90
Video Game Design Composition
Integrate with Marketing
To effectively market a
game and make it profitable, the
producers may require the use
of a story or character to help
publicize the game. This might
be true of a game like Mario
Kart. A simple racing game
is made far more marketable
by the use of Mario and other
familiar characters. Other
games like Gears of War have
very interesting characters and
unusual storylines that can be
used to help market the game, as
shown in Figure 3-3. Attention-
grabbing storylines and familiar
characters help get the buyer’s
attention.
Play a favorite game that includes a story.
Write a one-page paper describing the story
in the game and which of the five reasons
for adding a story were met.
UP!
3.1
Figure 3-3.
The story of Marcus
Fenix, the main
character in Gears
of War 3, becomes
an integral part of
the marketing effort
for the game. Here,
an oversize statue is
displayed at a large
video-game expo.
Barone Firenze/Shutterstock.com
Figure 3-2.
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
If someone has played Halo, why would he or she play Halo 2, Halo 3, or Halo 4? The
answer is the story in each game. The story differentiates each game in the series from the
others and gives players a reason to buy new games.