on writing games

character arcs

A tool to ensure consistency in our story is character arcs.

In traditional narrative, we usually design a single arc, and our characters evolve with it throughout the story.

Something we can do to facilitate the design of our interactive story is to define a manageable number of character arcs.

Then, we can define a set of variables that serve as decision-makers for the character arcs and design the options we give the player to modify these variables.

In this way, we ensure:

1) Agency: we are giving the player the concrete possibility of modifying the world in an important way. 2) Consistency: if the options modify the variables in a coherent way, the reaction of our characters and their arcs will be consistent. 3) Variety: it is easy to realize if the amount of variations is varied enough or not. If we see that different arcs are very similar, we can work on differentiating them more.

Undoubtedly, writing multiple character arcs is a challenge, which is why it is best to start with two or three, and gradually increase the possibilities as the game requires it while playtesting.