Game Development
Dec 4th, 2024Human beings have always been fascinated by stories; from cave drawings to oral narrations, storytelling has been a huge part of our lives. Even today, with all the technological advancements, we love stories. Gamers are no different, and their preferences drive PC game development trends. They demand more engaging experiences, with storytelling that strikes a chord with them.
Let’s see how you can leverage the latest trends in game development for pc to attract more players, build loyalty, and increase revenues.
Text-based adventure games like Colossal Cave Adventure and Zork were perhaps the earliest narrative-driven games, relying extensively on written descriptions and inputs from players to move the story forward.
Despite not having audio or visual game elements, these games were the first interactive story-telling games. Then in the 1980s and 90s, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and other graphical adventure games introduced visual storytelling, which was more engaging. These games had complex puzzles, colorful characters, and sharp dialogues; marking a change in PC game development trends.
The launch in 1993 of the game Myst, brought a sea change in computer game development, as it redefined the definition of the possibilities of visual storytelling. Enigmatic narratives and mesmerizing pre-rendered graphics succeeded in spiriting away players into another realm; where they could be immersed in playing for hours.
With technology making giant strides, narrative-driven PC game development trends also underwent a sea change. Voice acting and 3D graphics enabled developers to craft realistic environments and characters. Blending interactive gameplay and cinematic storytelling, games like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VII firmly established the popularity of the genre.
Then came open world RPGs like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Grand Theft Auto III in the early 2000s, pushing the boundaries of narrative-driven gaming even further. GTA III emerged as an open-world narrative driven game where players could explore vast environments and mold their own stories within these open worlds.
This shift towards player input in storytelling, laid the foundation for the narrative-driven PC game development trends we see today. And once players experienced the new possibilities, there was no going back. Narration and open worlds are highly sought-after; gamers want to be challenged, with more tasks to complete, more places to conquer, more enemies to vanquish, and more rewards to earn.
The narrative-driven genre is being reshaped by the wave of technological breakthroughs taking place in the gaming industry, primarily, graphics and artificial intelligence.
It’s not just software, but also the hardware that has become more sophisticated. This has resulted in gamers being able to play games with meticulous detail and lifelike environments, increasing the effect of the narrative, and delivering amazingly immersive experiences in desktop game development.
PC Gamer Pro, a reputed gaming news site, tells us that this trend has helped computer game developers to render incredible visuals for games, making the narrative more impactful. Read Dead Redemption 2 is one such example. It uses high-def displays, better rendering of textures, ray tracing technology, and AI to create highly dynamic and immersive open world environments.
PC game development companies are harnessing the power of AI to deliver responsive and high-octane storytelling experiences. AI-driven characters can alter their behaviors and dialogue delivery according to the choices made by players; thereby creating a sense of consequence in the narrative, and forcing players to employ critical thinking.
AI facilitates storylines that branch out and varying conclusions, allowing players more control while playing. Thanks to natural language processing, AI has been successful in enhancing both voice acting and dialogue, influencing PC game development trends significantly.
What this has enabled is more meaningful conversations between players and characters, with more prompts and a vast array of questions. The interactions with game characters becoming more dynamic and authentic has substantially increased the immersive quality of games.
Some examples of AI_powered RPGs are:
Games with AI-driven elements are all the rage, so you can make it a paid game; that is, players have to pay to download it. You can also have in-app purchases to help players gain more skills and equipment.
Real-time ray tracing is a technique used to trace the path of light rays as they bounce off different objects in a scene to mimic how light behaves in the physical world. This helps to present light, shadows, and reflections more precisely and realistically. While it’s not new in film and animation, it is a relatively new PC game development trend.
Ray tracing now has more sophisticated lighting, shadow effects, and reflections than ever before, rendering imagery superbly realistic. Advanced GPUs are allowing more players to experience these premium features, and so more games are able to offer increasingly lifelike visuals. Computer game companies are increasingly using this technology to craft superbly immersive games, as you can see in this game development portfolio.
Today, several PC games are optimized for enhancements like real-time graphics and ray tracing, and they harness the potential of the latest graphics processors like AMD’s RX 7000 series and NVIDIA’s RTX series to render scintillating visual imagery, lifelike lighting and reflections.
Offering a freemium model; this tech will make the game so immersive that it will have the player wanting more. Offer free play for a few levels, and then grant access only on payment.
Thanks to improved hardware, like broader FOVs and lighter headsets, and enhanced haptics and motion tracking, there have been mind-boggling advancements in VR, shaping innovative PC game development trends. By combining virtual and real worlds, mixed reality enables gamers to engage with digital elements within the space in their physical world.
VR and MR take the exploration of expansive worlds to a whole new level, as you can see in our VR solutions.
As VR and MR continue to evolve, the emergence of improved hardware and more game support will ensure this trend continues with greater force in game dev for PC in 2025 and beyond.
Players can unlock certain areas only on payment. You can sell game merchandise and VR headsets. In-app ads and purchases can also be enabled.
This is the conventional style of storytelling, pretty much like how it is in books and movies. The story has a fixed sequence, and it unfolds accordingly. Regardless of what the player does, their journey through the game follows a predefined path and events and outcomes have already been decided upon.
There is a certain order in which the levels and chapters of the game progresses, and how the characters behave. It is not influenced by the player’s choices, but decided entirely by the designers and game developers for PC. The narrative is strictly controlled, and has clear goals, tasks, and objectives. The storytelling is meticulous and sophisticated, and it guides the players carefully, ensuring that they don’t get lost or take any detours from the main storyline.
