6) Have The Story Involve REAL Stakes
Most of the great action-heavy stories maintain a strong sense of importance and intensity to keep audiences engaged throughout. Without any clearly-established stakes and a sense of unpredictability as to whether or not the main characters will survive the struggle, viewers/gamers may be quick to tune out. The first trailer for The Avengers Project teases a sense of urgency as the heroes are missing and need to be found soon. The threat is unknown, but it’s clear that the team is needed sooner rather than later.
For the game, it’ll be essential that this same level of intensity and urgency is maintained as it’ll promote player engagement and will ensure that the plot doesn’t get lost behind the memorable characters. In order for everyone to care about what happens to a story and its characters, there needs to be some semblance of danger facing our heroes and/or those close to them. With the right villain, the Avengers would be forced to fight an uphill battle from the start, especially if the game begins with them missing.