Conveying story through gameplay - analysis and examples

[00Xander00]

Metroid Prime - Player can scan the environment at any time. These details make the entire story (other than the opening/ending cut-scenes or brief cut-scenes when Samus upgrades her suit/weapon/abilities or enters a new scenic area or encounters a boss.

For Example. There could be an alien science facility. There could be dead Aliens on the floor. If player scans them, each individual body has its own history of death. For example "head fracture from a projectile. Skull was recently at 300 degrees too". Then around the corner is loads of transparent containers, all but one of them have been smashed up. When scanned, "the containers where smashed from the inside".
When the player sees the transparent container that hasn't been broken. They notice a creature swimming around inside. When player scans it - "This creature was created by the Alien race (name of race) for the purpose of (purpose). It preserves energy from absorbing sound-waves. The energy is typically used to fire lasers at heat sources operating between (temperature range). This life-form likes the darkness as the darkness triggers chemical called which serves the same function as dopamine on Earth and can see in the dark".

Metroid Prime is a brilliant example of how to present an environment that makes the the player naturally put the story together by exploring and scanning the environment with a scientific visor.

Last edited by 00Xander00 - on 10 May 2020