Need help picking between two game stories/plots (poll)

Hi all,
So I've been putting up a base for a stealth game for a while, and as I have almost all of the most important mechanics done I started to think about some stories and settings for the game.

For now I have two stories/plots to pick from:
Story 1: You are a spy, whose mission is to stop an active world-wide criminal agency that has plans to spark hatred between the military forces all over the world and covering it up as the fault of the military force of another country, attempting to start a new World War.

(The game would be a level based [not open world] stealth game in urban environments with this story.)

Why I like this one:

• The story is quite easy to plan forward and make changes to
• The story allows for lots of different settings
• The position of a spy may make the game feel more stealth-oriented
• The environments could be quite easy to create (unless I decide to make them complex myself)

Problems:

• The levels would be quite similar (take out this group of enemies, get this item, go there etc.)
• It's not as easy to figure out a good agency name as it seems
• I planned having the story take place in multiple countries, so having the possible need to use a translator from that country to make it more believable

Story 2: You play as a combat robot that crashed onto a tropical archipelago from a cargo plane. You (the robot) are activated in a warehouse owned by an active terrorist group that has plans to spark hatred between the military forces of the planet, trying to start a new World War. When you're activated, you receive a video message from your headquarters (the place where you were traveling to on the plane), giving you a mission to investigate the activity on the islands. After finding out what the terrorists were up to, your mission was updated, and it was now to stop the terrorist activity on the islands.

(The game would be an open world stealth game on a tropical archipelago with this story.)

Why I like this one:

• The character being a robot gives a lot of opportunities for equipment and missions
• The character may be a bit more interesting than a regular unnamed spy
• I'd like the player have all the possible freedom, so an open world could be nice

Problems:

• An open world is really time demanding to create
• I'm not the best at modeling plants, so it would take some time to practice this (I am also willing to do so)
• Unity's terrain system is not what I'd like to use for the environment simply because its ugly, and I can't afford the terrain systems on the Asset Store (at least not now, I may look into them later)
• The whole world would have to be filled with activities (terrorist camps, missions, items, places to explore etc.)

So I'd like some help deciding between the two stories. To sum it up: Story 1 would probably be easier in the long run, Story 2 might be more interesting to play and could teach me quite a bit, but is also harder and is likely to take a lot longer.

Any response or suggestion is welcome
(Also, sorry for the long post)

 

Voted #1, but personally wouldnt even read/watch any story in games..
btw. check out old C64 games like 'Saboteur', 'Infiltrator', 'Into The Eagle's Nest' for inspiration, could probably work in 3D

 

Thanks for the reply and the tips! I checked them out briefly, but I think I'll take another look after a while

 

You can see possible choices by looking at the voting options that you posted.

 

whichever youre more able to execute on. The theme of a game is almost entirely irrelevant, its just about how the details of the execution fit together.

that your problem list gives equal billing to:
"open world sandbox is a lot of work"
and
"its hard to name a spy agency"

I think the story should probably be "there's a ball that bounces between two paddles, and you get points if one the paddles misses the balls" so you can learn the basics of making a game. But to each their own ;D

 

i remember a story about Valve developing the Portal. There is one stage that you have to hold one cube all the time to solve all the quiz in that stage. The testers reported that the instruction is not clear enough. And then they create the weight companion cube. The gameplay inspired the story.

 

What I meant with creating an open world being a lot of work, is that it's a lot more work compared to the other story.
The agency-naming problem was just slight sarcasm.

I've actually made 3 (unreleased, for now) games now. An infinite runner, a first person shooter, a survival game and quite a ton of prototypes of projects that didn't really work. Oh, and I've made a pong copy as well.

Really the only reason I want to pick between the stories/plots is to have a possible setting planned out for the game. This will later on help me plan what needs to be made next. If I made something that would later get removed because it doesn't fit the story, it would be a waste of time.

 

Sorry if I sounded condescending. The point is - theme does't matter in and of itself at all. What matters is how you go about putting it together. Let's take a quick bit of your description of one of the themes:

You play as a combat robot that crashed onto a tropical archipelago from a cargo plane. You (the robot) are activated in a warehouse owned by an active terrorist group that has plans to spark hatred between the military forces of the planet, trying to start a new World War.

Ok, so how are you going to communicate any of that?

