P2: Tiny Playable Prototype

In today lesson, I had a playtest with a tiny playable version of my prototype. Basically it expands on the eight sections that I have planned in the previous blogpost. After playtesting, here is a few things that I observe:

  • The player did not feel comfortable sometimes, especially when the AI OS claimed to know every details of the player. The player had a few moment of quitting the game and he held this opinion very strongly.
  • After playtesting, the player provided highly positive feedback on the game’s premise, noting its strong relevance to real-life experiences and its potential to provoke meaningful reflection among players. However, one challenge identified is designing a sequence of dialogues that keeps players engaged and comfortable enough to continue immersing themselves in the narrative.

After playtesting, I turned my attention to revising the dialogue. At the same time, a key component from the coming-out simulation discussed in the lesson came to mind—specifically, the idea that the story was part truth, part lies. This sparked a new thought: could I create an interactive friction game based on multiple rounds of ‘Two Truths and a Lie,” where the player interacts with the character’s statements and gradually uncovers the full, potentially darker, side of the story or truth?

I’ve decided to pivot because this dynamic seems really fun to explore. Plus, it allows me to streamline my workload by creating 20 ‘Two Truths and a Lie’ scenarios, which lets me focus more on background music and experimenting with Twine, particularly setting up conditionals syntax.

I’m actually quite excited by this because I am a big fan of Christopher Nolan’s movie Memento. The story is intriguing because it is non-linear and fragmented, which mirrors the protagonist’s memory condition. You have to watch to the very end of the movie to know that the movie actually unfolds the narrative in reverse chronlogical order (The beginning is actually the ending). It motivates me to create a structure-oriented IF to break the forth wall of the player.

Regarding the story, the background first comes to my mind is a Netflix docummentary I watched earlier this summer, What Jennifer did. It recounts the true crime case of Jennifer Pan, who was convicted for orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot against her parents in 2010, which resulted in her mother’s death. I think this would be appropriate because the story itself is ‘mind-blowing’ and can be potentially be disguised by other story lines (such as, the father or someone else kills Jennifer’s parent), coupled with other story lines decoupling the motivation (family background, tension between family members, Jennifer’s childhood etc.). I think it could be new to players because they have to be detective, group the pieces together, while making sense of the contradicting pieces.

 

Some “Two Truths or One Lie” on my mind

Round 1 (Introducing the Family Pressure)
1. I’ve only ever had one parent.
2. My mother always pushed me to be the best.
3. I’ve never felt any pressure from my family. (Lie: The character has felt a lot of pressure from their family.)

Round 2 (Establishing School Stress)
1. I’m doing great in school.
2. I recently had a fight with my best friend.
3. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by everything lately. (Lie: The character doesn’t have a best friend.)

Round 3 (Light Inconsistencies)
I love hiking in the woods.
I don’t like crowded places.
I have never broken a bone. (Lie: Hinting the murder scene)

…..

Round 6 (Reaching a Breaking Point)
1. I’ve cried after arguments with my mom.
2. I’ve never felt like giving up.
3. I’ve kept a lot of things to myself. (Lie: The character has felt like giving up before.)


Round 10 (Strangeness Sets In)
I was out late last Friday night.
I always feel guilty when something bad happens.
I saw something I shouldn’t have. (Lie: Introducing the witness angle to divert players to thinking the dad kills his wife)

Round 11 (Memory Distortions Begin)
I remember seeing blood on the ground.
I wasn’t holding anything in my hands.
I wasn’t close enough to do anything.

Round 15 (The Realization Creeps In)
I wasn’t sure if anyone else saw me.
I told myself it wasn’t my fault.
I left before anyone else arrived.

Some conflicts along the two truths one lie could be like, in round 1, “I’ve only ever had one parent.” is a truth, but in later rounds, both parents actually exist together at some point. Players will then have to figure out the one of Jennifer’s parent was dead very recently.

This is just my initial idea. I hope it makes sense and sounds ‘fun’ as a game to play.

 

 

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