Crappy Stories and the Popcorn Incident

(Before I start this post, I have to get something off of my chest. I was eating popcorn, and when I was done with the fully-popped pieces, I went on to the half-popped pieces. Usually I can cleanly bite right through the entire kernel, but today part of the kernel got stuck on my teeth. So right now I'm totally freaking out, because there's part of a half-popped kernel on one of my teeth.)

On to the game-related stuff. So my last few projects have been Flash games that have a lot of levels and are highly gameplay based. A couple of the comments that I've received on some of the games that don't have a story at all is that they should have a storyline.

But here's my question. Why do they need a story?

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand the importance of stories in media. In fact, that's exactly why I didn't want to put stories in the games in the first place. The stories would be half-assed, stupid, and a waste of people's time.

This is garbage. This isn't art.

In The Courtship, I have a few comics that tell a story that doesn't take itself seriously at all. If I were to make a story for games like GAMMACART or Leap of Faith, they would have to also be silly, otherwise they would seem out of place.

(While I was typing this last paragraph, I got the half-popped kernel off of my teeth. Crisis averted. Lesson learned.)

My ultimate goal as a game developer is to be proud of stories I put in games. I feel that a lot of mainstream games are heavily plot-based and have flat, lifeless, cookie-cutter characters. It's entirely possible for videogames to have great stories.

But that doesn't mean every game has to have one. In fact, I think some games are better off without one.

Thanks for reading.