Part I a Sketchnote of Game Design as Narrative Architecture
Part II Analysis of Animalia
1.An Introduction of the Game
The game Animalia is a browser-based, choice-based interactive fiction. It was created by Ian Michael Waddell with Twine, which can accessed through https://imw.itch.io/animalia. The story revolves around four woodland animals who attempt to disguise themselves as a nine-year-old boy whom they previously kidnapped and sacrificed in a ritual. To avoid suspicion, the animals must cooperate to impersonate the child when interacting with humans. I assume that the target audience are teenagers or young adults who enjoy narrative-driven games and unconventional storytelling. I spent an hour playing this game until the protagonist dies and game ends, but I only explored a tiny part of the storylines. As the screenshot 1 shows, “But there’s much, much more to see…”
Screenshot 1: An End of the Game
Animalia primarily falls under Choose Your Own Adventure and choice-based interactive fiction. One distinctive mechanic is that players select four different animals to control different parts of a human child’s body. The results are that initial character combinations influence subsequent dialogue and interactions. Rather than creating entirely separate storylines for every choice, the game adapts its narrative based on the selected characters at the beginning of the story. This choice-based format also makes the game accessible to players unfamiliar with interactive fiction, while the different character combinations encourage replayability.
2. 4 E’s and Aesthetics
Drawing on Henry Jenkins’ 4 E’s, I think Animalia primarily employs enacted narrative and incorporates elements of emergent narrative.
Enacted Narrative is prominent because players actively participate in constructing the story rather than simply reading a pre-structured plot. At the beginning, players select four animals to control different parts of a human child’s body. Throughout the game, these animals must cooperate to navigate everyday human situations. The player’s decisions shape how these encounters unfold, making the absurd situations more engaging and humorous.
The game also incorporates elements of emergent narrative. Different combinations of animals lead to different dialogues and consequences. I find this particularly interesting because even when players encounter similar situations, their experiences can differ significantly depending on the characters they have selected.
Evocative Narrative is also present through the familiar trope of multiple creatures pretending to be one human being. Players can immediately recognize the absurdity of this disguise, while the contrast between ordinary human activities and the animals’ bizarre behavior creates much of the game’s comedy. In contrast, embedded narrative is less prominent. Rather than encouraging players to discover hidden stories through environmental exploration, Animalia relies primarily on dialogue, character interactions, and player choices.
Overall, these narrative strategies contribute to the game’s absurd and unpredictable aesthetics. By allowing players to influence character interactions and story development, Animalia creates an engaging experience that encourages exploration and replayability.
3. Inspiration and Criticism for My Own Game
There are several design features in Animalia that I found inspiring and would like to incorporate into my own interactive fiction.
First, I really like how the game uses clickable keywords to reveal the story progressively. Almost every paragraph contains a highlighted word that players can click to reveal the next part of the narrative, shown in screenshot 2. This makes reading feel more interactive and gives players some control over the pacing of the story.
screenshot 2: clickable keywords in each paragraph
Second, I enjoyed being able to choose the four animals myself and immediately see the consequences of my choices, shown in screenshot 3. For example, I chose Susan because she could understand humans, which seemed like a good strategy. However, even when I was given a second chance to choose, something still went wrong with the final animal. I found this particularly interesting because the game does not always reward seemingly reasonable decisions with ideal outcomes. This creates surprise and makes the story feel less predictable.
screenshot 3: choice among three animals
Third, I noticed that the entire visual design frequently changes, such as the background shifting from light yellow to navy blue and dark blue, examples given below. These transitions create noticeable changes in atmosphere and help signal shifts in the narrative. I would like to experiment with similar visual effects in my own game.
screenshot 4 & 5: frequent changes in the background color
Another feature that particularly impressed me was the appearance of multiple characters’ emotional reactions, see screenshot 6. Instead of describing everyone’s feelings in a long paragraph, the game presents their reactions simultaneously, such as whether someone feels relieved or unimpressed. I plan to implement something similar using SugarCube in my IF.
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screenshot 6: The Emotions of Mom, Dad and me
Finally, a design feature I also found inspiring was how Animalia uses different choices to eventually guide players back to the same narrative node, which is called as Accordion Structure in Henry Jenkins’s article. For example, in the screenshot 7, I chose “pass a note,” “raise our hand,” “use child washrooms,” and “distract teacher and the kids,” all of which eventually led me back to the this page. However, after exploring all of these options, a new choice appeared, allowing the story to progress. Similarly, I walked through the antler door and the dairy door in screenshot 8, only to find that I eventually had no choice but to enter the lizard door.
screenshot 7: An Example of Accordion Structure – 1
screenshot 8: An Example of Accordion Structure – 2
These experiences made me realize that giving players agency does not necessarily mean creating completely different storylines for every choice. Instead, the designer can allow players to explore different possibilities while gradually guiding them toward a predetermined narrative event. I think this is a clever way to balance player freedom with authorial control, while also avoiding an overwhelming number of branching paths.
Overall, Animalia inspires me to think beyond traditional branching narratives and explore how clickable text, immediate feedback, visual transitions, and character reactions can make interactive fiction more immersive. One potential limitation I noticed is that frequent clicking and visual changes could potentially interrupt the reading flow if overused. I hope to incorporate these features selectively so that they enhance rather than distract from the emotional storytelling in my own game.
4. Empathy Machine?
I personally did not develop much empathy for the characters while playing Animalia. Most of the time, I was more amused by the absurd situations and curious about how my choices would affect the story. However, I did feel sorry for the little boy, Charlie, who was kidnapped and sacrificed by the animals. What made his situation even more tragic was that his father seemed rather indifferent toward him. I found myself feeling sad that the boy was not only a victim of the animals but also seemed to lack attention and care from his own family.
Overall, the game evoked more amusement, curiosity, and surprise than empathy. I think this was largely because of its absurd premise, humorous dialogue, and unpredictable consequences of player choices. Although I enjoyed these features, I did not feel particularly emotionally connected to the four animals. This also makes me reflect on my own game design. I hope to create a stronger emotional connection between players and the fox, allowing them to feel how brave the fox is to be tamed by the prince and how heartbroken the fox is at the end.
