Story first or Characters first

[Mochipink]

First post yay!

Ok so when you plan out your game do you think of story first or do you think of characters first? I usually think of story first and then create characters that fit in the story if I do the opposite my story will change constantly and then I just give up, but if I make the story first my character will change A LOT before I am satisfied with it. My sister however does the opposite.

Which one do you do? Why?

 

[Shaz]

I'd go with characters first - if you give them a good background and personality, I think it's easier to shape (at least part of) the story to draw them out.

 

[The Stranger]

Well, I tend to do both. The characters are integral to the story, they're the ones driving it forward. Without them there would be no story. I can spend a long time crafting my characters. I give them histories, personalities, hopes, dreams, etc. I wont use all of it, but it helps them to feel more genuine, more real, when the time comes for them to take their places upon the stage.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

I start with characters too, basics first as in just the looks and name and so on, then I start thinking of a story and integrate them, finally putting up what the character does in that world and so on...

 

[Warpmind]

Depends a lot on the story, really...
Sometimes, I come up wit ha great character idea that I can expand into a narrative, other times, I come up with a great story that needs a cast of characters.
In the former case, that could be a person undergoing a series of... let's call them transformations, for simplicity's sake. In the latter case, it could be the story of how a country went from monarchy to some form of democratic process - a tale which requires strong characters, certainly, but those characters will need to fill certain... functions and requirements to fit the story, instead of the story forming around them.

 

[Tai_MT]

As a writer, I often build the world first before I do story or characters.  The world is where the story takes place.  The setting, the factions, the major players, and the history of the world set it all up.  These things build the motivations of the characters and the situations they will run into during the story.  After this is done (when you write, your first draft is never your final draft.  Took me getting out of High School to ever appreciate that really stupid practice of ten freakin' drafts of something you write and what it was meant to teach...  It's meant to teach that you can and should make alterations as required.  Teachers seldom teach the drafting process in such a way to make that obvious... because they have no idea what the point of it is either) you set up the conflict.  You don't set up the story, you set up the conflict.  What is the major problem and how do you want it to be solved?  Once you've got that, you throw your characters out there.  From that point, your characters will build your story for you as you throw them from situation to situation.  A story is how your characters get from the beginning of their involvement in the conflict to your desired end to that conflict.  You can build your characters and your story at the same time as you toss them from situation to situation and move them ever closer to that end point goal.

Or, at least, that's how I write.  It tends to translate a little differently to video games.  I actually end up doing a lot of remapping because of the way I write the story and characters and conflicts.

 

[Another Ned]

Like Tai_MT, I need the setting first.

For a game, I then have the goal, and characters stay as blank "function for X" for quite a long time, but I give them personality before getting the plot down. For me, this is the easiest way to work: If I have a setting, I know the factors which could have shaped the characters' personalities, and if I have the characters, and a goal, I only have to think of ways to obstruct their progress and when to have some conflicts play out and the plot almost writes itself.

Well, ideally. Revisions are still a must, because of sudden ideas, changes to personalities ("wait, it's more interesting for Y to have done that, because more potential for conflict!"). And more often than I'd like to admit I have to go back and change/add things to the setting and backstory, to make things inside the plot more plausible, etc., basically jumping back and forth between the three.

That's how I do it and I know I'm not a very organized person and tend to forget important things even after revisions (one feedback I once got: "You forgot the emotion", oops).

 

[Gui]

I'd say characters should go first because that's where the salt of all stories is: the actors and their conflicts, preferably between each others instead of the inner ones (which get old very fast). Now, the question is more: what makes a character interesting? Before going too deeply into various traits such as personnality, past, goal and other neurosis-like elements or personal tragedies, one may keep in mind that the Terminator – who doesn't have any of those at all – remains one of the most memorable character ever...

Well, all this to tell you that, usually, I begin by building the world, then I develop a story into it, and finally I add the characters in – basically, all the contrary of what I recommend, but it's not my fault: things just unfold themselves this way  ^^

 

[cabfe]

For my part, I start with a story.

The characters sort of add themselves into it as in "how would that happen? How should someone be to do that?"

Then, when the global story is set, I do a second pass to work deeper on the characters and make them react to the events depending on their personality.

The way I work, my characters are alive in my mind and can live any story. So, if I don't already have one, I'm kinda stuck with these people in my head .

 

[Makio-Kuta]

For myself, I start with an Idea. Then create the Characters needed to execute that idea. Then I take the characters and the idea and use them to create the Story.

That step is usually done in like one sitting, on the fly, in a txt file. It's an idea jam (sometimes with myself, sometimes with Rach) and contains the barest of minimums needed to understand what the game will be.

Then I draw the characters. Which in that step they gain like 8000 personality points each. Once they have a face, I can really get to know them. So usually at this point, I have to edit or expand the Characters - which then changes the story. Then I write my point forms for the Story. Which is again going to change the Story and the Characters. Then I write the rough draft, which yet again changes the Story and the Characters. Then move into the 'final' drafts, which should hopefully not be bringing up new information.

So yeah, my characters and story are never finalized until the game is done. This constant evolution of things works best for me. Story and Character grow together, rather than one being shaped to fit the other, to accomplish the original Idea.

That being said, my stories are very obviously character driven :> So one of those two aspects I put a little more focus on than the other. 

 

[Demiqas]

First post yay!

Ok so when you plan out your game do you think of story first or do you think of characters first? I usually think of story first and then create characters that fit in the story if I do the opposite my story will change constantly and then I just give up, but if I make the story first my character will change A LOT before I am satisfied with it. My sister however does the opposite.

Which one do you do? Why?

Why do you give up after having to change constantly though? I assume that if you're changing everything that it wasn't perfect in the first place, so what's wrong with continuously changing it until it's right? Especially if you're going to start with a character first you're going to be doing that, but as long as you're only improving it it's better that way.

 

[Clord]

I think better question would be setting first or after the characters?


Story and characters at least for me are created as I write the story and those things are created to potential setting that will be expanded as I go.

 

[Dragnfly]

First post yay!

Welcome!

Anyway, to answer I start with a minor goal or concept. Like "Oh, that's a pretty windmill. I want to make a game with a windmill in it."

Goal spotted: "A game with a windmill."

Characters start: "2 or 3 characters involved with the windmill."

World setting: "What else is there, or is the planet just one giant windmill floating through space?"

Additional characters: "2-3 won't cut it. Add more."

And then it builds up and out from there. So it can be argued if I start with story or characters but they're so close to each other I don't think it matters.