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A large part of games is their progression, either through story or a physical path. A good game will make sure that the player
In most games, progressing through a world and its story is the main objective of the player. The entirety of your interactions with NPCs (None Playable Characters) and the path you are forced down (literally and figuratively) culminate in the ending of the game. Usually this is fairly clear, the developers create a simple beginning middle and end, with the choice in how you reach each portion. Games like this are common with Super Mario Brothers, Portal, Assassins Creed, and Undertale amongst their ranks. However sometimes for some reason a game cannot have a clear story. Examples of this include Nuclear Throne, Terraria, Stardew Valley, and Skyrim. The categories for these two types of games are narrative driven and world driven.
A quick clarification, Not all games fall under these categories. There are many other but a large third contender we wont be talking much about is arcade games, in which there is no story or world related end goal, and instead the player is simply looking to win by beating the computer or other players. Examples are as fallows: Civilisation V, Pac Man, and Feeding Frenzy.
So world driven games don't have a traditional story. How do they push their players along a track? Well they preform this task through several means depending on the intention of the developers or the mechanics of the actual game. In the latter half of this post we will be exploring the different methods based on the examples above.
Example 1: Nuclear Throne
Nuclear Throne (a fast paced top down shooter set in a post apocalyptic world), and other fast paced rouge like games like it suffer from an inability to display a proper story. The nature of rouge like games means that players will be repeating the game over and over again. Thus having a story would not only slow the pace of the game but also become boring very shortly. Nuclear Throne supplements these issues by making use of its backgrounds and in game mechanics to further a strange story that is never completely revealed. In the background of each level there are lots of details particularly later on. In the Junk yard levels we see lots of human constructions but there are all broken, the ground is stone but we see metal cars and beams jutting out of objects. In palace levels we see strange symbols and statues around. In the loading screens messages play in the bottom of the screen, sometimes unimportant but other times they can reveal histories of the game through brief vague hints or strange tidbits about your character. All of this (and more) tells us the back story of the world and encourages us to explore as much as possible in an otherwise simple game.
The game also give us more through its gameplay. Strange objects are littered around some levels that when properly interacted with, can push the player forward in a direction they didn't know to go in. Or if done on accident tells the player that they don't know anything and they should try to explore more.
Example 2: Terraria
Terraria is an open world game about creation much like Minecraft. But it has a deep story and path you can fallow to interact with NPCs and change the face of your earth. Terraria opens by offering you no tips or no direction to go in. However the gameplay requiers that eventually you progress in one way or another. At night monsters can attack you, killing these creatures has a chance of giving you certain items. These items might include relics to summon giant bosses or tools to better claim the minerals of the earth. Everything you achieve however leads to another development. Finding iron will most likely take you in contact with a area you cannot traverse or an mineral you cannot mine yet. This means the player now has a goal to look for solutions to these small term problems. And if these small chains of goals don't encourage the player enough, vague achievements and medals offer hints on what to do next.
Exploring the mushroom biome
Example 3: Stardew Valley
Stardew valley has an immersive story that is taken at the players pace and does what they like. Entire segments of Stardew's story can be forgone because there is technically no end. The goal of the game is to live your life, and enjoy building a farm and interacting with the locals. You could become a key member of the community without marrying anyone or you could achieve the highest ranking tools without ever sitting down for a night at the local bar. However Stardew Valley prefers that players inspect every avenue of play without forcing it upon them. They do this through several features. Quests are sent to you by mail and teach you several things. Not only do they inform you in how to achieve the goal of the quest (IE collecting herbs or fighting monsters), but they also teach you the names of the person or persons employing you, what their schedule is and where to find them. This way the game can present you with actual gameplay while also making you socialise. The game also rewards you directly for socialising, several characters can give you gifts or can help you with certain tasks if you talk to them or develop their story line more. The same could be said for certain activities, going further and further into the mines develops a story line with the mysterious Qi.
Linus rescuing you after blacking out due to exhaustion
Example 4: Skyrim
Skyrim is probably the most linear game of this group. However while the main story is technically the final goal it can be ignored. The game can be played skipping major story beats. In fact you can become a master wizard and member of an elite group of thieves without ever stepping foot in the starting town of White Run. However the world building is developed to encourage you to help save the world. Essentially the game constantly guilt trips the player into returning to the main story by littering the world with reminders of impending doom. The main cause of the end of the world, dragons, are not limited to certain areas like creatures of that caliber would be in other games. Instead they are free to roam and can kill of any member of a village or city while you play. People in the world also verbally remind you, talking about the end of times or questioning if you are the "Dragonborn" come to save all of Tamriel (the world containing the province of Skyrim). Lore and background objects can also reinforce this idea. Images of large scale battles with dragons found in ancient ruins and stories told by bards keep you focused on how the world will result if you continue to be distracted by ever single bandit den you come across.
The complete map of Skyrim, Where will you go first?