Are you going to have a cinematic that shows the cargo plane crashing?
How are you going to explain the fact that the terrorist group has plans to spark hatred between military forces?

Is this going to be done in comic book panel form? Are you going to have voice acting? Is it just going to be a blob of text? Is it going to be full in engine cinematics with 3d models? Can you do closeups with facial expressions for dialog? How many character models can you produce to fill the roles of all the main characters?

The difference in scale between a prototype endless runner and a story driven open world sandbox with meaningful narrative can be, quite literally, thousands of times more work.

Or, all of this could just be a popup box where you literally say "You're a combat robot that crashed on ...".

If you look at great games, good games, bad games, terrible games, the thing that separates them is never the theme. The thing that separates them is how well the theme is executed. That execution depends on your capabilities and your goals. What I'd suggest is that you try to figure out what kinds of stuff you'd need to make either game, then figure out how much of that stuff you can realistically put together. Let feasibility guide your choice.

 

This is what I had in mind.

This would all be explained via a cutscene or via the player receiving the information either by hearing it from somewhere (possibly from a few enemies talking) or reading it from somewhere.

Nope, a 3D cinematic.

For the cutscene of the player crashing on the island, no voice acting is needed, as the player would be contained inside a box in the cargo bay of a plane. That box would just fall down from the plane and onto the island. Obviously it would be made a lot more dramatic than it sounds.

Later on, I might get someone to do the voice acting for me, as I obviously couldn't do all the voices in the game myself.

Facial expressions are not needed in the game, I'm quite sure.The player is a robot that doesn't have a real face. To make all the models I need in the cinematic, I'd probably have to make 5. One for the crate the player is in, one for the plane they're falling out of, two for enemies, and one for the player. Also I'd have to have the terrain all done before doing the cinematic.

 

I would start out by defining the boundaries (not just physical but gameplay-wise etc) for each of the two possible games (because really thats two different games not just stories), considering what you're capable of. Even an open-world game needs boundaries unless it is going to be procedural everything...which isn't realistic. So decide how big your island is, what kind of interaction you want with your environment, characters, animals, the weather, everything. Open world game != open-ended design

Personally, I would go with the open-world game, unless you're good at writing stories and putting together cutscenes and dialogue. It would get by with a lot less story if the gameplay is sophisticated and interesting. And I think indie games can leverage innovative gameplay a lot more than cinematics and voice acting, although I might just be contradicting my point of view with my own game right now...

 

I vote for neither simply because a story is simply an overlay of why the player is playing the game, as said above it is irrelevant to the base of the game.

Partial important mechanics is not enough basis to begin thinking about how the final product should piece together unless you designed them for a specific outcome (Which by your question, you didn't). Begin with finishing the mechanics and piecing together a small test mission (Both leveled an open world games have these) and then play it. and play it again. and again. While you're playing this mission ask yourself: "Is this fun?" "Would I want to do this 500 times on an island or 10 times over 10 different levels?" "How could I make this more interesting"

By doing this you will come to a conclusion on which type of game best fits the mechanics you have built.

"The levels would be quite similar (take out this group of enemies, get this item, go there etc.)"

This is true to an extent. A level can only be executed in so many different ways until there is a clear repetition of objectives. But it is how the developer presents them to the player that sets the levels apart. One level could be a complete smash and grab for an item while another may be an infiltrate for an item. Each of these provides their own thrill to the player and presents new, and interesting challenges.

Even better is designing the levels so that the player plays how they want. Give them an option between play styles (through level design).

 

for me, a point that you should consider is :
do you have enough documentation for your environment and your characters ? (unless you are a AAA company and can send some one to get it)
for example if you plan to build some levels in different countries, like africa, india, chine etc etc, do you have enough good documentation to make your design plausible ?
else, choose a story where you can access documentation easily, get stuck to a country you know well.
just my 2 cents

 

Thanks for the great replies, guys.
I decided to go for the spy story (Story 1), as I feel like my skills are more suitable for it and because that story is easier to modify and continue is it goes on compared to the other one in my opinion.

My plan is to do some research on the locations before actually creating them. I've been writing the story forward a bit, and the locations where the game will take place won't require much research, but I'll do some anyway.

The characters will probably require more research and thinking, but I feel like it should be a fairly smooth road.