Welcome to Digital Play Zone!

I'm Winn Liu. World building is easily one of my favourite aspects of any game. I love it when I can learn more about how and why things in the main plot have affected the world around it.

In today's blog post, I will show you how and why having world building in your games can allow you to have an even deeper game.

First of all, what is world building? World building is when you create a whole world where the story of your game is set. It is about creating all the things that wouldn’t be important or included in the story. Things like the terrain of the world, what kind of species live in this world, and how the villain of your story has affected your world. It is about giving context and motivation to your players.

Doing this gives your characters proper meaning and stakes to pursue the main plot. It also allows the player to be immersed in your story by making an emotional attachment to the lore of the world. Think of Star Wars, Harry Potter and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The first thing you need to decide on is the tone of your game. What kind of tone do you want your players to feel and experience? Make sure that once you have chosen your tone, always follow it. This will allow for a consistent feel to your story.

Once you have your tone, then you can start thinking about what you want the landscape and terrain to be like. Think about where and what styles your cities and villages would be in.

When you’re thinking about the setting of your world, you want to define the little details as much as possible, such as the clothing your citizens would be wearing, what methods of transportation would they be using, and what kinds of plants and vegetables would be available in your world.

Remember that you can always take inspiration from others, find out what aspects people like about other worlds, and expand on what already works.

Here are some awesome games to study: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Red Dead Redemption 2, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Once you have the setting of your world, it is time to write the race and species of your world. Think of the religion, social structure relationships and politics of your citizens.

Try to think of how the culture of your civilization would be, and what kind of technology or currency is available to them. These kinds of questions will help with creating your core game mechanics.

This is where you include the rules of your world. Let's say you were building a magic system, this is where you define the do’s and don’ts of the magic system. Like whether your magic can allow you to move objects, or control certain elements.

This is also where you would think about what kind of energy your magic system would require, would it need mana to be able to use magic, or would it require equivalent exchange like alchemy?

Now that you have created your world, It is time to weave it into your plot. You can do this by doing this in three different ways.

By using the environment around you, it can give you a great sense of how the world is being affected by your plot. Things like the state of buildings, the plants and shrubbery around your world, and how the citizens are affected can give your players a great sense of emersion.

When you are developing your characters, you should always keep your world in the back of your mind. Things like the rules of the world should affect the fighting style of your characters, or how religion and culture would shape their beliefs and goals.

This is when the plot of your story affects the world you have created. An example would be that the villain of your story has taken over control of the world and how this would affect the world.

It doesn’t have to be a villain either, It can be a concept like how technological advancement has started to change the traditional values of your citizens, and you could delve into how this is good or bad.

The final step would be to refine the story. Iron out the inconsistencies of your story and refine the rules of your world. You could get a second opinion as after working so many hours on a single project, you can become blind to certain things.

Remember to keep your world consistent throughout the whole plot of your game. If the world is not consistent players will notice. If you have done your world building well, Players will feel the impact of your world.

In conclusion, having a good world in your story can help to further deepen the immersiveness of your world. By starting with the tones of your world, then creating the setting and citizens of said world, and finally writing the rules for your world. I believe that you will be able to make a banger world for your game.

Thank you for reading this blog post. If you have any questions whatsoever about game design, feel free to contact me!