next »

[foreignsubstances]

///////// UPDATE: News Most Excellent //////////

Hello! It has been too long. Far too long.

I tested the game with our first…test subject. I’ll summarize some of the observations and feedback below. With each test I’m recording a screen capture when possible. Playtesting is cool because things in the back of my mind that have bugged me but I couldn’t quite identify come to light. Player feedback summaries are in italics.

Player question: should I keep reading and go back up, or should I stop reading and make a choice?

This question stems from our decision to include the links in-line, embedded into the main text of each page. The choices for each page have been included as if they are part of the story.

Our development choice following this confusion about when to click the links and when to read is to try including links throughout the text, and then large choice decisions set off at the bottom of the screen. These will still be text but will be clearly different, like choice buttons. Since choices are the main method of player interaction, making them clear is an important design element.

Player feedback: The music might be distracting – when I am reading the story and hearing it as a voice in my head, it can interfere. The text requires close attention and the music is great but the intensity could come down.

I was thinking this might be a problem as well before we tested. I’d like to take the ideas I have and make them a bit more spread-out in terms of the composition so that it lies below the story, supporting it rather than competing.

Player feedback: I am a bit confused about what is happening.

The player expressed some confusion about the beginning and end and overall direction of the plot, and requested more characterization to support the story. We’re working hard to write more character exposition which will make the horrifying parts that much more shocking. It also did not come across that the protagonist, the character the player plays as, is female. Some flashback scenes will add more depth to the characters and their relationships, as well as delve into the protagonist’s past.

I'm working on the feedback form, so remote feedback will be welcomed in the next few days!

[nathy after dark]

Ooh, very cool to see inside the playtesting process! Keep those updates coming.

make the horrifying parts that much more shocking.

I'm very excited about this. And kudos for writing a female protagonist, especially because it sounds like you're taking characterization seriously. Gaming could still use quite a few more well-written women.

[foreignsubstances]

Thanks so much for your words! Your support and excitement means a lot and keeps morale up.

It is nice to have an ally in the texty games.. Text.. Literary adventure.. In this genre! Interactive Fiction? I feel like so many of these words are loaded as people associate them with Infocom-style games, which are cool, but not necessarily representative of everything that can be done with a text-heavy game. At some point Freeality might have art and belong as a Visual Novel, but as of now it's text and music which I'm working on integrating.

The female protagonist decision was made long ago, and it's something I'm glad we've stuck with. It's a creative challenge, because many of the books that have inspired me (Cybergypsies by Indra Sinha, Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace) have male protagonists and women in supporting roles. My goal for 2016 is to get more diversity into my reading so it can hopefully seep into my writing, and I know AEP is doing the same.

Game Informer is replaying Beyond Good and Evil on their Youtube channel. It was recently highlighted by Feminist Frequency as a prime example of female protagonist in games. I have fond memories of that game, except for the stealth parts. Have you ever played Galatea by Emily Short? That is focused on a female character with strong characterization, and the player's gender is unstated if I remember correctly. One of my favorites.

[nathy after dark]

I haven't played Galatea, but now I will! I'm a big fan of Counterfeit Monkey by Emily Short.

[foreignsubstances]

///////// UPDATE: Music //////////

Just some basic cleanup this evening. Spending this Friday night on the couch with 3 laptops. I've recorded the music from the DS onto one of them, and it's now being uploaded. I'll need to edit them so I can put them in the game in some fashion, although I am not currently happy with the sound quality.

Listening back on them, they are good songs, but they are not necessarily soundtrack music. I have some work to do on that. I am trying to avoid redoing everything. Either way, I will share these tracks in some form. This is a learning process for me as I have spent the majority of my life as a musician working on songs. These tracks need to set the mood in a different way that is simpler, less busy and focused on changes. I've done some experimentation on the DS - we will see where it goes.

[foreignsubstances]

///////// UPDATE: Developing developments   //////////

AEP and I are plugging away at writing out the beginning of the game. I find that with many of the concepts we are working backwards, connecting concepts to plot and plot to characters. Our goal is to have the writing totally fleshed out by Jan 1.

