Assignment 2: Play and the Past

Submit by: 14-5

Hours: 10

In this assignment you will make a game based on an element from the past (e.g. the past you pitched for assignment 1). You will use the Twine (twinery.org) platform to create this game.

Workflow

Design Brief

1.Make a design brief (1 hour ) which outlines what your game is about, who it is for, the core interesting choices the game will offer, the extra features it will use (at least one, see below) why it should be fun and how it should inform people about something from the past. This can be constructed somewhat like an elevator pitch:

Conquistadors of the Heart

“I am creating a text-based dating simulator in which you play as an inhabitant of an island that keeps on being ‘discovered’ by conquistadors. Your choice is to either keep the current conquistador around or make him disappear for good and await the arrival of new discoverers. A big feature here is that it is a game that can loop forever, to model the continuous pressures of colonization, but the details of the visiting conquistador will change every time to keep things interesting.

This game will be fun because it puts the challenge to go along with a colonizer or not in the hands of the player. It also makes fun of the conquistadors. Its forever looping nature will teach players something by showing how indigenous people had agency in the colonial process, but in reality the relation was never based on honesty: indigenous people were always lied to by their conquerors.”

Structure

2. Create the general structure (1 hour) of your interactive narrative. How many branching paths are there, how many endings do the paths lead to, what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of these paths?

Make the basic game

3. Write the passages of the Twine (5 hours). Focus on getting the choices and style of writing right.

Implement the feature

4. Add at least one additional element (2 hours) to your Twine, e.g. a “macro” based mechanic or a stylistic feature.

Report

5. Write a short  report (1 hour). This report includes your design brief as well as a time table, a discussion of the design process and any successes, challenges and opportunities you faced along the way.

Submission

Via Brightspace you will submit in one zip file:

  • The twine as .html page
  • Your report

This needs to be in a zip file: Brightspace virus detection will either not let you upload the html or it will break your twine during uploading so it cannot be played anymore.

Playing in Class

We will play the Twines in class. Likely in groups where you will get to play through some of the Twines of your peers.