Desigining a game around a story: Fun by force

 I realized something as I was in that sweltering heat, games aren't designed around stories. At least not at first. I'm looking at one of my favorite platformers Banjo Kazooie. I doubt the idea of a bear with a bird in his backpack was what sparked the game. It looks like the gameplay came first, then the graphics, then the story. Because the story is about as basic as they come: you rescue your sister Tootie from a witch who wants to steal her beauty. But when you start with a basic concept, you pin hole (is that the right word?) yourself into a position where you can't get out. You limit the imagination when you tell yourself "it has to be this certain way or it doesn't work." When you do that, you've placed yourself in a quagmire. I see the same with writing because when I put my characters into this certain format it limits them. 

Going back to Banjo, the game has some great backstory about the witch Gruntilda, told by her good sister, Brentilda. You find her in several places in the overworld where she'll tell you awful things about her sister that you can use in the questionaire part of the game. Yes, there's a gameshow part of the video game where you have to answer questions about the levels you visited and facts about Gruntilda. The fact is, the game developers didn't start with Gruntilda's backstory as the basis of their game, they started with what they knew and that the game was going to be a platformer. You don't craft fun by force.