LogFAQs > #941768494

And it sickens me to even say that.

If you don't know, Shigeru Miyamoto is a very staunch believer that games don't need story to be good, to the point he has outright excised the story in some of the games he's involved with, and even some he's not. I've been dabbling with making a game or games of my own recently, and as I do and think about it, I've noticed that he may have a point.

I've noticed that there are three things that go into making a game; the Presentation, which includes the graphics, music, aesthetic, etc; the Gameplay, which includes the literal gameplay itself, the coding, all the technical stuff; and the Writing, which includes the story, the world-building, etc.

Of the three, I feel I am the strongest at the Writing aspect. I'm not an artist in any sense of the word, and my attempts at coding have fallen flat. And this has caused me to notice that, while most tell you to play to your best strength... the Writing doesn't seem to be the dealbreaker in anything.

The Presentation will catch a potential player's eye and get them to try it. The Gameplay will keep the player around. And the Writing can bolster both.

But that's ALL good Writing cane do.

Bad Presentation and Gameplay will outright turn players away, while bad Writing can be ignored. And it doesn't matter HOW good the Writing is, it can't save a game with bad Presentation or Gameplay.

A game with good Presentation, Gameplay and Writing is a good game.
A game with good Presentation and Gameplay but bad Writing is still a good game.
A game with bad Presentation or Gameplay but good Writing is a bad game.

...just feels bad to admit it.

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''It doesn't matter if we're devils! I can't abandon the person who's fighting this battle beside me to the very end!''
~Sunshine, Kinnikuman