Chapter 4. Storytelling and Narrative

Stories are as old as communication itself. Since the first protohominids daubed their paintings on the rough walls of their caves, stories have been told. Stories and games have been intertwined to varying degrees for almost as long.

Computer games generally have some sort of story attached to them as well. Sometimes it is a one-paragraph backstory. In other cases, it's a fully integrated story line—where the game is the story.

In this chapter, we discuss some guidelines for constructing compelling stories and integrating them into game designs. To some extent, the importance of story integration is dependent on the type of game you are designing: Some games require more integration than others. For example, ...

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