Logbook:
We continued to work on the Gameplay-first Godot Prototype in December. But as a narrative-loving-person with a strong background in interactive fiction I was still itching to create a narrative-first prototype.
So I teamed up with Bettina Wilpert – a very competent writer – and decided to go back to my roots and make a narrative-first TWINE game.
And it has been so much fun!
Writing down all my personal experiences and putting them in a fictional space setting is a blast. Writing has always been my passion, but it has never been easy for me. Most of my projects lie abandoned. I can’t promise that this story will be any better but it is certainly the most fun I had in a writing project so far.
Writing in German was a tactical decision, since I am planning to show this prototype to ARTE – who have expressed some interest at the Paris Game Biz.
But the german-bureaucracy inspired Space Setting is something that I love the more I write about it.
There are still a lot of questions to be answered and decisions to be made. Right now it is more of an interactive fiction than a game and it lacks player agency. But I have some ideas on how to change that.
Feel free to test the prototype.
Devlog:
Thoughts:
- I like the still images through the eyes of the janitor. I want the player to see the grit and dirt of the station first hand.
- At this point I don’t think a movable character is necessary. I want to show the player a specific scene and let him/her explore it with the mouse. Running around, looking everywhere would make the game to hectic.
- I plan on implementing small puzzle games that evolve around studiying your environment, examining objects and assembling things. Nothing fancy. You are a janitor. Not a detective.
- Player Agency should come from moral dilemmas and center around the fate of individual NPCs. No special skills or dice rolls required, like in Disco Elysium.