Players who like an orderly and movie-like gaming experience with a definite beginning, a proper middle and an emphatic conclusion, prefer this narrative style. While linear storytelling guarantees an in-depth focus on the storyline and character building, it does not hold much promise with regard to repeated playing due to its limited variety in narration.
Ads between levels, in-app purchases of equipment, skills, strengths, game money, and so on. You can offer the game as a freemium model where they can play for say an hour, or up to level 10. If they want to play beyond that, they need to make a payment.
This is the type of storytelling which can take the game in the direction that the player chooses; there is no set path. Players are free to create their own storyline within the game environment, by exploring, interacting, and making choices to create distinct experiences. The storytelling is more flexible, and comes to life depending on player choices.
Sandbox-style games are a type of open RPG games where players can explore, perform tasks and activities, complete quests, and interact with other characters freely and at their own pace. Here, as the player interacts with the non-playing characters, other players in multiplayer games, and the game world, the story is formed organically and dynamically.
Players can control their character development to a great extent, including their relationships. They can also point the story in a direction of their preference, allowing for any number of possible storylines and consequences.
Gamers who are more free-spirited, independent, adventurous, and creative, are bound to prefer this type of game storytelling. As the possibilities are nearly endless, the game can be played over and over again, with numerous personal stories; however, these games may not have the in-depth narrative that games with linear storylines possess.
The initial part of the game can be offered free; when the players have to choose from the given options, premium options can be unlocked only on making a payment. Options and levels can also be unlocked on watching ads.
The player’s role is one of the most interesting elements of storytelling in many games, as their choices can shape and impact the world significantly. These choices can be either minor or major; for example – dialogue options are minor; whether to kill or save a particular character is a major plot decision.
Here, what the player chooses can swing the game in any direction, and open up completely opposing scenarios and conclusions. Branching narrative games help players feel like they have a critical role to play in the game’s plot, giving them more control over the events that follow.
The options presented to the gamers help render the game highly immersive and engaging, as they realize that their actions and choices have actual repercussions and are important to the story. As branching narratives get players more involved in the game, they are more likely to replay the games multiple times, to satisfy their curiosity as to how different choices they make will play out.
Players will experiment with multiple scenarios and endings, trying to gauge the ramifications of their choices, getting even more deeply involved with the story and its characters.
What is important here is understanding that storytelling in these games is connected to the actions of the players. There are two main challenges in such games:
When the PC game development is done by an expert game development studio, you will get a game that is not just impactful, but one that has exceptional replay value.
Sell game money, skills, equipment needed to complete tasks, etc. You can also reward them with the above items if they watch ads – you can get ad revenue. Banner ads when the player has to choose options are also possible.
The more immersive and engaging the gameplay, the more replayable it becomes and the larger the pool of players you can target. This can benefit you in several ways:
When your game is super-immersive and gets players involved and passionate about the game, they will want to keep playing it for a long time, and be willing to pay to do so.
Developed by: Bethesda Game Studios
Game Engine: Creation Engine 2
This open world RPG has a branching narrative, allowing players to go on an exploratory adventure in a universe with more than 1000 planets, molding the story with their interactions and choices. The complex world, numerous factions, and player-driven storyline has earned this game many awards.
Developed by: BioWare Snowblind Studios
Game Engine: Infinity
Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on Dungeons & Dragons, and is a narrative-driven, outstanding RPG that delivers a highly immersive storytelling experience. Players are taken into a fantasy world where branching narratives are enabled through their choices. Character-driven stories through dynamic interactions, in an immensely reactive world, make it a highly sought-after and replayed game.
Developed by: CD Projekt Red
Game Engine: RedEngine 4
The Phantom Liberty game adds a spy thriller story to the narrative of Cyberpunk 2077, introducing fresh characters, intricate choices, and a novel perspective on Night City, the treacherous world of the game. Its engrossing narrative and innovative gameplay has been the subject of excited conversation among gamers. The noir tone especially seems to be a huge hit, along with the rich narrative, robust character development, and compelling choices available to players.
Our game development portfolio is testimony to our range of technical and design expertise. We will partner with you to deliver RPGs par excellence, capturing players’ imagination, attracting more players, and keeping them immersed for hours. Our expertise lets us master PC game development trends. Our skills and support with LiveOps helps you monetize these games in multiple ways to build your brand and increase game revenue.
RPGs are highly adaptable and an extremely popular genre of games, gaining more followers by the day. This goes to say that the future of RPGs is going to be bigger and better, driving better business for you.
More expansive and imaginative worlds, more complex characters, richer storylines, impactful options, and more technical wizardry. We can expect greater proliferation of AI, VR, ray-tracing, and other technologies to deliver experiences that make gamers go “Wow!”.
Fantasy worlds, character development, intricate puzzles, challenging tasks, and the sense of agency players get when they steer the story in different directions with their choices are the main reasons for the popularity of RPGs.
Yes, RPGs offer several benefits, like cognitive function, learning collaboration, development of creative and analytical abilities, and enhanced communication.
The cost depends completely on your requirements, the technology required, complexity of the game etc. Check out our strategy games for PC to get an idea of what your game can look like.
As innovation and creativity are paramount in game development, you may find yourself wondering if outsourcing to an external team can be helpful. Many studio heads and project managers often find themselves at the crossroads – efficiently integrating external development teams without sacrificing quality or vision.
Indie games are short for Independent Games. These games are developed and published by independent developers who are not part of a game development studio.
Racing game mechanics are the backbone of every thrilling high-speed adventure. These mechanics, from realistic physics to dynamic controls, create an immersive experience that keeps players engaged.
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