Incidentals are writing elements like radio stations, televisions in the background or passer-by characters making a quick remark about the state of the doll’s clothes. Incidentals activate as the player walks around the world without any action from the player himself. They are completely unconnected to anything that the player has to do, don’t need to be discovered, and just randomly happen.
As with alongside dialogue, incidentals can add a lot of colour to a game but also risk invoking antipathy if they are repetitive. You should also avoid using incidentals for gameplay-relevant information because the player may not notice them.
Related Topics
- Alongside Dialogue
- Art Brain
- Branched Dialogue
- Cut Scene
- Drama
- Fantasy
- Fiction
- Narrative
- Narrativism
- Numina
- Player Character
- Role
- Scroll
- Story
- Storysense
- Storytelling
- Thauma
