Hmmmmm...
So, when a fan of the indie game we produced - DeadRiot - sent in a short story - fan fiction piece, our knee jerk reaction was...COOL!
And it is cool to get something like that.
However, it bugged me that it seemed like the writer of the submitted piece might have been looking for something they thought was missing. Something they wanted to know more about...
From a business perspective, I thought about the importance of some kind of a back story to your game. Is it important?
For simple games, probably not. You can also over do it and ruin a good game with too much story...unless the game is geared for that audience.
That's when my memory of countless numbers of game-based books I'd seen and (hadn't given a second thought to) came crashing into consciousness. Mostly Halo...
Game branding via non-game channels. Duh. I missed that one.
Stories bind. Stories connect. Stories entertain. Stories emotionalize. Stories immortalize. Stories make. Stories break.
That's all marketing really is - your ability to tell a damn good story, a story that impels action.
So, putting a little bit of narrative behind a game can be a great thing...if done right. If a back story creates a better connection for the players to a more intriguing in-game world, its worth the effort. Finding the right balance is the trick.
For us? A little bit of back story would be a good addition. Gonna do it.
Thanks for Reading!
IGM
*We posted the fan fiction "Head First" HERE
Thanks for sharing this for sure! I think that the piece was an excellent gesture towards the game. To me sharing art is to get a response. We don't get to pick the response, and that's part of the fun!
Your statement here was quite intriguing: "That's all marketing really is - your ability to tell a damn good story, a story that impels action." When I read it, I mentally replaced "marketing" with "making a video game." Do you think that is correct? That video games are just a medium for storytelling?
I look at Future Fighter that way, at least. The video game idea and the story came into my mind simultaneously. There really wasn't one without the other. The game was just a tactile way for me to give people the ability to interact with -- to feel -- that story. This is why I am writing a companion novel to go with the game. I hope that it will not only help gamers get into the world more but will hopefully open up other audiences to the game that may have not seen it otherwise. What do you think? Will it achieve that goal?