Spirit Island Development Update: For my third Unity prototype, I created an "interrupt system" for the player to interact with and impact a linear dialogue chain. The goal is for the player to feel like less of an observer and more of an active participant during a dialogue scene. Part 1: Inspiration Part 2: Design Part 3: Postmortem The stage was set. I had my reasons, my design, and my prototype. And it worked! Kinda. For the first time, I didn't have a formal survey for t

Spirit Island Development Update: For my third Unity prototype, I created an "interrupt system" for the player to interact with and impact a linear dialogue chain. The goal is for the player to feel like less of an observer and more of an active participant during a dialogue scene. Part 1: Inspiration + Research Part 2: Design Part 3: Postmortem The “cop car scene” is where I’ve tested out my own “interruption system.” The Sheriff is taking Emma to her father’s house to allow

Spirit Island Development Update: For my third Unity prototype, I created an "interrupt system" for the player to interact with and impact a linear dialogue chain. The goal is for the player to feel like less of an observer and more of an active participant during a dialogue scene. Part 1: Inspiration Part 2: Design Part 3: Postmortem I had made a bold claim when I first set out to design Spirit Island. I had decided that the majority of the storytelling would come through au

Spirit Island Development Update #4: For my third Unity prototype, I created an "interrupt system" for the player to interact with and impact a linear dialogue chain. The goal is for the player to feel like less of an observer and more of an active participant during a dialogue scene. Part 1: Inspiration Part 2: Design Part 3: Postmortem In-Person Observations It was fascinating watching people play this game. I received a very good spread of testers, ranging from people who

Spirit Island Development Update: For my third Unity prototype, I designed a difficult puzzle for a touchscreen device that required three steps of logic and relied mainly on audio clues. The goal was to for the player to experience a moment of joyous surprise and a great sense of accomplishment after completing the puzzle. Part 1: Research and Concepting Part 2: Design Part 3: Postmortem The Nitty-Gritty I designed and implemented this puzzle in Unity, using Procreate (a dra

Spirit Island Development Update: For my third Unity prototype, I designed a difficult puzzle for a touchscreen device that required three steps of logic and relied mainly on audio clues. The goal was to for the player to experience a moment of joyous surprise and a great sense of accomplishment after completing the puzzle. Part 1: Research and Concepting Part 2: Design Part 3: Postmortem A well-designed puzzle inhabits that ideal gameplay state that we aim for as developers:

In which I dive right in and write the beginnings of the story for my game. For my MFA thesis project I am MAKING A VIDEO GAME. When I started this eight month project a couple of months ago, that's about all I knew. I also knew that I like puzzle adventure games, often - but not always - of the point-and-click variety; and that the lead character had to be female, complex, and compelling... Where to begin? It seems to me like there are two places available to start from: sto