Does the game really need a story?

[Drury]

/I made this a separate thread because I don't mean to crash the stickied one with my crappy opinions.

/it's a really good fanfic btw

So I recently watched this talk by Rami Ismail of Vlambeer, a small indie developer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gs-0Bsw7fQ

In case you don't want to watch it for whatever reason, lack of time, incentive, care, whatever, here's the gist:

There are two parts to a videogame from a storytelling perspective:

1. Narrative
2. Fiction

Narrative is quite easy to explain, it's the script of a game. Factorio doesn't have this in the freeplay mode, with some traces of it in the campaign mode. It's the game explaining the things you see with some kind of pre-written story.

Fiction is the game explaining itself to you without saying a word. Factorio does this extremely well. You're a lone guy in an uncivilized world who builds scary-looking factories. The pollution of the factories pushes the planet's fauna to attack it's source, and eventually mutates it horribly, causing the attacks to grow stronger. The guy starts building machines of war to slaughter the wildlife. The natives retaliate. There's a war going on, both the factories and the bugs growing bigger and stronger. Then the game ends with the guy building and launching a space rocket.

It's a whole story without a single word uttered. It leaves much to interpretation, but at no point is the player confused why things happen the way they happen. They may question their motives, the natives'. That's perfectly fine. That's art.

Adding some sort of narrative would probably help to explain the fine details like who you are or why you are there and why nobody else is there, but then again, would it add that much to the game? Does it not already have a perfectly understandable story going on, with a proper setup, conflict, escalation and resolution? In fact, only the setup is lacking at the moment - the game just opens with you standing alone in a seemingly deserted world, without any hint of how you got there. Adding a simple spaceship wreck would round things up nicely, and at that point we could frankly call it a day. Alternatively, we could have the resolution explain the setup, where after the rocket launch, you find yourself inside the rocket, docked to a spaceship orbiting the planet. With you, inside the rocket, are 5 chests full of alien science packs. You make your way to the console, sit down, operate it for a bit and then the spaceship makes a FTL jump. The end.

Congratulations, you were a greedy poacher all along... Or were you a scientist taking samples in an extremely hostile environment? Or a stranded space traveler whose ship ran out of alien space pack fuel? Or were you just an ambitious miner hoping to exploit the planet's resources, running into bizarre alien wildlife on the way, which happened to hold the key to many advanced technologies which would help humanity to progress, forcing you to cease mining and manufacturing operations prematurely for the greater good?

And yet it's not utterly ambiguous. It raises fair questions, but still works as a proper story on it's own.

[DanGio]

"like"

[ssilk]

I think the game needs some kind of "official story". Cause otherwise the fantasies of the players goes into all directions and are not focused to one. Which doesn't mean, that other directions would not be possible then. With a good story nearly any story direction are then still possible, but they are nested into the bigger one then.

[BobMalone]

a story ? why not
a real "endgame" ? definately

[ssilk]

Oh, here are some posts lost ( see https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 10#p123220 )

[Dr. Walrus]

I think Factorio definitely does not need any more of a story than what is present in the campaign, and freeplay doesn't need any sort of structured story at all. The reason is that a story would not add anything to the game. When someone starts playing factorio they immediately begin mining and smelting and crafting in order to unlock the next technology and build the next thing. Players of a freebuilding, sandboxy game like factorio don't need to be told what to do and why they should do it, which would be the primary purpose of a story. The question of why the player is doing anything should also be answered by the player.

To many players, a story in the beginning would feel like being told what to do, or worse, hand-holding which I personally hate. And a story to explain the end of the game wouldn't make sense either, because it would feel tacked on without being part of the entire game. I .was playing a lot of minecraft when the adventure update came out which introduced and ending, and a lot of players were critical of it because it didn't integrate into the rest of the game. factorio for me has always been about the gameplay rather the narrative, and a story would muddle and overshadow the gameplay rather than enhance it

[ssilk]

Hm. A story would not be for the game itself (also, of course), but mainly for others, which want to write a own mod, scenario etc. So that they can fit into this world. Otherwise (and already like so), everyone favors his own ideas (which is then still possible), but it is much nicer, if it would be possible to fit his/her own creation into the Factorio-world.

[Kewlhotrod]

Hm. A story would not be for the game itself (also, of course), but mainly for others, which want to write a own mod, scenario etc. So that they can fit into this world. Otherwise (and already like so), everyone favors his own ideas (which is then still possible), but it is much nicer, if it would be possible to fit his/her own creation into the Factorio-world.

sure, but spending development time on story content seems like a horrible idea to me, not once have I ever thought to myself, you know what this game needs? a story.

