I want you to take into account that the following is just a personal opinion, and nothing more.
You are talking about a “story driven” videogame, and instead immediately you start to talk about collectibles, money, buy guns and kill enemies. All that can be fun, I guess, if that’s what you’re looking for your project, but it’s not what makes me return to a game. If you main concern is the story, then make the game about the story. If the game has a main character, think about this:
What could he do in this situation?
Who could he talk?
To whom could he ask for help?
Where can he go now?
Consider this an exercise:
Before approving any idea for the game, ask yourself: If this were a movie or even a book, would it be logical that something like this happen? Would it be appropriate for the atmosphere I want to achieve, for the type of genre, for this particular moment and place? You will realize that most of what happens in most games makes no sense, and serves purposes that have nothing to do with the “story”. In most games the story is merely decorative and doesn’t have much to do with the gameplay.
And here’s a little tip: If you are in doubt, ask the player. That’s right. Most games are like a person, or group of people, talking to you, the player. I prefer to think of it more as a conversation. We are in this together, you and me, the game designer and the player. I don’t want everything to be about the designer telling me what to do or feel. I want the game also ask me questions, request my opinion, and react accordingly.
Don’t know if the character should react violently to something, or try to calm down and act peacefully? Ask the player! Don’t know if the character, a detective, should heed his captain, and go to sleep for the night, or return to the archives for further research? Ask the player! Don’t know if the character should tell her husband that she is seeing someone else? Guess what? Ask the player!
Put yourself in that situation, as if you were really there, and ask yourself what you’d do, what the player might want to do, and make it possible, but not obvious. Options if what I want in videogames, feel that I am who decides, instead of being led by the hand by someone else.
And play Omikron. That’s what I would look for a futuristic game. No just shooting and collectibles. There are more than enough of that. Characters and drama and inmersion. But if you want to putt collectibles in the game think about lore: magazines, web pages, television shows, etc. Things that talk about the world and make it more deep and believable, things that make the player feel that he is really there and that he’s integral to the story, not just a mere spectator.
