Rules & Tutorial Response: IF

One of the hardest things I have found when it comes to creating IF is making the game be both a story and an interactive game. Often times, I find one side prevailing over the other. In the talk “Building Game Mechanics to Elevate Narrative in Oxenfree” given by Sean Krankel, Krankel talked about how they focused on making sure the story and mechanics were combined to create a truly interactive fiction. The motto for his company Night School Studio is “Story inspired our mechanics, and mechanics empowered players to tell their own story.” In their game Oxenfree, the player would have to communicate with characters in the game or explore as a means to revealing the story. These were the primary mechanics of the game.

Krankel noted how a good way to further progress the story would be to extend the mechanics to progress, not necessarily introduce new mechanics. By keeping the mechanics the same and as a way to progress in the story, the player always felt in control. In doing so, the first part of the game, or tutorial, could be focused on the mechanics and getting to know the character they are playing as. As a result, once the story advances and the mechanics evolve, the player will already be familiar with what to do and why.

In order to make sure the story felt natural and as though they were the main character, Krankel and his team playtested a lot. In these playtests, they asked if there were any moments where the players wished they could have more dialogue options and what options they would like added. This was done as they felt the player shouldn’t be left wanting more.

Krankel emphasized that their game was primarily about the journey and not necessarily the ending. This made me realize it is ok to have a few endings despite having multiple choices along the way, as long as those choices came with immediate consequences that changed the experience.