Your Indie Game’s Story (probably) Sucks

[@atticuskelem347]

joke's on you buster i don't even HAVE an indie game. It has me

[@EzoTheviewer]

And we have eachother ❤❤❤

[@Plide]

In Soviet Russia, indie games develop YOU!

[@seangdovic4967]

Personally, I think the solution to storytelling in video games is to not think of it as a balance between gameplay and story. Instead, merge them together and treat them as one. Tell the story through the gameplay. That is one of the goals behind the game I’m working on. The character gains the ability to bring their memories back into reality. The memory manifestation mechanic is used for puzzle solving and platforming, and additionally, it tells the story of the character’s life directly through the gameplay interaction of remembering. I hope to see more developers push the boundaries of what can be said/felt/explored through gameplay rather than relying completely on traditional storytelling methods.

[@Road_to_Dawn]

That sounds awesome! In the game I’m planning, the player character is made up of multiple characters inhabiting the same body, with each one giving you a different ability kind of like a Metroidvania. The player will start out with only a few, but throughout the game, will recover more and more of these characters. That was the basic idea the game was started with, and I’m working on brainstorming a story around that. I’m thinking the character had all these personalities to begin with, but the villain broke her and locked different her different personalities away, so she needs to recover them to be whole again. Now the thing that I just realized today, is that this would be one of the few cases I could justify using the common amnesia trope, if we consider that maybe her memories are scattered among her missing personalities! I’m not sure I want to go in that direction, because I’d rather have them be an established character from the beginning, but the possibility is there!

[@frol3z]

Your art is insanely good c:

[@apoxfox]

@@frol3z you’re too kind! Thank you :D

[@spindash64]

5:00 i think the _dragon_ is the one that needs saving, if we're gonna use this specific princess...

[@Plide]

Another important part of story endings is music. Super Mario 64's ending is basic in narrative, but the ending song is top-notch, which has made it one of the most iconic endings for me. Music can create a lot of memories, so if you had an amazing ending song with an already amazing ending, it's even better!

[@CuBernu]

I appreciate you being so willing to give us examples from your own creative process in your videos. Just starting out with game dev is really overwhelming at times (coming from someone who is just starting) so hearing someone's perspective who is a lot further down the line but still remembers the learning curve and wants to help those of us who are brand new is really cool to see. Lovely video, thank you!

[@apoxfox]

that’s so nice! game dev can be challenging, but it’s a lot better when you realize you aren’t alone in this journey. best of luck with your projects!

[@Boomblox5896]

I've played some indie games before that have great story and balance it just fine with the gameplay. Even in a minimalist type of story, there can be a great amount of emotion conveyed through artstyle and music (one of the games I played focused on art and music, and it was amazing).

[@PieYT]

So hyped to play your game some day!!! Man, how have your videos always been so engaging and well structured... It's awesome to have been here for so long, and though I loved the game review/recommendation videos, this focus on game development has been genuinely great to watch and learn from! love the honesty about nintendo (totk) lmao

[@apoxfox]

Pie! Thanks for the kind words man 😄 as much as I will always love those videos on nostalgic games, I’ve really fallen in love with the game dev community. Thanks for being here since the beginning, when Reality Box finally releases one day I’ll make sure to personally send you a copy 🫶

[@fumetsusozo]

Personally don't think creating the gameplay first is always a requirement if some other important steps are taken beforehand. Firstly I believe any fun story will automatically produce good game ideas if you know how to translate story into interactive ideas. My opinion also is creators should purposely write stories that easily opens itself up to game concepts, and don't make a brick wall between the story & game elements as if they exist in separate realities. Everything should flow into each other naturally. For a personal example, when the main character in my adventure game project gets defeated, I don't just popup a generic gameover screen... because besides the fact I prefer whimsical ideas, I don't want the character to be able to die in lore... so instead I have a short revival minigame start up where you have to heal the character before you can continue. Anyways the point here is to just try thinking outside the box more with fusing the game & storytelling together, and don't worry about what other folk would normally do. SideNote: I actually prefer to create my character concepts first! Making flashy surreal character designs leads me into fun ideas for the other parts! xD

[@Road_to_Dawn]

I love the idea of having an alternative to the main character dying! A long time ago, I watched a couple videos talking about how death in video games doesn’t need to lead to a game over. One example was in Death Stranding, where you essentially navigate the character’s spirit back to his body to pick up where you left off. In a game I’m working on, the theme is about partners. And when run out of energy and would “die”, your character’s partner has to teleport in and refill your energy, and the penalty for death is that you have to play a short minigame about charting the partner’s teleportation path to the player.

