Building My Portfolio: I Made a Mini-Game in One Week
& I had to learn Ren’py from scratch
My goal in the first half of 2024 is to complete my game writer/narrative designer portfolio. However, since my last two articles on writing dialogue for my portfolio and writing barks, I haven’t made significant progress.
The clock is ticking.
That is not to say I’ve not been working hard behind the scenes, but my most recent exploration came in the form of making a mini-game myself, a short visual novel—in fact, one that focuses on a personal experience of mine.
A Toy Story is my experience with my pup at home. It is a little interactive experience where you see the world through the eyes of a house pet, and the connection you have with your owner through your favourite toy.
Executing this idea was easier said than done. I originally wanted to write a branching narrative on Twine or Ink first and gave both applications a go. I was halfway through my branching narrative on Ink when I realised that I wanted the interactive element of the piece to be visual rather than text-based.
Lately, I’ve realised that, as shocking as it may be, long forms of writing can really be a bore. A picture is worth a million words, after all. I also tried to cram too much when I was…
