It’s time for another mini-dev dive, we’ve talked about Sargon, controls, world-building , and platforming. Now it’s time to talk about the beautiful story and all the elements the dev team had to consider when crafting their story for a Prince of Persia Metriodvania.
🎥 All this talk about story reminds me, come watch the live stream tomorrow, July 25, 2024 at 11 AM EST 6PM CEST, where I will go through some of the story in the upper citadel.
To Tell a Story
The most important aspect for any story is that the emotions need to be real.
And, making a strong story in a Metriodvania did not come without its difficulties. Since, ya know, you can go left, right, up, down, skip some sections, and jump around. So, when writing the narration, the dev team had to think about the many options that players may take and consider other ways to tell the story than through cinematics and dialogue.
And, we learned from previous PoP titles that time in fact does not flow like a river; and Mount Qaf is no exception. Sometimes the past can happen after the future and change the very fabric of time. (Looking at you back to the future)
First and foremost, though, this is a game, and a lot of the narration comes from the gameplay itself. So, from finding Menolias’s bow to use as your own, to finding Sand Jars to unveil a mural. In their eyes, the player should not constantly have their controls taken away for story elements to be presented.
However, the narration does also not only come through the gameplay, it comes through the animation, the type of sync animations you have, and how it feels when fighting or fleeing enemies (or both at the same time).
These elements concerning the dev team are the first tools to deliver narration in a video game. They say that simple things like the way Sargon moves and NPC’s are designed are a part of the narration.
All in all, the team had to think about the story and narration from many different avenues and lenses. So, when it comes to telling the story for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, they did not limit themselves to the obvious cinematic cut scenes and dialogue you hear throughout the game, but they instead considered how the gameplay, the biomes, the NPC’s, the combat, all played into making the story in the game.
🎥 Be sure to check out our more in-depth video on To Design Smooth Platforming[url= https://x.com/princeofpersia/status/1725200339547165179] right here[/url].
That wraps up this mini-dev dive on the making of the story behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. We hope you enjoyed it!
See you in Mount Qaf very soon. 😎
Bye for now,
Your Prince of Persia Community Team