[@fumetsusozo]

​@@Road_to_Dawn That is actually not crazy far off from my own idea! I have the MC upon defeat get transported back to the last safe zone check point by their minion within a brief cut-scene. Afterwards they take the unconscious MC, and start the minigame that heals their damage. But I gotta admit I am currently bit lost how to handle lore driven boss fights, as it isn't really logical for somebody to wait for your character to come try kicking their rump again. Hahaa~

[@moonshot3159]

ayo bruv your examples and analogies are pretty good. Hope more indie devs find this video.

[@fogblades6811]

Even if my story ends up kinda dookie, I want it to be fun and off the wall

[@apoxfox]

Love that!

[@rickd.8432]

Awesome tips! Love the video

[@rmt3589]

I tend to go lore first, then story and theoretical gameplay. Writing and designing systems is the easier part for me, but I'm still lacking the skill to actually make the games. (I am learning though) I have a lot of written out systems and mechanics, just need to be able to make them into the actual games. One day though! Probably in 2025.

[@surrendering2within]

Hope you're enjoying the process of making your game even more than I'm loving learning about your process❤

[@FillMakesGames]

Thank you. This was informative!

[@CloudyGamingCG]

I believe in u! thanks

[@Sedokun]

I recommend to play SANABI (or watch it on YT if you bad at platformers). This game while being a platformer has very good (the best in my experience) embedded storytelling.

[@socialkidmusic]

I'm making an action game, where story doesnt matter, but I have a great freaking story. At least I think so.

[@KummoDeveloper]

Am making stupid ass simple beat em up platformer and there is a story that only serves as motivation for main characters - and am gonna build it in a way where it works as stand-alone but in case i do want to make more games (or other media) in same world i can easily expand it and bring back background elements from 1st game to front light on the sequels. I don't think my story is great... pretty simple "2 parties are fighting over x" kinda thing... on 1st game it barely matters as it wouldn't serve gameplay. But on follow up games i might make story more meaningful, add some twists, bring 3rd party to break the very basic "good" vs "evil" setting. But i do leave door open so i can leave this world and move on to work for something else in case i just don't wanna work on it anymore. I hope i can always make room for both for all my future projects (unless i wanna 100% keep it as stand alone) - this gives me freedom to move between projects and i wouldn't be disappointing potential fans by leaving them on cliffhanger - so i don't break any promises. (I also am firm believer of indie devs undercapitalizing on sequels - there are ways to fail doing them [for example by taking too long between releases while using a number in the title] but there are also great ways to use existing characters, universe, story, other assets etc to sell something familiar and that has been proven to work in past already)

[@socialkidmusic]

@@KummoDeveloper I'm making an SHMUP

[@CamelliaFlingert]

that's odd, i always thought the most weak aspect of majority of the games - gameplay (game design), it's always seemed to me that devs are forgetting they are devs and not only an artists, who creates a story with zero gameplay (walking simulator/boring clicker)

[@tjreed7797]

For my hypothetical game for a story I'm working on, it's a mystery/thriller visual novel with 3d low poly city exploration within the scope of Yakuza, Trails from zero/azure, and so on.Rn, my main problem is what's actually going to happen, how to make a conspiracy, if I want to have a battle system, and how would i do so while having it be flexible for genre changing segments and avoid most rpg mechanics (cause I'm lazy). Some games i thought of tht had what i was looking for are mario and luigi & Raincode,

[@Louis_Ostrinsky]

Really like all your advices. But I also think it depends, what kind of game someone wants to make. If one makes a typical farming sim, like harvest moon or stardew valley the story might actually be the unique selling point, while the gameplay would probably be more typical for a farming. While on the other hand a platformer like gris tells the story through mimic and overall art. Games like skyrim are just filled with little storys and big ones. And even today ppl find new hidden storys or easter eggs. I had an idea, roughly about the story. I wanted to make a regular farming sim, but with a grand story. Which is tough, because normally if a player is done with the story ones is done with the game. So thats a mammoth project on my hands😂 But otherwise the video shows some really good poonters that i should write down. Never know when one might need them.

[@rmdcompositions]

Hype 🙌

[@lovrovlasic9674]

How dare you roast my game's story

[@ashernotheis76]

Is that Luce?

[@micahrobbins8353]

Honest question, how did you land a sponsorship? I might need to take some notes here lol

[@NexusBaum]

what I learned: I'm hungry xD

[@surrendering2within]

11:08 ¿what game is this?Thanks

[@apoxfox]

It's called Subnautica Below Zero!

[@surrendering2within]

@@apoxfoxthanks

[@AlexMakovsky]

>>Your Indie Game’s Story (probably) Sucks Yeah! I don't wanna to make story games at all because I can't write a good story. :')

[@giganticmoon]

quirky indie rpg with a whole bunch of gameplay that does nothing and is meta for no reason other than for lets plays

[@yunggolem4687]

Gameplay IS way more important than story, story isn't even required. Some of the best games have had minimal or no story. On the other hand a great story with weak/no gameplay, the game aspect is largely just getting in the way.