Making a game, can't come up with a story for it.

[Spajjder]

Hi. I'm making a game currently.

I'm asking for advice here since so many excellent writers assemble here
I need help with a plotline, how to come up with it, or some suggestions from creative minds.

I realized I'm just mapping ALOT of environments including a world map.
I want some sort of war going on on the continent, while the "hero" starts of in a small island to the west of the continent.
I have a few things I want to happen in the game

But I cannot think of a plotline. I want to avoid collect the 7 crystals or kill the evil wizard etc.

Here is some maps of the game

http://imgur.com/a/aRTCy

There are some things going on on the map. Something is stirring in the mountain at the top of the world.
In the desert to the southwest there is an abyss in which the sea seems to fall into without ever filling it.
There are two big cities on the continent having some rivalry. A third realm is to the east with a huge farming community.
From the island to the west a bridge is being constructed towards to mainland for some reason.

I want there to be monsters, but not minor ones. I just want animals, people, and some legendary beasts hidden deep in the forests, the sea, or the mountains.

If anyone is willing to give me any advice for a plot, please reply here or Pm me. I'm totaly stuck myself

Thanks

Spajjder

[Scottish King]

How about having the two rival cities at odds with each other because they each want to control the farming community and have your hero struggle to keep the town independent. You can also have the island people as some type to foreign invaders that force all three cities to join forces to fight them with your hero as their leader. I don't know if this is any help but I hope you find something suitable for your game.

[Spajjder]

thanks for advice!

[William the Marshal]

Maybe the two cities are both on the brink of starvation and they are fighting over the dwindling food supply, much of which is in the hands of the farming area. One of the cities is very mercantile and trade-focused, while the other is much more militaristic and warlike (Think Carthage vs Rome or Milan vs Venice). So one is using trade, bribery, espionage etc to try and get its way while the other is threatening war. The hero has to pick a city to aid (or maybe (s)he can help the farmers). Seems like a decent basic story. Take that, flesh it out, add background, etc, and take the game where you want it to go.

[Strengelicher]

What has been offered here so far are not plotlines, but rather details of a possible setting. The plotline has to focus on the "hero" you mentioned, because obviously he (or she?) will be the point of reference for the player. The first thing you should decide is what kind of basic story you want to tell - a love story, a story of revenge, a tale of redemption or whatever. The story may be ever so simple, but it must have a base line.

The easiest is of course a love story, as everyone can relate to that. So let's build a simple love story: The hero is a handsome farm boy, in youthful love with the pretty girl from next door in his village. However, evil villains of an unknown sort plunder the village and abduct the girl. The hero decides to follow the culprits and free her. He finds out that the villains have com from far away, so he has to travel throught foreign lands, solve all kinds of quests to find the trail again and so on. While he is doing this, the setting may unfold: He may have to travel to different locations to find out where his love has been taken. He also finds out that there is a special reason why she was taken (a secret!). Step by step he levels up and tracks her down, overcoming great difficulties and mighty opponents.

The story can have different endings, a happy end being the most obvious one: He finally understands all of the background to the kidnapping, slays the evil overlord behind it all and reunites with his childhood love.

Personally, I prefer basic plot lines of a deeper and darker sort. Maybe a story of revenge? These stories are not often told, but can be quite compelling. Let's assume the "hero" is a knight of advanced age, his body battered from many battles he fought in his youth, his mind embittered by the small fiefdom it has gained him from his liege. His wife deceased, his only concern is his beautiful daughter of 17 years, whom he hopes to marry off to some higher nobleman. However, he becomes tangled up in intricate court politics which he is unable to handle in his honesty. As a consequence, his estates are burnt down, his folks slaughtered, his daughter raped and murdered while he is hunting/travelling/whatever.

Filled with unearthly rage, he decides to kill whoever is responsible for the crime. However, step by step he has to find out that some greater plot is behind it all, and that he is up against a whole foreign kingdom (or some such). Still, undeterred, he moves onwards from one person involved to the next, killing and killing. It may be taunting to set these killings up as being ambiguous - maybe someone involved was acting under threat or was otherwise compelled into it. Is it really justified to kill them all? Maybe the hero can make a decision each time, which will influence the outsome at the end?

Of course the whole process takes the "hero" around the "world", and the setting may unfold. And in the end he will be facing the one who was behind it all... who? An old friend from his youth maybe?