All Things Solo

Environmental storytelling is the art of arranging a careful selection of the objects available in a game world so that they suggest a story to the player who sees them. Think of original Bioshock.

Let's continue on Bioshock (video game). Even if you remove everything but the environment, you can still deduce many things about the underwater city "Rapture" by looking at rooms full of water dripping from broken glasses, flickering neon signs, blast marks on posters on walls ...

For players who want to learn more about the usage of consequences in their Solo Sessions, I made a quick table. You can use it as a cheat sheet to find out about your PC's actions if you're stuck.

# About Choices

"Strategy is making tough choices with incomplete data."

We all make our own choices in life with what we have in our arsenal. Sometimes they are right sometimes they prove to be wrong. Making tough choices require wisdom but the problem is that ...

In Mechanics of Game Story, I briefly mentioned which elements of game story you can use to create an exciting flow for your scenes. Now, let's expand on it.

# WHY

"It all starts with a desire. A desire to have..."

Your PC's goals are your goals as the sole player in the solo game world. But just a PC trying to achieve a goal does not CREATE enough material for a STORY. When you add NPC goals that intermingle with PC's goals, you can create more INTERACTION. ...

When you learn to quickly establish your first scene by trial and error and repetition, the rest will come easily. So, if you fail at first don't worry, it is even expected, just try again. Solo Play is more of a learned skill rather than something naturally comes to you. Try to have control over the Core Game Loop, especially Freeform Association.

Keep creating more story content by using the same methods: ASK questions depending on current CONTEXT - Use Freeform Association - Roll ...