Building Elements: Gameplay, Story and World Design

Video Games are the convergence of three elements: gameplay, story and world. Gameplay is everything that the player provides to the game; the world is everything that the game provides to the player. Story is the sum of motivations that drive a player to play; these goals can be both internal and external to the game.

For example, Tetris’ world is the colored pieces and square board. Gameplay is controlling the movement of the pieces. The story is the high score board, or any other goals for which the player plays the game. Games need to motivate players; but at the same time, they should be fun without requiring motivation. In Tetris or Guitar Hero, the player can play without goals, just to enjoy the experience.

An excellent game needs to have a well developed gameplay, story and world. BioShock’s success can be attributed to these three elements; the art-deco underwater utopia of Rapture provided a world that actually engaged the player; posters, statues and banners defined BioShock where other games are lost in monotony. With a good foundation, the story could blossom; well developed characters like Andrew Ryan, drove the player to unravel the mystery and finish the game. However, these two elements would be useless if the player did not actually enjoy playing the game; the solid combat system challenged the player, requiring him or her to develop a way to play with plasmids and tonics, rather than the standard run and gun experience. While BioShock is far from perfect (it suffers in its linear level design) the game established solid gameplay, world and story elements, engaging the player to play.

Games, ultimately, need to be enjoyed; through the dialectic of challenge and reward, the player is engaged and immersed in the world created. Granting the player the ability to control how he plays, what his goals are, and how he impacts the world around him, provides a greater level of success achievable by the player. The following three essays discuss ways in which these goals can be achieved.