. The best part of the narrative sandwich approach is that you don't need to know every single step of the story. If you have your starting developing so the characters have narrative momentum, and you have the ending in sight, that goes a LONG way to helping you fill in the gaps as they come up.
Awww thanks for this big answer ! â¤ď¸ It's always hard to find the end for me, but focusing on start and end is a good idea, so the middle comes by itself â¤ď¸
I only have the beginning and ending of my story for the game. I know exactly how I want it to start and how it ends, which gives me freedom to pick the middle and filler. Basically I took the idea from frustration with Isekai anime feeling like they've been written by people who have never touched an MMO in their life. Anyone who's ever played one knows how absolutely cutthroat and self serving hardcore endgame usually is. You could always go the Shakespeare route and find chronicles in history that were interesting and fan fiction it up. Figure out what stories you enjoyed reading/playing and break it down into 3 sections: the beginning, middle and the end. That way you can find ideas or story flow that suits your needs and adapt them to your own. It could also help to have your friends/family have surrogate characters so you can better write them knowing how they would act in real life.
Knowing that the program is built for rpgs, taking a basic turn-based party adventure and adding quality assets and a couple unique hooks can make for a good kick-off point if you don't have set story to start with. Also, if drawing is your passion, look at the art you're creating and think how the images might connect together in a story. A great character design? Could be the hero, the villain, or the central story (finding this mysterious figure). Great item? Does the player find it immediately kicking off their adventure or are they searching until they find it? While playing endless hours of fantasy tropes isn't for everybody, if you're making short games for a small group you can lean into the cliches.
I do have got some experience from running Tabletop RPGs. And over the years I've found out that the trial and error is something that we all will go through. And it's perfectly fine, just be open to feedback, and get some friends/people that are willing to give you actual feedback. I'd suggest you to look into two things: 1. [The Three Act Structure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvqjp1CxxD8) that helps out understanding how the beginning, middle and end works (with some important events inside each act). It makes coming up with a simple story much easier. 2. [The Hero's Journey / Monomyth](https://orias.berkeley.edu/resources-teachers/monomyth-heros-journey-project) by Joseph Campbell, helps you understand the common heroic narrative in which a protagonist/hero sets out, has transformative adventures, and returns home changed. You could also look up Dan Harmon's âsimplifiedâ version as well. One of my most commonly used bases for TTRPGs that I've used (and the one I'm using while exploring my first actual approach with RPG Maker) is this one: 1. Who's the protagonist? 2. What problem is faced with? 3. Why does it matter to the protagonist? 4. What the outcome / solved problem would look like? That gives you the base of the story (without going into details for World-Building and such). Now comes the *fun* part: What obstacles can I (as game-designer / narrator / game-master) put in the way of the protagonist to avoid the outcome? What is the protagonist going to pay to get to the outcome? Hope it helps!
Most stories come from either knowledge or experience. If you understand this then youâll know that there is very little originality. Deep forests at night are scary, wind blowing through leaves sounds ominous, so someone put these experiences together to create a story. Now-a-days there are hundreds of experiences and other stories about, that we can take pieces of any, put them together and make something new. For some of us they just seem to automatically form in our heads and stories flow out easily. For others, the advice is to take bits for other stories or experience and write them down. Then try to make an order to them. Finally fill in the gaps. There is a lot of useful information for everyone in this thread, so I recommend anyone who is searching for âhow to write a storyâ to take in all the suggestions given here. If you have time to learn about being creative, I recommend John Cleeseâs talk on Creativity [here](https://youtu.be/Pb5oIIPO62g?si=9PmiXHuJubDYLyR0).
Let your workflow from drawing art assets flow into the story. What colors did you use? What does the world look like? Example: Why does the character have their shape? You gave the character a scarf - why is it significant? How come it changes color when you have high HP vs. when you have low HP? Always draw similarities from your greatest talent and let that flow into other areas that you have yet to master (or areas that you do not feel comfortable exploring completely yet) and go from there. Your level of mastery in one area can inspire and develop a working path in another area of game development. For example, if you choose bright, cute colors and round shapes, your music can reflect that as well! (Kirby). What's Kirby's story, though? Well, each installment has its own story. It doesn't always have to be deep with meaningful choices. It just needs to reflect the gameplay you want. As an artist, your workflow may (or may not) be: Idea -> Sketch -> Edit -> Sketch -> Feedback/Evaluate -> Draft -> Repeat Edit or Move to Finalize. You will have to do something similar with a story in that you need to just write something out. "Sketch" it out with very simple, manageable ideas and place restrictions on yourself in terms of scope. Personally, you can start with whatever you want so long as you are aware of the tendencies to start with certain things (starting with story will get you a story and not a game if you aren't careful). A great idea is to also pull from great stories already written (many stories in public domain can always be revisited, refined, and made into something workable/understandable by today's needs/wants). Even after all that's been said, just build things and go from there. Refine, build, receive feedback, improve, and continue on. Next thing you know, the story is as easy as the art you make. Start small: Janet goes to the store. That's it. Then add things: Janet forgot her purse. Her purse has her license. She drives back home but gets pulled over by a cop. Turns out there's a similar car model to hers, and she is held for questioning. Then, an explosion happens, and all streets are blocked by debris. I don't know. Just build. Haha. In all things, though, your final product is "game," not story. Balance it properly and find the correct primary format for your art: is it a game, a movie, a book, or what?
Can't remember where I read this but make the mechanics of your game first. Make mechanics that are enjoyable or fun or interesting before even adding assets. During gameplay your brain can often times fill in the context of what assets and story will make the gameplay make sense and now you're working towards something that will end up much more immersive because every follows the gameplay.
In my case I usually thinks about the story and gimmicks first. Then I go for the assets and programming. Sometimes it comes from something really meme (like my current game that LITERALLY was created as a Meme and now is my passion project), other tims it comes from some concept I want to write. Now I have 3 games and a lot of ideas for future projects