Story telling & concept design in games...so important yet so NOT in demand!

There are many games I have played which would be very boring slog fests if it wasn't for a great story. For example Persona 4 is a generic turn based rpg. If it took place within the typical anime inspired setting of dragons, evil empires, and hidden space ships I would have put it down in 5 seconds flat!

Instead, Persona 4 opted to establish an atmosphere of mystery in a modern day setting I can relate to. Even characters not within the immediate group of protagonists are important. Your relationships with your uncle, cousin, teachers, and fellow class mates reveal developments about their daily lives we can sympathize with on a human level. These social links even strengthen your arcana ratings so you can fuse & summon more powerful alter egos.

This is a positive step up from boring NPCs that exist in a vacuum of disinterest where their only purpose is to sell you better gear or reveal a hackneyed hint on how to defeat the next boss.

Every event is structured around a string of murders. There's constantly tension on account the killer has the power to pull people through their own televisions into a nightmare world that structures itself around their deep phobias, hidden lusts, and personal insecurities.

Eventually you and your friends can access the "TV nether realm" of your own accord and use your "personas" to fight shadows spawned from the darker natures of the human psyche.

If you're thinking this would make a great book up there with Stephen King's finest I wholeheartedly agree with you. The psychological symbolism and deep characterization of Persona 4 are its' strongest points.

All any game has to start with is a "genre'. Each of these conforms to it's own set of rules. For example a turn based rpg is structured around exploration, leveling up, random enemy encounters, figuring out the strength & weaknesses of each foe, and selecting from a series of commands before the next turn commences. Without mood, atmosphere, setting, and plot line Shadow Hearts Covenant, Final Fantasy 7, Xeno saga, and Persona 4 are the same exact product. Thus it is the unique spins on the delivery of each game's interactive world which makes all of them good in their own distinct ways.

So, are a game's artists, writers, and overall conceptual designers appreciated? Yes and no. For example if you go onto a forum many fans can tell you Igarashi was the person behind the metroid-vania styled castlevanias or that Kojima is the master brain that came up with Metal Gear. In Japan "Story Tellers" & "soundtrack musicians" often get more praise than programmers.

In America this is equally so. David Jaffe is the guy that brought us God of war. We may not know who rendered the 3d models, did the cgi, or put in the code for the actual game-play but we know who came up with the idea of Kratos & his tragic tale. Tim Schafer has a cult following on account he led the imaginative renaissance behind Psychonauts, Monkey Island, and Brutal Legend.

Perhaps then it is quite amusing to note how difficult it is to be an artist, writer, and game concept designer on your own. From personal experience I can attest it's not an easy walk in the park!

Go to any game developing site and they need programmers, editors, advertisement marketers, and graphic website designers. There's nary a mention of wanting creative visionaries. For something so detrimental to a game you would think their would be a higher demand for people that can devise innovative new ways to design games.

Before I get my face chewed on by angry coders and irate accountants let me be clear I believe everyone is invaluable when it comes to working on a game. The "Director" is no more essential than the guy that can do beautiful snow and water effects or the woman that has studied consumers all her life thus knows how to get a title out there to the masses while making them want it with every fiber of their beings! Game development is a group effort and there is no "I" in team.

Concluding this rant I'm left to ponder why "Creative Directors" get the lion's share of credit whilst I weigh the paradoxical fact their position is always filled or entirely unneeded.