Matt Christian

I got into making games because I loved the depth and emotion in the stories. Yet, none of the games I've made have included any sense of a real, deep story. I feel like this wrong needs to be righted. Question: make a game only for story, or strongly focused on gameplay?

They each inform the other. Most gameplay problems are solveable now. It's now a matter of wrapping it in a narrative that utilizes the gameplay and is interesting.

Curious: what gameplay tropes do you classify as a “problem” and what constitutes “solving” it? Trying to wrap my head around this concept. Are you referring to common styles of games? Systems? Mechanics?

I suppose I just come from an action game/combat game focus, but I think that describing environments and enemies via gameplay mechanics is pretty much a solved issue.

Is that sufficient? I guess I can come up w/ specific instances where there's "a problem" and "a solution", but it seems so broad of an answer...

Isn't a pre-determined solution for a common problem potentially the catalyst for a trope?

So many buzzwords

Let's put it this way, once I talked with someone who said 'well, typically games in X genre do this for music/art/etc'. To me, that kind of answer to a problem isn't what we should strive for as designers/creators (maybe depends on the project needs though?)