7 things that makes people want to live in your world
Magic
Can you remember the first time you saw a spell from the world of Harry Potter? If you didn’t try to swish-and-flick some random piece of silverware in an attempt to silence your siblings after they stole your favorite toy, you may as well be admitting you’ve never seen it. Every good world has magic in it, and not the David Blaine kind. Magic is at the forefront of imagination — making many things possible that shouldn’t be. Magic is the precursor to science fiction, which is the precursor to reality. Without people making up magical fantastical scenarios, it may be the case that we would not have planes, trains, or cars. Magic is what allows us to dream, allows us to prestidigitate these absolutely cooked scenarios where people are shooting fireballs from their hands or laser beams from their eyes. Star Wars even has a piece of this through the usage of the forge, it’s just space magic.
Reactivity
Imagine sitting down to draw, you take out your drawing pencil and strike it across the page and no line is formed. Good worlds have a high degree of reactivity where expressed agency actively creates novel situations. Situations that may only exist in that world. There is also a strict attention to detail that comes with reactivity that truly invigorates the investment in that world. The difference between piloting the spaceship, and sitting in the pilot’s seat, being presenting with all these dials and interfaces with readings that are relevant are the difference between a player being disenfranchised and a player being highly engaged. The big red button should do something when pressed, the arrogant king should do something when disrespected, and crowds should gather and gasp at a spectacle.
Characters
The reason BioWare was so successful during its golden age was its narrative and character development. (I personally attribute a lot of that to the man behind the scenes, Drew Karpyshyn, author of Darth Bane, and the man who was in the Lead Writer role for some of my favorite BioWare games.) Not only did each character have their own story, backstory, and motivations, but they also had their own quirks, flaws, and idiosyncrasies. They developed with you, as the story went on, they reacted to the world as you did, and they reacted to you. You can definitely make characters present as one dimensional — just make sure it is just one dimension of a multidimensional figure.
Verisimilitude
A word that has gained more popularity as Dungeons and Dragons has increased in popularity. It’s the occurrence of witnessing something — a certain game mechanic or scene and going ‘That’s so unrealistic’. Well, in a world full of orcs, elves and dragons maybe realistic isn’t the right word — what you wanted to say was that seemed unbelievable. Whether you’d like to believe or not, people are pretty smart — and taking narrative shortcuts or ham fisting certain scenarios or characters that don’t vibe well with your story or themes might not be the best approach. A lesson that Disney is learning again as their recent failures and growing in number.
Music
It’s hard to say whether music makes or breaks the movie, but Hans Zimmer created trends in movies after The Dark Knight, or John Williams being involved in seemingly every successful movie trilogy over the span of two decades, it’s quite hard to ignore. Genshin Impact, a game that made 100 million dollars in its first month has one of the best, and most expensive videogame soundtracks of all time.
Art
Art is undeniably one of the biggest contributors of success to movies, there is a certain longing you feel when you see a piece of artwork that resonates with you. Studio Ghibli, and director, Miyazaki, have one of the most recognizable visual design choices in the world. Everything feels like a childlike nostalgia, the food looks absolutely irresistible, and the backgrounds of environment are usually peaceful green landscapes that have a certain ‘cozy’ feeling.
A Little Bit of Weird
No, not Luke Skywalker drinking blue milk weird, a good kind of weird, like seeing Watto for the first time. Weird is the perfect seasoning for any good world, some worlds are weirder than others i.e., anything conjured by H.P. Lovecraft, but it is maintained by the fear and sanity of the characters, who are these insignificant creatures who stand in the wake of these all-powerful ancient beings. Make things a little weird, use the word moist,put sticky substances at bottom of your shoe and make time stop the raindrops in mid-air. The more creatively you can splice in your weird, will make your world seem all that more fantastical.