Storytelling

Behind every great game is a good storyline. A fixed story will plot out the user's progress through an anticipated set of causes and effects; an interactive game will use branching trees to define options for the story's outcome.

 Story Arc

The story arc is the plan for the game's underlying definition. Aspects such as where the game starts, what happens during the game, and how the game ends are all parts of the story arc.

 Story Types
  Plot-based (Homeworld)
  Character-based (Deux Ex)
  Idea-based (i.e., alternate history, The Planet of the Apes)

 Three-Act Structure
Beginning, middle, and end
The Hero's Journey

 Setting
Decisions about settings...

 Character Development
Decisions about character development and growth...

 Interactivity
Decisions about interactivity...

 Scripted Events
Decisions about scripted events...

 Dialogue
Decisions about dialogue...

 Level Design
Decisions about level design and difficulty...

 Storyboarding

A Storyboard is a graphic description of what happens in your game, including what the menu screens will look like, what pictures (still and moving) will be seen when and for how long, and what audio and text will accompany the images, either synchronously or hyperlinked.

One helpful initial step can be a rough sketch or flowchart of your game, like this example:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/adrian_mallon_multimedia/flowchar.gif

Here's a site that describes storyboarding as "Acting with a Pencil"
http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/storybd/

Another online example:
http://www.usd.edu/~rthompso/strbd/sld001.htm

 Archetypes

Archetypes from Joseph Campbell – Transformations of the Hero

 Game Review

ISOMaze - Uses random-maze algorithm but displays as isometric maze.

 Reading

  Understanding Comics: Chapter 3

 Design Project

Mock screen shots of game or simulation walkthrough.

 Documentation Project

Storyboard arc of game or simulation story.