Postmortem

Introduction:

This project required from us to create an Interactive Fiction piece which primarily uses text and button choices in order to proceed through the story. In this way we were required to create a layered story where the choices the player makes matter and take them to different parts of the story.

For the project I decided to take inspiration from films such as the Mad Max and Alien franchises, as well as The Road. In turn, I was also inspired by the game Fallout 3. Through these inspirations, I wanted to create a brutal world where its inhabitants constantly fight with each other and where the weak clearly don’t prosper.

In taking this savage world, I decided to focus specifically on two characters and the adventure they decide to have one evening. However, this adventure has many dangerous and fatal turns. Through this I wanted to show the player the emotional connection the two protagonists have with each other, and hopefully to bring that connection to the player as well.

What Went Right:

Emotional connection- The emotional connection I wanted the player to experience by playing the game and seeing how the two protagonists interact with each other was quite successful. Indeed, in the playtests I have had for the game, the testers told me right from the first iteration that they could clearly see the emotional connection. Furthermore, one tester also described how he wanted to repeat the game and try different paths in order to get the outcome where Miranda (the female protagonist) lives through the ordeal. As such, even before I edited the dialogue, the story was successful in conveying an emotional connection and focus to the player.

Structured and cohesive story- Although the focus for the game lies in the interactions of the two protagonists rather than on the plot itself, the story does have a cohesive and well formed structure. Indeed, both playtesters commented on this at the end of the playtest; the choices made by the player lead to a branching and interconnected story that plays along with the characters’ emotions. Indeed, I edited the story afterward to increase the level of interconnection while also simplifying it at the same time to be more cohesive.

Freedom of choice- Another important element which works well in my game from the very beginning is the freedom of choice available for the player. I have created my story in such a way so as to allow many possibilities for the player to follow, but not so much as to lose track of the story and veer off into random branches and endings. The playtesters also mentioned that they enjoyed the freedom of choice as well as some of the shorter endings which motivated them to replay the story and try out some of the other choices.

What Went Wrong:

Dialogue- After the first playtest, I realized, and was told, that the dialogue between the protagonists seemed off and somewhat corny. This was a huge initial problem as the dialogue was important to understand the emotional connection between the two. I analysed the dialogue once the play tests were completed and realized that the two characters spoke to each other in a very robotic and formal way, as though they were colleagues rather than lovers. This also meant that the story itself seemed was suffering and just seemed like some sort of artificial simulation.

Locations in choices- One of the playtesters also mentioned to me how the locations I included in the choices seemed random since I had not mentioned those locations earlier in the game. Also, he told me how these choices seemed to be guiding the player towards a specific place or main choice, which is not what I wanted the player to feel like. Indeed, I wanted the player to think that they could choose whichever scenario they wanted and that it could lead them anywhere. As a result, I had to alter the choices and where they led, as well as finding a way to subtly mention the locations and scenarios present in the story earlier on.

Technical Issues- Initially, I was unable to understand or find out how to only display specific choices at specific times while hiding other choice results and information. As a result, some of the choices which were meant to come later as a result of other choices appeared next to other choices which seemed confusing and also gave away the outcomes of previous choices. This also confused the playtesters when they ran into the segments that had this problem.

Learning Outcomes:

Through the playtests and this project in general, I realized that in other projects I should figure out the entire story and overall concept of the story I want to write, rather than having a vague idea of the structure and simply jumping into the scripting to lay out my story. Indeed, this lead me to giving a bare and simplistic story initially, while some of its branching also confused me. From this I understood that, with complex stories and branching through choices in games, I needed to draw up a visual plan first so I could see with my own eyes where the story would lead and how each branch works and connects in the overall story.