Story Telling in Games, Tasks Two, Three & Four

Games that do not have a story
- It was hard to come up with even five games that do not have a specific story behind them. What I did find was that two of the four I could think of were puzzle games, being Tetris and Snake. The other two, Pac man and Flappy Bird are more maze games.
You could argue, games such as space invaders and asteroids do not have stories but they do have a specific aim. The aim in space invaders is to destroy the aliens, there is no intricate detail into why you are playing and what your task is.
In my opinion there are non-story based games, and they mainly fall into one era and category. Retro, most retro games do not have a specific story... however, this isn't wholly true with the likes of Mario, Sonic and Manic Miner.
With the conclusion of retro games, I have thought up some more non-story based games, these being Pong and Brick Breaker. Also, not falling into Retro would be games such as Mario Kart and Wii Sports,
With this in mind, the main people who would play these would be Retro gaming enthusiasts, purely because they are retro... I highly doubt it is due to not having a story, however this is not a proven fact.

What is the difference between a story in a game and a story within a book/film?
- A story in a game and a story from a film or a book can be similar but can also be completely different.
- Similar in ways that could be the game of a film, for example; for all eight Harry Potter films, there is a game. So you could argue that the story within certain games are that from a book. A story from a book, which was then tweaked and converted to a film to then be possibly tweaked further and making a game out of it.
- Completely different in terms of genre and circumstance. You could have a book set in 1916 about the first world war, this would be depicted completely different if it was made into a film and again if it was a game. If you were to have three people will write a script about the same thing then the likelihood is you would have three different takes on the same subject.

What is a Linear or Non-Linear game?

• Linear; A Linear game is a game that follows a certain path. A Linear game will have certain tasks that need to be completed, this means that you can only do these tasks in the game and not take your time and complete tasks in your own time.
• Non-Linear; A Non-Linear game is a game which has a story to follow, but it allows you to experience the game in your own way. For example; GTA V has a certain story to follow, but you can be Franklin and complete some smaller missions before you swap to Trevor and do a bigger, more game changing mission.

The impact that these can have on games is massive, most games are becoming more non-linear as it gives the player a certain freedom to do what they wish whilst completing the game in their own time.