{"id":1477,"date":"2026-09-11T07:27:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T07:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/x.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php\/individual-storytelling-in-coop-game-html\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T07:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T07:27:28","slug":"individual-storytelling-in-coop-game-html","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/x.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php\/individual-storytelling-in-coop-game-html\/","title":{"rendered":"Blightbound’s approach to individual storytelling in a coop game"},"content":{"rendered":"


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An interesting design challenge during development of Blightbound<\/a> was how to combine personal storytelling with coop gameplay. In Blightbound three players play together, but they might be at different spots in the stories of their respective characters. How to make room for storytelling without spoiling stories for other players who might not be there yet, and without making players wait for each other? Today I\u2019d like to dissect the approach we\u2019ve used to solve this problem.<\/p>\n

Before I continue, note that this blogpost will spoil some story moments. However, I\u2019ve made sure to only take examples from early in each character\u2019s story, so the videos in this post will only be a minor spoiler to the game.<\/i><\/p>\n

Blightbound is a coop dungeon crawler, but unlike games like Diablo it doesn\u2019t have a linear campaign. Instead, the player repeatedly plays a number of dungeons while learning each character\u2019s story and gathering loot and more characters. In that sense it\u2019s structured more like the end-game of Diablo, or like a looter shooter.<\/p>\n

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\nBlightbound is a 3 player game, with both online and local coop.<\/i><\/div>\n

Another important aspect of Blightbound is that it has a lot of heroes. Instead of maxing out one hero for dozens of hours, the player gets to unlock a bunch and is invited to try them all. We would like players to vary what character they play. For this reason we wanted to tell a lot of small stories, interweaved with gameplay, instead of telling one big story. Each character has their own little story they go through.<\/p>\n

Each hero in Blightbound has an individual story that\u2019s told through the dungeon runs with that character. When 3 players play together, they each play a different character so they\u2019re supposed to get different stories. This is where the issues that I\u2019m discussing today arise. Players shouldn\u2019t see the stories that the other players are getting, because they might not have progressed to that point with that character yet (spoilers!), or might have seen that bit already. Also, Blightbound is a fast-paced game so we don\u2019t want players waiting for each other\u2019s cutscenes.<\/p>\n

The solution we came up with is that the storytelling is entirely private. When one player gets a bit of story for their character, other players don\u2019t notice this at all. They might even simultaneously be getting different stories for different characters!<\/p>\n

Now how do we make that work without letting players wait for an invisible cutscene? The simplest solution is used a lot in Blightbound: dialogue while gameplay continues. The player gets served portraits, speech bubbles and voice acting while the gameplay continues. So there\u2019s no need to stand still and watch a cutscene.<\/p>\n