My Survival Guide for Interactive Fiction Game Design

Here are my main takeaways from developing the interactive fiction game GLOSSY. Lessons are rooted in failures.

#1 Don’t invest too much time and energy on one idea.

Just admit that your first idea is not going to be your best one.

I learned the simple truth the hard way. At early stage, I already had a rough story in mind. After hours spent on drawing scenes and story boards, I realized that the progression of the plot was not exciting enough to me. So, I started over.

Next time I will have a boatload of ideas ready for me to pick from and be aware that I can DISPOSE any of them.

#2 Characters, characters, characters. Characters speak for themselves.

During the very first round of playtesting, my player did not show much empathy as he felt disconnected with the game characters. I decided to flesh out my characters more by giving more personalities and adding interactions with other characters, which were shortcut solutions to some degree. I wished I could give players more choices with consequences to give characters stronger narratives that players would resonate with.

#3 Turning ideas into reality takes forever.

Adding an image to Twine was easy. What about adding a background image? What about adding special effect? What about zooming in here and there? What about…

There were questions after questions in the process of executing my ideas, especially when integrating visual effects. Sometimes I had to remind myself that I was using Twine, not After Effects. Inspired by one scene of naked witches from the famous Sleep No More, I wanted to apply the similar stop motion style to the climax of my game. But no miracle emerged from my frustration after playing with image sequences for four hours. Experiments do not always lead to success, but ultimately, I get to know where my limitation is. If I build an IF again, I would know where to continue building upon.

The lesson is to always leave enough time for experiment, and double up the estimate of time. I am glad that I tried, even if it did not work out for me.

#4 Let’s not assume players understand all “special” terms used in the game.

I thought Emotional Index was easy to understand.

Wrong.

During playtesting, some of my players got confused with specific terms that I either made up or derived from real life, such as the Emotional Index.

I learned to give players what they need to help them fully understand and dive into the game environment. If they want explanation for certain terms, give them explanation. If they want more context, give them the context.

#5 Learn to stop.

Not knowing when and where to stop has always been a problem for me. That’s probably why I used to “hate” making jewelry (I was a metalsmith long time ago); after soldering all pieces together, there was not much possibility left for making adjustment.

It’s a whole different story for designing an interactive fiction game. I could always change the dialogue, add background stories for characters, add visuals and audios, and provide more choices for players. I enjoyed but also suffered from such flexibility and freedom, because I could hardly decide when to mark an ending for my story. The story kept branching off and got stretched longer and longer. I ended up giving up some chunks of my story and just wrapped it up (thanks to the deadline).

Final Comment

Designing a game about depression is depressing.

Designing a game about emotional regulation is emotional.

Not sure how to rescue myself, maybe design a game about hope and happiness?