Perhaps the most important thing you should know when making a game is how to make it fun. Things such as story and graphics are not as necessary to the game as gameplay: you can make a game with both good graphics and a good story, but it if it is boring to play, it will not reach success. However, you can make a game with bad graphics and a bad story, but if it has very fun gameplay and does not get boring even after weeks and weeks of playing it, it could become a success. However, graphics are also important in giving the first impressions of the game: usually looking at an in-game image does not give you a clue on how good or bad the story is, nor does it tell you whether it is fun or boring to play. However, you can see the graphics, which gives you the first impression of the game.

The story is perhaps the least important part of the game, as you can reach success even if your game has practically no story at all. A story, however, gives you more explanation as to what your character is doing, why are they doing it, and what will happen when your character does it. Having no story usually seems to be better than having a very bad one. But if the story is the least important part of the game, it does not mean that it is not important at all.

Let's look at an example: Hunt Down the Freeman. This game angered a lot of players when it came out, and there obviously is a reason why. The game has decent graphics, and that is about it. The bad stuff? The story is terrible, the main character is perhaps the edgiest creature to ever walk the Earth, the voice acting is terrible, and the game crashes very frequently. And guess what? The horrible experience that is HDTF cost 25$ on release, which resulted in a lot of players losing their money, which angered the players even more. This is an example of a bad game: bad gameplay, bad story.

Let's look at another example: Undertale. Unlike HDTF, Undertale gained a lot of positive reviews from the videogame community for its fun gameplay and amazing story. However, the graphics are simple and pixelated. The thing is, the game was made not as a quick and rushed attempt to make money, but as a work of art. Toby Fox, the developer of the game, put a lot of his thought and effort into the game. However, it has very simple pixelated graphics. But the masterfully crafted, unpredictable story, the soundtrack, the gameplay and the characters completely make up for the bad graphics.

The conclusion is that it is NECESSARY to have good gameplay, while things such as good graphics and a good story only make the game better. Even if you make a game with a decent story and AAA-level graphics but bad gameplay, your game will still end up in the trash bin, either forgotten by everyone, or remembered for how bad it is.



Thanks for coming to my TED talk.