•Games that are open world tend to make use of a different type of world than games that are linear. But what makes them different?

“Open world - Open worlds give the player the sense that they can explore anywhere. There are no loading screens or invisible walls, though there are of course limitations.
Some games, like Bloodborne, have very few interiors to explore, whereas Skyrim nearly every interior and exterior can be explored.
Both are considered open world games, but in Skyrim the rooms and interior locations usually have loading screens, though some open world games like The Witcher 3 do not. The most notable trait here is the ability to explore a large map without any limitations or stopping points.” (E.M. Welsh, 2019)

“Linear world - In linear world’s the player does not get to go from location to location, but follows a direct path. There is no exploration of other areas or a wide-open map for them to wander.
Events in the story take place within a confined location, and though those areas themselves may offer various rooms or areas on a map to explore, they are likely closed off after that part of the narrative is over.
A great example of this is Bioshock, which offers many side areas to explore, but does not allow full navigation of Rapture nor does it allow you to return whence you came.” (E.M. Welsh, 2019)

The concept for the game's narrative is nodal narrative. However, our take on this is to make the levels themselves have a more open world style to them, but still make use of a linear theme. We intend to do this by making the player obtain an item/complete an objective before they can gain access to the next island. By doing this, the game still remains linear and has limitations, but still gives the feel of an open world adventure (which works well for us since the game is required to be action-adventure).

“Of course, there are games that are a blend of these two types of worlds, which is more than likely the case for most games. For instance, in Persona 5, players can explore and navigate Tokyo, but there are loading screens and limitations to what they can explore. However, it is very rarely a linear path the characters are required to take. Whether they visit the school or a new neighborhood is up to them.” (E.M. Welsh, 2019)

This is what we are aiming for, as each island (apart from the first) has an objective that will need to be completed (requiring the player to find the puzzle and then solve it). However, to get to the puzzle, the player could take a number of routes, each deferring between different players (although this would be dependent on the types of islands).

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“Once you’ve determined the scope of your world, you’re ready to begin developing the backstory. Though you may be like me and not prone to developing backstory, this is just as essential as understanding the scope of your story.”
“Without a backstory, you’ll find it difficult to give meaning to objects, interactions, cultures, and so forth. When players wander your world, it will appear void of anything deep and very surface level without a backstory.” (E.M. Welsh, 2019)

This is a task that is required for the project anyway, so I will be doing this, but I have already started to experience some problems where I haven’t already created the backstory for my islands/levels. With my first level, before creating some backstory, it really did feel boring and didn’t really have any particular link with the characters or theme. However, after I came up with a small section of backstory for the island, things started to link together, the levels/island suddenly had meaning, and some of my characters began to make more sense.

“After you’ve developed a backstory, it’s time to build a culture, even if it’s the most simple one ever, like in Portal or Gone Home.” (E.M. Welsh, 2019)

“For example, many fantasy games have a hierarchy where elves are perceived as superior than humans, and dwarves as inferior. This creates conflict and mirrors our own world, where we are not so kind to those who are different than us, though of course for simple two-hour games there is no need to go into such detail with the hierarchy in your culture.” (E.M. Welsh, 2019)

In our games world, there are both humans and machine-like sea creatures (with a mechanical shark being the main antagonist). The order in this world, because of this, could be something along the lines of the people (humans) live in fear of the ever-looming threat of the mechanical shark and its minions, which is then why there’s the conflict between the two.

“After you develop your lore, culture, and backstory, you’re ready to start creating items for your world in the form of weapons, letters, and just fun artifacts that tell stories.” (E.M. Welsh, 2019)
“Begin to make a list of items that players can use or find, and if possible mark where they can find this item, at least for the sake of lore or storytelling. You don’t need to know exactly where it is found on a map.” (E.M. Welsh, 2019)

This is another task that is required of my for this project anyway, but this still does provide some useful ideas for what I could do. Much like the game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017), each different island of my game could include items that actually link with that place. By this I mean the items and equipment found on the ice island will reflect that island (maybe by being ice itself?), where as the items from the volcanic island would have a different uniqueness to them.
Additionally, by using letters, journals, general items or even artifacts, the levels/worlds history could effectively be told/shown in game.