[ssilk]

Which doesn't mean, there needs to be a "story" in game of course. I think to some kind of "official story", something, which explains, who the character is, what he really does on that planet and why, how he (and the mankind) came to this planet and when. It's only needed to mark the territory, control the borders of the game-world so that others can do a mod/scenario/whatever out of it, which plays into that world.

Otherwise there are then so many different "versions" (other mods, stories etc.) of Factorio, that the origin idea gets lost. In the end there is nothing, which is worth to be remembered, cause there is so many different stuff.

(Well of course it's quite OK to create different stuff, but there is then stuff, which plays in the Factorio-world and "other stuff". The point is: There is then not only other stuff).

[Koub]

Yeah : it just gives the answer to the question : Why am I doing all this ?

[Dr. Walrus]

Yeah : it just gives the answer to the question : Why am I doing all this ?

Speaking strictly for freeplay mode, the player doesn't need a story telling them to build a factory in order to build a factory. People build them anyways. Just like the player in gran theft auto doesn't need a story to tell them to kill random people for fun. Its just as much fun without a story.

[ssilk]

sure, but spending development time on story content seems like a horrible idea to me, not once have I ever thought to myself, you know what this game needs? a story.

It doesn't need to be game content. I remember back to StarCraft. There was a book in the game-box. A book! The book explained the whole background of StarCraft.
Nothing else is needed here.

[Drury]

Well as Rami Ismail said, Team Fortress 2 has some of the most complex backstories ever, and it's not needed in the slightest. Most of the playerbase doesn't even realize. Much like Starcraft, it's all outside the game, in comics, and has minimal impact on the actual game.

I've recently watched this one Starcraft 2 documentary where one player just about summed it up - they don't play it for graphics, those aren't that great. They don't play it for the story, that actually sucks. They play it for the game.

Not saying you can't have a game heavily built on it's narrative, but if you have a game without a story that is already good and people like it for what it is, why bother? At the end of the day, it does cost time and effort, and you can screw up very easily and then you end up retconning stuff and people stop taking it seriously, and at that point you might as well never have bothered.

[ssilk]

if you have a game without a story that is already good and people like it for what it is, why bother?

Well, it's a bit meta-discussion.
I think it's needed, cause - other than StarCraft or Team Fortress - Factorio is extremely modable. So when someone has to make a decision, like
"How should a hyperspace-device work?" for example, then he can refer to a back-story, where basic technologies are described.

Just a bad example, I'm trying to think too far into a only maybe possible future. But I think my opinion still brings in some good reason, cause let's assume it the other way: If there is no story, a modder implements hyperspace device like so, the other completely different. Now both mods became so famous, that they should be implemented into the vanialla. That is then not possible anymore, either it works like so, or like other, but it makes no sense to implement both - from the game-logic and from the pure work to implement it in two types.

Well - this is highly hypothetical of course, but look at the mods and how they are implemented: They all bring in different ideas. But if you see the game as some kind of art, well, then it is much better, if you know the basic concepts, the game is based on. (which also doesn't make that much better .)

At the end of the day, it does cost time and effort, and you can screw up very easily and then you end up retconning stuff and people stop taking it seriously, and at that point you might as well never have bothered.

I'm sure there is already some kind of back-story there, it just needs to be finished.

[SWSe]

But if you have a nice mod, does it neccessarily have to be put in the game? It might just stay that: A mod which people can use if they like. If it doesn't fit into the original universe or if later vanilla content contradicts to it, no one needs to care. And if the mod is so great, you could in many cases also just implement parts of it. The actual gameplay mechanic of the mod might still work in the game in some way.

I'd like a continuation of the campaign that exists now, but that's mainly introducing mechanics to the player somehow using a story to link everything. You're not playing it so you know how it ends, but it's also still nice to have. It puts you in special scenarios that you probably wouldn't encounter in freeplay mode, and limits the technologies you have. If the campaign gets more content, I hope there will maybe be some more details about the world, but not too many. We don't need that. It takes a lot of time and effort. If the devs come up with lots of cool stuff, they can of course put that in, too. But the game excells in it's gameplay.

[ssilk]

But if you have a nice mod, does it neccessarily have to be put in the game? It might just stay that: A mod which people can use if they like. If it doesn't fit into the original universe or if later vanilla content contradicts to it, no one needs to care. And if the mod is so great, you could in many cases also just implement parts of it. The actual gameplay mechanic of the mod might still work in the game in some way.

That is no reason not to have it. There is also no reason, that such a mod should not exist by some strange principle.

A story is a offer to a mod author. He can use it. Or not. But if he does, he is part of a bigger community.

[bobucles]

Don't underestimate the power of a good backstory to get a player pumped up.

[Drury]

Don't underestimate the power of a good backstory to get a player pumped up.

Oh definitely.

Nothing like starting each session with heavy metal.