Moving into the second study block, I am excited to develop my skillset further, and get involved with more design assignments. My first impressions of the assignment briefs are positive, as I am particularly interested in narrative design and storytelling, so this module should be a good chance for me to flex these particular design muscles.

This week’s introductory lecture provided some engaging discussion points, namely on the concept of meaningful choice. It is interesting to consider that ‘meaningful’ choice doesn’t necessarily have to affect the narrative in a large way, as long as it affects the player. I also enjoyed learning about different narrative topologies and the strengths and weaknesses that they each have. The recommended GDC talk on FTL’s design process was also informative (Ma and Davis, 2013), showing the importance of iteration and refinement when crafting the desired player experience.

Outside of the timetabled lectures, I have been busy learning practical and theoretical skills that will aid in the assignments for this module. I checked out the online fungus forum, found on the fungus games website (2021) – something which looks to be highly useful if I get stuck in the future. I have also been working my way through a Udemy course on 2D game development (Davidson and Tristem, 2021), which so far has taught me a great deal about the application of UI elements, including canvases, panels, buttons, text and images. This will hopefully prove useful in the creation of my narrative-driven Fungus game as my submission for this modules assignment, and I will continue to work through it in my own time.

I’m already busy concepting and generating ideas for the narrative-based Fungus game assignment. Currently there are two ideas that I feel could create compelling experiences.

The first is a point-and-click style game set on a haunted island, inspired by The Secret of Monkey Island (1990), with the main objective being to escape. There would be other characters to interact with, utilising branching dialogue systems, with some choices effecting the ending. After experimenting and researching Fungus, it seems that it works well within a point-and-click format, so if I were to go ahead with it I will do some self-learning to help me as I have never made a game in this style.

My other idea is much more dialogue heavy, inspired by games such as Coffee Talk (2020), in which you are a bartender, engaging with clients and fixing up drinks. The dialogue will branch out and effect relationships with other customers over the course of a few nights. This seems like it would lend itself well to Fungus and would be easy to quickly prototype and iterate on. I am aware that this is a well-trodden concept, so if I go with this idea, I will have to add a unique spin to keep it fresh and original.

We are still very early on in the module, and I have some more time to conceptualise my ideas for the project. Hopefully soon I’ll land on something exciting, as the creative freedom allowed with this assignment allows for a lot of potential.

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