Shadows of the Eternals ("Eternal Darkness 2")

Locations and Theme
Our story is based around events taking place in four parts of the world. Each location has its own story theme, explaining one aspect of Becker's “hub” story. This story is further broken down into three acts – introduction, development and resolution, which are themselves complete stories – and playable levels, with the action in each setting the stage for a later story.

As an example, the location themes may be “chicken wings”, “pizza”, “beer” and “friends” and the overall story then, would be a surprise party for the player. That is, by learning the stories of each location, an understanding of the wrap-around story is gained, driving toward the finale.

Stories and Characters

Some levels are what we label “dual” levels, which means there are two playable characters, each with their own story, but directly related to each other. The fate of one character influences the other in some way.

Nearly every other level has multiple story angles, meaning that they can be explored twice with different game-play set ups and things to discover, but take place within the same narrative structure. This means that while the general gist of the story remains the same with each play-through, signature sequences unfold differently, unveiling new revelations, game-play and potentially new mechanics.

Tiers and Level Progression

The entire game is broken down into three “tiers” containing four episodes, each of which can be played in any order. While the details of which order we will be creating the episodes has not been decided, we hope to ask the Order to vote on which episodes they'd like to see next, it is possible that in the final version of the game (once all episodes of a tier have been released, or all have been) that the player can select which story to hear/play next, as a result of his questioning John Smith and John Doe. When all episodes of a tier have been played, the next tier is opened up, until all three tiers are complete leading to the final story climax and resolution.

So What's in an Episode?

An episode, then, comprises content for the Hub level – the abandoned hospital that Becker explores – a complete story for one or two characters, and a denouement section dealing with what Becker has learned from the story.

In this way, the Hub level acts as an introductory “wrapper” for a historical level, which is Klára's story “A Dream within a Dream” in the first episode to be released – containing a mix of gameplay and narrative content.

Source: http://www.precursorgames.com/forums/index.php?threads/character-reveal-and-game-structure-vlog.1587/