The sort of fun I wanted to create with two houses was a mix of humor and emotional reflection, something a little funny, but ultimately about understanding romance and relationships. In my game, players make choices that determine both the outcome of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship and the fate of the main character, Vincent. Every decision affects not just how the classic story unfolds, but also how Vincent processes his own failing marriage.
I built the game in Ren’Py, and it took many many hours. Writing a branching script takes way longer than expected, especially when you’re trying to make sure player choices still connect to key narrative moments, like specific flashbacks or interactions I considered essential to the story. Balancing freedom and structure was one of the hardest parts. Playtesting an interactive fiction game turned out to be harder than I expected. With so many branching paths, I had to make sure each one worked mechanically and narratively. It’s also surprisingly time-consuming to test, since you have to manually click through every choice to confirm that nothing breaks. Watching other people play was fascinating, though. I loved seeing which routes they chose, which characters they empathized with, and how their decisions revealed what kind of player they were. For example, one playtester said she chose a negative choice on purpose just to see what happens, and that kind of exploration is really interesting to watch in a playtest.
I also drew all the art in this game myself, which was new for me. I don’t usually illustrate and I’ve actually drawn more in 247G and 377G sketchnotes than I have outside of class. I’ve always loved graphic design and doodling though, so it felt natural to create my own assets. One challenge was figuring out how to match the visual tone of Romeo and Juliet while still fitting the atmosphere of my own story. I spent a lot of time thinking about the “vibe” of each location, and how color, lighting, and character costumes could communicate emotion as much as the dialogue.
Going forward, I’d love to make another Ren’Py game! The platform is actually very intuitive once you understand the basics. After adding character sprites, dialogue, and backgrounds, the story starts to come alive almost immediately. I don’t usually play these kinds of narrative fiction games, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed writing this one and playtesting it. This project reminded me how much I enjoy building emotional experiences. What drives me is designing games that make people laugh out loud and exclaim things, maybe even recognize something new about themselves along the way and connect with the characters in unexpected ways.