On my research docket is watching the Narrative Legos talk by Ken Levine, below. I don't agree with a lot of his ideas, and I think the emphasis he described in his recent interview with Game Informer on emergent narrative in a systems-based game is going to have to be reined in for his studio to make anything playable.

However, it was cool to hear Mr. Levine talk about the relationship between systems and narrative, even though we have differing views on what would make a fun game. Many of the ideas he is talking about have been explored on previous technology going back to the 80's and beyond. It's refreshing to see a AAA group take on ideas that have been left up to smaller developers for some time now.

Looking back on Freeality's development, it seems that a simple concept has become a fairly ambitious project. The story keeps growing. Luckily, since we are telling the story primarily using text at this time, we have a lot of flexibility in our ability to change things - we don't need to worry about textures we spent a year or thousands of dollars developing. It's all in your head.

[nathy after dark]

I played through Galatea three times (so far) and this morning I watched that Ken Levine talk. It's an interesting talk, although like you said, Levine is far from the first person thinking about these things, and we can already see plenty of what he's talking about in other games.

It reminded me of this Microtalk by Emily Short. I watched it a while ago and think it's an excellent inspiration for systems-based narrative games (or as she calls them, storygames). The only game I've played that she mentions is Fiasco, which is truly excellent.





Definitely watch her talk. It's 1/20 the length of Levine's, so you have nothing to lose

[foreignsubstances]

Thanks man!

I really enjoyed this microtalk. I'd love to play some of these games. The games my partner and I have are board-y and not really narrative-driven. Back in college I used to play Vampire: The Masquerade and other roleplaying games, and it was a blast.

I think where Ken Levine is coming from is something like "How do I apply these concepts I've encountered to AAA games." Someone like Emily Short is much more up my alley.


Quick update: I have made my personal goals for 2016, and this is one of them:

By December 31st, 2016: Release a completed version of Freeality and following promotion efforts, 1,000 people play it to completion as measured by filling out a super-brief survey.

I'm not entirely sure a mini survey is the best way to go, but it's at least a good placeholder. It's tough to tell with a web-based game how many people are actually playing to the end versus how many are ending up at the final page through a search.. Although, Twine is based on a single HTML page anyways, so maybe I can just code some sort of Javascript counter which ups a number in a database every time someone makes it to the end.

This goal is based on the SMART criteria for goal-making: Specific Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. While there is a relatively small audience for text-based games, I think that if we continue to work hard on this project and get it out there, this goal is attainable and realistic.

As of now, playing through takes about 15-20 minutes from what I've observed. AEP and I are meeting this weekend for a full day of work and will be rolling out some pretty big changes over the next few weeks. Very psyched for 2016.

Happy New Year!

[foreignsubstances]

///////// UPDATE: Snowzilla Edition //////////

Yo!

It's been a tough year so far for game development. AEP and I tried to meet up several times, I was sick once, and now we're buried under 1,000 pounds of snow. Many mishaps so far.

However, we are getting back on track. The past couple days we have been immersing ourselves in Freeality, rereading everything we've put into it and reconsidering some design decisions. We have decided to open with an action-oriented scene, leading up to a confrontation rather than throwing the player straight into a fight scenario. Building up to that conflict will allow for pacing the exposition naturally. We found that without any buildup we were running out of options for including character development, choices, and other content. There's only so many points at which you can plug in that sort of thing into a game design before it starts becoming unmanageable.

Another thing we are working on is programming the text to reveal itself in pieces on a single page, as seen in a game I like, The Writer Will Do Something by Matthew S. Burns. There are a lot of things this game does right. AEP and I will be working to expand the writing into this new narrative and design format with a more traditional narrative arc. The structure is more traditional technically, but interestingly it requires us to imagine new mechanics in terms of the game and how the player accesses sections of text. Putting as much weight as we can on interactivity, I think, will make it as fun as possible. We're getting there - thanks for following us in 2016.

One final note - AEP and I would like to hear your peoples' opinions on the new X Files. No spoilers plz at this time. Gonna watch it, hope it doesn't suck.

East coast citizens - stay warm!