Interactive Storytelling Summer 2022

Find balance

I’m having trouble with finding the balance. I don’t know how to find the balance between interesting content and the “audience”. i want my story to make sense and interesting for everyone at the same time. So i want to hear more suggestions on that. Thank you!

my current thought:

But after few days of thinking, i think i should focus more on the content instead of the “audience”. Because if the story is exactly what i wanted, i think i don’t need to worry about too much about the “audience”, because i think every one has different type of taste. And in my option, one single game is not aimed for everyone.

Posted

in

by

binghuan.zhang

If you’ve lost your way in the IFStravaganza, you can always go back to the beginning.

Tags:

,

Comments

6 responses to “Find balance”

  1. Tommy Avatar
    Tommy

    I also think you should focus more on the content vs making a game that everyone finds enjoyable! When making Minecraft no one was like “oh no what about the people who love intense character dialogue and story!” not one game has to encompass every genre :)! Different ≠ Bad.
    Best of luck!!

  2. danish Avatar
    danish

    I’ve been having the same struggle too!

    The best advice I can give is make something that is enjoyable to you! Yes, people might not like it, but that’s bound to happen regardless of what you do. Despite popular big games on the market, there is still a minority that dislikes it.

    If you are passionate about one idea- go for it. However, try to flush it out in a way that is understandable to everyone, such as emotions or even actions. If you really are concerned about people liking what you have, try to make it relatable if you can.

    I wish you luck 🙂

  3. esther.fung Avatar
    esther.fung

    I think that it is important to make what you want to make, and also to try to find your target audience. Who do you think would enjoy your story the most? Is it young adults or is it pre-teens? This may influence your creative process to make it enjoyable for them. Also, keep in mind that not everyone will love your story, and that’s okay! It’s better to make a story that you love, rather than make a story that a lot of people only like a little bit. As long as your audience can relate to it and love it, it doesn’t matter how many people there are in your audience.

  4. sean.bayansan Avatar
    sean.bayansan

    I totally get your concerns, and I would have to agree with what everyone has been saying. I believe you should create a story that you personally enjoy because if you are passionate about something, the audience will be able to feel it. Plenty of projects have dedicated fanbases because the creator truly enjoyed making it even if it may have not been made with mass market appeal in mind. An example would be Kentaro Miura’s Berserk manga, which has a sizable following because it was made with lots of passion. Having a third party, like a friend or family member, give their input on your story can be quite useful if you’re worried about what audiences might think since they will provide you with a fresh perspective and can sorta act like a playtester to gauge how someone may react to the story.

  5. hayden.ockey Avatar
    hayden.ockey

    I think one thing that is important to think about is the idea that it’s not possible to write something that appeals to everyone. Can you write something that is appealing and interesting to lots of people? Sure! But to everyone? Probably not. Even some of the largest IP’s out there have plenty of people who actively dislike them for one reason or another. In this case, I’d go with prioritizing your content as you said, instead of the audience. People who are going to like your work are going to like it best when you are interesting in it yourself, and people who aren’t going to be interested are unlikely to be interested either way. That’s my two cents.

  6. haobai.yang Avatar
    haobai.yang

    I have this problem too, I feel like I need to learn how to highlight the climax of the story, because a good story is made up of many parts, so we need to find the balance between the story.

Leave a Reply