Best practices for collaborative storytelling

Collaborative storytelling in the context of game design is a powerful way to build dynamic and engaging narratives, especially for text-based games. When creating a game that relies on the contributions of a wide and diverse group of community members, the process becomes even more complex. In my current project, I’m designing a web-based life simulator game where both coders and non-coders from the community can submit random events that shape the narrative of the game. The game is designed to evolve and change with each submission, creating a constantly shifting world. This kind of collaborative storytelling offers a unique set of challenges and opportunities, requiring careful management and thoughtful practices to ensure that the game remains cohesive, engaging, and fun.

1. Setting Clear Guidelines for Submissions

One of the most important aspects of collaborative storytelling is establishing clear, well-communicated guidelines for the types of events that can be submitted. These guidelines not only help to ensure the quality and relevance of community contributions but also provide a framework that helps prevent submissions from derailing the narrative or being out of sync with the established tone and mechanics of the game.

Content Boundaries

For a life simulator game, the narrative could span a wide range of events—everything from everyday activities like going to work or getting married, to more extreme events like natural disasters or winning the lottery. But for the game to remain coherent, it’s important to have boundaries around what types of events are appropriate.

For example:

• Tone Consistency: If the game is meant to simulate a realistic life experience, contributions should align with that tone. Submissions that introduce too much absurdity (e.g., characters randomly becoming superheroes or encountering aliens) might disrupt the experience.
• Cultural Sensitivity: In a community-driven project, it’s essential to establish guidelines around what is and isn’t acceptable in terms of sensitive topics, including cultural, political, and social issues. A thorough and inclusive set of guidelines ensures that the narrative doesn’t inadvertently alienate certain groups of people.

Game Mechanics Compatibility

While the story will be driven by a variety of events, the random events must also fit within the game’s mechanics. For instance, if the game simulates a character’s career path, then submissions should respect the structure of career progression (e.g., someone can’t suddenly become a world-renowned musician without a progression path). Having a clear understanding of the game’s systems is essential so that contributors can create events that mesh well with the existing mechanics.

2. Creating an Easy Submission Process for All Skill Levels

In a project like this, contributors will vary widely in terms of technical expertise—some may be coders, while others might have no coding experience. Ensuring that both groups can contribute equally is essential for fostering inclusivity and encouraging engagement.

For Non-Coders:

For non-coders, the focus should be on making the submission process as simple and intuitive as possible. For instance, non-technical contributors can use a web-based form that allows them to submit their event ideas with minimal technical knowledge. Here’s how this could work:

• Text-based Submission Forms: Provide a simple, easy-to-fill form where users can describe the random event they want to submit, and optionally, specify conditions or consequences that would follow. For example: “A character has a sudden chance encounter with an old friend they haven’t seen in years. This could lead to a reunion or rekindling of old tensions.”
• Event Templates: Offer templates that users can follow to ensure their submissions are formatted correctly. This helps standardize submissions and makes it easier for game designers and coders to implement them into the game’s narrative flow.
• Event Category Tags: Encourage users to tag their submissions with relevant categories (e.g., “Relationship”, “Career”, “Crisis”, “Social Event”) to help categorize events and make it easier for other players to interact with them.

For Coders:

For coders, the process might involve providing more structured forms or code snippets that integrate their event into the game’s backend system. To ensure ease of contribution, the system could allow developers to submit a JSON object or an API call that defines the event logic, outcomes, and dependencies. For example, an event might consist of a conditional statement like:

{
  "event_type": "career_promotion",
  "trigger_condition": "player.experience >= 5",
  "outcome": "player.salary += 10000",
  "event_description": "After years of hard work, your character gets promoted!"
}

This way, coders can contribute technical elements while still adhering to the overarching narrative structure.

3. Encouraging Diverse Voices and Preventing Narrative Homogeneity

A collaborative storytelling project benefits greatly from diverse contributions, but this also presents the risk of narrative homogeneity or fragmentation. Without careful oversight, the narrative might veer off in a thousand different directions, leading to a disjointed or incoherent game world.

Editorial Oversight:

To avoid this, it’s crucial to have some level of editorial control to ensure that all submissions align with the core vision of the game. This could take the form of a story curator or a team of moderators who review submissions before they’re incorporated into the game. The curators’ job is to:

• Ensure that submissions are consistent with the tone, genre, and world-building.
• Maintain consistency in character arcs and ongoing storylines.
• Reject or ask for revisions on submissions that contradict established lore or game mechanics.

Building a Shared Vision:

To foster a sense of unity, it’s helpful to clearly define the game’s narrative theme and the kind of experiences it’s meant to evoke. Is it a game about family drama, social dynamics, personal ambition, or overcoming challenges? Keeping the community engaged with the vision will encourage submissions that contribute to a unified experience. This could be done through regular updates, community discussion threads, or narrative-focused livestreams.

A shared vision also helps contributors understand the larger narrative arc, preventing too many submissions that feel out of place within the game’s structure. Consider having regular brainstorming sessions with the community to discuss future events and narrative arcs, which can help direct the flow of the game and inspire new contributions.

4. Balancing Randomness with Player Agency

One of the challenges of creating a life simulator game is ensuring that the random events feel impactful without overshadowing the player’s agency. Randomness in narrative events should serve to create interesting situations, but not undermine the player’s ability to influence their character’s fate.

Providing Choices:

To strike this balance, events should ideally lead to meaningful choices for the player. For example, if an event triggers a sudden promotion at work, the player should have the opportunity to choose how they respond—accept the promotion, decline it, or ask for a different role. The event should open up new avenues for the player to explore, not force a predetermined outcome.

Consequences and Branching Paths:

It’s also important to design systems that give weight to the player’s decisions. If an event has a significant impact on the story, such as a sudden romance or financial windfall, it should create branching paths in the game that are driven by the player’s actions, not just the randomness of the event itself.

5. Fostering Community Engagement and Recognition

To keep the community motivated and ensure that contributors feel valued, it’s important to recognize their efforts and encourage ongoing participation. Here are a few ideas for maintaining engagement:

Gamifying the Contribution Process:

To incentivize contributions, you can create a reward system where contributors earn points, badges, or recognition based on the quality or popularity of their submissions. For example, submissions that receive a high rating from other users could be highlighted or featured in the game’s main narrative arc.

Acknowledging Contributions:

Publicly credit contributors for their ideas by listing them in the game’s credits or through an in-game feature. This creates a sense of ownership and pride among community members, encouraging them to contribute more often.

Feedback Loops:

Incorporate a feedback loop where users can rate or comment on events submitted by others. This creates a sense of community and allows contributors to see how their ideas resonate with players. It also helps identify high-quality submissions that could become integral to the game’s evolving narrative.

Conclusion

Building a web-based life simulator game through community-driven collaborative storytelling is a fascinating challenge that combines creativity, design, and the technical aspects of game development. By establishing clear guidelines, creating accessible submission tools, and managing contributions thoughtfully, the game can grow into a dynamic, ever-changing world that reflects the collective imagination of its community. Most importantly, ensuring that contributors feel heard and valued is essential to maintaining an engaged and motivated user base, which in turn leads to a richer, more diverse game. When done well, this collaborative process can turn a simple game into a shared experience, where every player and contributor has a hand in shaping the narrative.