Usually when people talk about game development the discussion lies in the technical, visual and mechanical aspects of the game. For an indie developer I would think those things are paramount. Heck, those things are a challenge in themselves! There is another ingredient that I think goes with game development that a lot of people do not discuss much. Directing. Developing the story and the characters in the story. Not just for the sake of the story I might add, I think while the story should be compelling, it should also compliment the game play. That is of course assuming your game has a story. Then there is that question, do you develop game play from a story line, or vice versa? I suppose you could go about it both ways.
In the game development community, which roles directly impact the overall story, character development and overall progression of the game? I think of somebody like Hideo Kojima who was the director for the MGS series. If I wanted to learn to be like him, a director of sorts, how could I do that?