My game is looking very girly but it had until last week mainly battles as content. So I figured how to put narrative sequences into the game without making them annoying or game flow breaking. (judged by my own opinion only so far)

Challenge Flow (Game mechanics)
So within each chapter I have 4 levels, in order to create a drama I increase the difficulty from 1 to 4.

Ending most Chapters with a boss which means an enemy with more HP, which is a longer battle.
Together with some Dramatic music we have a gameplay chapter climax.

Problem: By playing trough I realized even if the challenge tension varies, the player still does  not get any breaks. And my game is very action oriented, it felt kind of exhausting.

Solution: So I decided to put Emotions Sequences in, a lot of game design knowledge today tells you that it is very bad to make „none skippable cinematic scene“ between the game flow. I disagree the point is simply they should not feel like interruptions, they should be introduced as rewards. I remember back then in a game like final fantasy it felt very rewarding to lean back after a challenging boss and look at the movie.

The 3 Main Story Sequences in Sha Cat (so far):

Intro (pre-level 1)
Create enter point to the drama and introducing the characters – showing their relation.

Flash back – Baby Dragon Story (pre-level 4)
Create an emotional bound between dramatic past and the cute dragon eyes.

Flash back – Birth of Love (pre-level 9)
Empathize the strong relation bound between the two cats.