Locke Webster kicks off the first a thrilling new column that examines narrative in games. Over the next few weeks he will be talking to the key teams members of dev studios that shed light on the creation of a game's story, cutscenes, etc. First title is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

More often than not, solid gameplay will do wonders when it comes to hooking players into a game. I look to games like Katamari Damacy and Burnout Paradise, and I see excellent examples of a refined single play mechanic. But there’s one thing that games like those lack that I typically love: a compelling narrative.

When I think of the titles that I’ve finished in the last few years--titles that I’ve actually played through to the closing credits--there’s one through line that distinguishes them all from the rest of the games that I grow weary of somewhere around two thirds of the way through: it’s a well told story. There’s a reason why we stuck through all of Bioshock last year while Rainbow Six Vegas 2 only managed to sit in our disc trays for a few days. Both games played fantastically, but only one hit players with an engaging and well-crafted storyline.

For the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a peak at the design end of the narrative process. We’ve picked three solid games from this holiday season (Dead Space, Far Cry 2, and Fallout 3) and one of our favorite thrill-rides from last year, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. The teams behind each of these games have crafted a method of storytelling that caters specifically to the game they’re designing. In an industry like ours, with the endless permutations of gameplay styles and genres, there really is no one “correct” way to push players deeper into whatever adventure that’s in store for them.

Daigoji_Gai via gamesblog.ugo.com »