Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch, just done with last year’s time-bending shooter “TimeShift,” had some interesting comments about the role of story in game design in an interview with 1UP.

The conversation began at the “Future of Story in Game Design” panel at the Game Developer’s Conference in February. At that panel, Karch argued against Silicon Knights’ Denis Dyack, saying that story should serve the gameplay and was relatively trivial.

Dyack expanded on his original arguments in a recent interview with 1UP’s Philip Kollar, and Karch asked to do the same. “My attitude about story is that it’s important, but how important depends upon what the player is doing,” said Karch in this latest interview.

Karch clarified that the importance of story depends on the game’s genre. In first-person shooters, “story is important to give the player motivation and to immerse him in the game world, but I don’t think it’s the most important aspect of the game. If you have a great story but the shooting feels lousy, the animation is bad, and the AI is average, no one is really going to care.”

“Fallout 3″ is an example of a shooter where story will be essential, said Karch, while “Gears of War” and “Call of Duty 4″ are less dependent. “Look at ‘Call of Duty 4,’” he added. “It’s a great game, but do you really care about the story? I didn’t. No one else did, but it didn’t matter.”

Unlike Karch, I was into the stories of “Call of Duty 4″ and “Gears of War,” and was disappointed that the “Gears” story was so cursory and incomplete. I think that, if a game wants the player to invest himself in its world, story is always important. If the narrative is ridiculous or nonexistent, then it’s much more difficult to become immersed, no matter how good the mechanics are.

In the 1UP interview, Karch said that there is a place for games that neglect story to focus on gameplay. “I don’t agree that all games should aspire to be art,” he said, “just like I don’t think that all films should aspire to be art. I don’t believe all food should aspire to be fine cuisine either. My opinion is that there’s a place in this genre for all different types.”

Karch also commented on the failings of his own game, “TimeShift,” his role at the GDC panel, story in first-person and third-person games, and on the future importance of narrative in the development process of his company, Saber Interactive.

“To speak to where Saber is moving forward, story is important to us,” said Karch. “We want to create a universe, so we’ve got to have a story that supports that universe. And it’s important to us because gamers, I believe, really want to be immersed in a game world.”

Karch’s team is working on an unannounced project with a third-person perspective that he said will emphasize story and revolve around a strong main character. I look forward to hearing what it is.