Hey Guys,

this is my first post in this forum, so please don't be too strict with me. Also I hope that you can understand me, english is not my native language and I am still learning it.

I hope this is the right section for my topic. If not, I hope someone can move it to the right place.

But now my question.

I finished a few little game projects in the last years by just taking some notes of what the game should be about and other key data. That worked out perfectly, but now I am working on a much much bigger project. It may be a little too big for me, but if I can't finish it, that is not so bad, because I am doing it to learn things.

So this is the first time I have to write a full Game Design Document. And I am struggling at the Story part. The game is an open world game, and the player starts with nothing than a little hint that leads to the main story. But the Player don't has to follow that hint. He can talk with other npc's experiencing other adventures. He can even turn into a bad guy so I don't know what the player will do and when he will do it.

So how the hell do I write that story down? Is there a common system for Storys like mine?

I hope you can help me.

Best regards,

Tobi

In your typical open world game there are several triggers" (people, signs, etc.) scattered around the world that the player can use to start a plot thread, or "quest" as many would call it. The quest's plot would be advanced by the player's actions. Some quests could have branching, where the player can do different things to do get different outcomes in the quest's plot. Quests may also change the world some way, which may include the availability of other quests.

For your example, you would write several stories, each triggered from a different place in the world. One of these stories is the main story, and the player finds it by following the hint given at the beginning. One other story/quest may be the one that starts the player on the path of becoming the bad guy.

Write a skeleton of a story that suggests the story given the player sticking strictly to the main story path. Then write diverging trees off of this path to indicate other choices the player may make at given intervals in the story. Then you can decide how "open" you will allow the game; will you let the player completely skip the main story or will there be some point at which you hand over the reigns to them. As can be seen in a game like Skyrim, sometimes too much choice and freedom can actually slow a story down. Does it still make for an enjoyable game? Sure, but there is something to be said for pulling the player back into a story at a certain point, as even Skyrim attempts to do at times with events such as a dragon coming down from the sky to pull you into conflict.

I'm not saying it's wrong to make the story optional, but I'm saying think about how much you will allow the player to stray and adjust your game's story accordingly.