I made some good progress on the overall story structure this week. Using diagrams.net (2021), I made a flowchart representing the top-level flow that the game will take, as well as giving a good impression of the narrative topology. As you can see, I have gone for a braided narrative, as I feel that will allow for a good amount of choice and player agency, while still funnelling the player through certain story beats. I also think that this model is realistically achievable with my skillset and time frame available to me.

(Above) Figure 1: Screenshot. The narrative topology for the game. I imagine much of this will be tweaked and moved around during development, but this serves as a good framework to work from.

I have also written a large amount of dialogue for the first character the player will meet: Ego. As well as this, I went into Aseprite (2016) and created a portrait for him (fig. 2). My goal is for each character to be a physical manifestation of how we regard each mental construct that  ‘resides’ within our mind, hence why Ego eyes the player with a condescending look. He also has devil horns, representing the general belief that egotism and vanity are bad and to be discouraged. I have implemented these features into a Unity project to see how the dialogue flows in-engine and I’m mostly happy with how it feels (fig. 3). Of course, I will update the UI to fit in more with the narrative and desired aesthetic of the game soon.

(Above, left) Figure 2: Screenshot. The portrait for my first character, Ego. Made in Aseprite, using a grayscale palette. (Above, right) Figure 3: Screenshot. The dialogue in-game, with Fungus’ default dialogue boxes.

This week’s theory lecture was all about UI and UX. It was helpful to consider the differences between the four main types of UI (diegetic, non-diegetic, spacial and meta). Each bring their own feel to a game, whether it’s increased immersion, or greater understanding of a game’s playspace. Whether intentional or not, their implementation and aesthetic also feeds into a game’s narrative, so it’s always important to carefully consider your UI. The information gained in this lecture will help me greatly when designing the UI for my assignment.

I have made some basic mock-ups for the UI in MS Paint. I think that my current goal is to keep in line with the grayscale colour pallet of the character portrait, to keep aesthetic cohesion, as well as bringing the character into the centre of the frame, as they are the focal point of each interaction. I think that next week I will try to make the dialogue boxes to be implemented in-engine and I can start to iterate and refine them to best serve the player experience.

(Above) Figure 4: Screenshot. My current mock-up for the look of the custom say dialog.

References:

Aseprite. 2016. David Capello, Igara Studios.

2021. ‘Flowchart Maker & Online Diagram Software’ [online]. Available at: app.diagrams.net/ [accessed 12 February 2021].

The GAM140 lecture on interactive narrative covered some interesting points. It was good to see some examples of effective embedded and environmental stories in games. It is evident that marrying the two within a game’s narrative can make for great outcomes, however they are often at odds with gameplay systems which often lend themselves to more emergent stories. Balancing these factors, and knowing what to emphasise is essential to crafting a great game narrative. The GDC talk on environmental storytelling was fascinating – conveying the unique ability of videogames to convey narrative through exploration and ‘mise-en-scene’ (Smith and Worch, 2010). I also liked the case study of Fallen London (2009), with heavy importance laid on building a world first, and then ensuring that all elements of the game are made to be in service of that world and narrative. I will aim to do the same for my assignment, taking particular care to make sure the UI reinforces my narrative.

At the beginning of the week, I made some more artwork for my initial idea based around a haunted island (figs. 1, 2 & 3). However, following the GAM140 workshop, in which we discussed the assignment brief for the Fungus game, I have decided to pivot from this idea to something more manageable and fitting of the assignment. The reasoning for this is that, while I would love to make a classic point and click adventure game, the structure is more limiting for a branching narrative when compared to a more traditional visual novel style game. I would also be putting significant time into creating gameplay which, while fun, wouldn’t fall within the marking rubric for this assignment. I think I will shelf the idea for now, perhaps to return to for a later project. As I’m very happy with the look of the art, I have decided to carry over the monochromatic aesthetic into my new idea.

(Above) Figures 1, 2 & 3: Screenshots. Art made in Aseprite to be used for the point-and-click game idea. I’m really happy with how it looks, and have decided to carry over the monochromatic style into my new idea.

The new idea I have landed on takes the form of a “dungeon crawler”, in which you traverse the labyrinth of your own mind, meeting interesting and eccentric characters on your way. These characters will be physical manifestations of your own mental constructs, such as Ego, Guilt, and Memory. The majority of gameplay will stem from the conversations you have with these characters, and depending on your choices, you will gain stat increases/decreases. You will also have choices on which direction to take, which will determine who you meet on your journey. This is an idea that I am really excited about as I think it has a lot of potential. I have created some pixel art to represent the environments the player will move through, likely to be updated and refined later down the line (figs. 4 5 & 6). As the game will be largely focused on the dialogue system, I wanted the environments to serve as an abstract backdrop to these conversations rather than taking centre-stage.

(Above) Figures 3, 4 & 5: Screenshots. More pixel art made in Aseprite to represent the different intersections that the player will encounter. I like the abstract representation, alluding to the ‘fleshiness’ of a brain without it being obvious. I have also carried over the monochromatic style of the last idea.

Other than the above, this week has been largely spent learning how to use Fungus, as I feel that I will be able to more confidently jump into my project and begin experimenting with different ideas when I have a better idea of what the tool is capable of. I picked up another great course on Udemy (McGrath and Gregan, 2017), by the creators of Fungus itself, and worked through the entirety of it during the week. It covered most of the major aspects of Fungus, and took me step-by-step through the creation of a simple point and click game with a branching narrative. One of the key things I took away from it is the ability to create custom dialog boxes and menus – something which will be key to creating a UI that feeds into the narrative of my game. The ability to create draggable / target sprites also intrigued me, opening up the possibility to implement an item system.

Next week, my goal is to begin writing a story outline and topology, as well as writing dialogue for the various characters. I would also like to start making the art assets for the characters too.

References:

Fallen London. 2009. Failbetter Games.

MCGRATH, Paul and Chris GREGAN. ‘Make Unity 3D interactive games with Fungus – no coding!’. Udemy [online]. Available at: www.udemy.com/course/make-interactive-games-with-fungus-unity3d-no-coding-required/ [accessed 02 February 2021].

SMITH, Harvey and Matthias WORCH. 2010. ‘What Happened Here? Environmental Storytelling’ [online lecture]. GDC Vault. Available at: https://gdcvault.com/play/1012647/What-Happened-Here-Environmental [accessed 03 February 2021].

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.

References: