A writing exercise meant to analyze the elements of Bioware's Mass Effect 2 using the concept of a "story stack" in order to come up with theoretical new story concepts that would work without "breaking" any one element of the stack.

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Story Stack Elements

• Player fantasy - You are Commander Shepard, an elite, human solider that you control and shape the actions of in order to explore the galaxy and and recruit an elite group of humans, aliens, and robotic beings.  (Least flexible)

• Actions - You can shoot, negotiate, or do a mix of both in order to accomplish your goals every mission. You can travel the galaxy and explore various planets, go on missions, harvest minerals to upgrade your ship and your equipment and build a squad of people on your ship that you can get to know better and even fall in love with one of them.  

• Economy - As you progress, you unlock new abilities to make Shepard more powerful, the ability to recruit new squad mates, upgrade your ship and your gear, unlock new dialogue options by having a higher Paragon or Renegade meter and trophies/achievements from doing certain tasks big and small.

• World - It’s the Milky Way Galaxy where planets full of different terrain and various alien races are all located from the central hub of government, The Citadel to the seedy center of scum and villainy, Omega and everything in between. 

• Story - You are resurrected by a mysterious man after being killed in the prologue of the game and have to assemble a crew of operatives from across the galaxy in order to go on a dangerous suicide mission to stop The Collectors, a group of aliens working to aid the threat you stopped in the first game, The Reapers, in order for them to invade and conquer the galaxy. (Most flexible)

 

3 Brand New Story Concepts that support the stack 

• Concept 1 - As Commander Shepard, coming off the events of the first game, you are ordered by The Council to assemble an elite strike team to undergo a mission into the vast corners of the galaxy to stop the Reaper threat and prevent anymore invasions from occurring by shutting down any possibility of them utilizing the technology of the Milky Way against its inhabitants. 

• Concept 2 - As Commander Shepard, after defeating the initial Reaper invasion, you are sent a message from a member of an alien species of unknown origin who tells you they have discovered the secret of how to defeat the Reapers. Realizing the message is coming from an uncharted region of the Milky Way only accessible through a relay no one has returned from, you gather a team of squad mates old and new from across the galaxy in order to track down and find the one who holds the key to stopping the Reapers once and for all. 

• Concept 3 - As Commander Shepard, after stopping Sovereign and the initial Reaper threat, you are sent a distress signal from a colony at the edge of the galaxy, rescuing a scientist studying dark matter from a supernova explosion. Realizing that the explosion was caused by the Reapers using dark matter from beyond the Milky Way, you set out on a journey across the galaxy assembling an elite team to take the fight to the Reapers’ base of dark matter weapons operations. 

• What all 3 of these story concepts have in common is that they won’t violate the story stack already established. Each story will still take place in the Milky Way galaxy so the same world assets can be utilized and will still allow the player the fantasy of being Shepard and being able to choose what options Shepard will be able to make (shooting, talking, or a mix). Thus, each will allow them to feel like they are making progress throughout the game as they unlock new abilities, new worlds, and new squad mates while they explore and complete story missions and side missions.