This week we had a lecture on quests. I enjoyed considering quests as the bridge between the ludology vs. narratology debate. The intrinsic meaning and action found within their framework makes them well suited to ensure that narrative and gameplay can complement each other.

I enjoyed going through the steps of conceptualizing a quest in the GAM140 workshop. It was great to take the concept from initial idea, being represented as a flowchart (fig. 1), through to actually drawing up the spaces that the quest would take place in, and how each narrative beat would fit in spatially and temporally. By the end of the workshop I had a relatively fleshed out idea for a quest and level design, that I feel has potential to be the basis of my annotated level design.

(Above) Figure 1: Screenshot. The flowchart made to represent my quest idea in this week’s workshop.

This week I have fully implemented the navigation system within my game. While it is very simple, I think it is effective in creating the feeling of progression and disorientation within the player, as well as serving as a small palette cleansers in-between dialogue sections (figs. 2 & 3). It works by fading to different ‘views’ when a button is pressed, using Fungus commands, with each view having it’s own block in the flowchart (fig. 4). Essentially, the game will cycle between different PNG images, dependent on which paths you choose, which works surprisingly well. I have also created a separate custom menu for these navigational sections, placing the buttons at the bottom of the screen, taking up some of the blank space left by the floor.

(Above, top) Figures 2 & 3: Screenshots. The navigation system in-game. Simple button inputs to advance / choose which direction to take. (Above, bottom) Figure 4: Screenshot. The simple flowchart used to enable navigation.

I have also included most of the dialogue for The Pallid Giants, the second character that players will meet. As someone interested in philosophy and metaphysics, the dialogue has been very enjoyable, and challenging, to write. A big aspect of this character is the fact that they attribute colours to emotion, and are able to tune into the ‘aura’ that emotions give out. To aid me with this, I read an article on ‘colour psychology’ (Swarnakshi, 2021), which detailed the different psychological attributes and effects of particular colours. I understand that there are issues with this, as colours can mean vastly different things across cultures, so I have tried to be as accurate to Western culture as possible, with this being an issue to look into if I were ever to develop the project further.

I have also implemented the possibility to encounter the Soul Slugs that were made last week (fig. 5). Currently, when encountering them, you get the choice to increase or decrease particular statistics. I think that they help to give the player a sense of agency, as they are able to affect their statistics in a more direct way than outcomes from dialogue choices. It also means that players will have more unique play experiences, as the slugs are missable, and only found on particular routes.

(Above) Figure 5: Screenshot. An encounter with a Soul Slug, following this dialogue you get a choice for how to affect your stats.

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