Map, Premise, Project Plan – Rachel Zhao

by Rachel Zhao | Posted on

Premise

Player Role

This interactive narrative takes place in the universe of The Little Prince, where a wild fox living on the edge of a desert encounters a mysterious prince from another planet B612. The player assumes the role of a wild desert fox who possesses deep alertness and survival wisdom. Although the fox knows that humans carry dangerous guns, it secretly longs to break its isolation and find a meaningful connection.

Player Goals

The player’s immediate goal is to evaluate the threat level of the Little Prince and decide whether to retreat into a safe burrow or engage with him. In the long term, the player aims to decide whether to accept being tamed, balance wild instincts with emotional vulnerability, and give a new spiritual purpose to life after the Little Prince departs.

Player Conflict

The internal conflict arises between the fox’s wild self-preservation instincts and its growing capacity for empathy and vulnerability. Choosing wildness guarantees safety and independence at the cost of total loneliness, whereas accepting vulnerability opens the heart to connection while risking the pain of heartbreak. Furthermore, the external conflict involves the fox’s desire to let the prince stay and the desire for the prince to go back to B612.

Player Choices

The player must choose whether to maintain distance through cold warnings or share inner vulnerabilities and explain the secret of taming. During the narrative climax at the ancient stone wall, the player makes a pivotal decision either to stop the prince from leaving or to observe prince being attacked by the snake.

Player Actions

The player interacts with the story by managing the physical distance between the fox and the prince. Additionally, the player performs environmental actions such as hunting chickens at the farm, gazing at golden wheat fields, and contemplating the night sky.

Resources

The game tracks the emotional connection between the fox and the prince through the bond state variable. The player’s self-preservation instinct is tracked by wildness, while the degree of emotional openness is represented by vulnerability. A crucial story flag called knows_secret determines whether the fox understands that one sees clearly only with the heart.

Game Events

In Act I, the fox encounters the Little Prince and decides whether to retreat underground or hunt at the human farm. In Act II, the two characters participate in a four-day taming ritual. In Act III, the fox faces a critical confrontation with the snake at the ancient stone wall. In Act IV, the morning light reveals one of four distinct spatial and emotional endings based on the player’s accumulated resource values.

Project Plan

1. Timeline

Milestone 1: Writing the First Draft (October 14 – October 20)

  • October 14-16: I launch the project and complete initial brainstorming of narrative theme, and write a draft.

  • October 17-18:  I complete the initial world-building through Twine and SugarCube.

  • October 19-20: I finalize and submit the mapping, premise, and plan. I have a in-class playtest on Oct. 19, and an out-of-class playtest on Oct. 20.

Milestone 2: Iteration (October 21 – October 28)

  • October 26: Conduct in-class playtest session with peers using the prototype.
  • October 27 – October 28: Synthesize player feedback regarding pacing, choice clarity, and narrative engagement.

Milestone 3: Revisions and Final Submission (October 29 – October 31)

  • October 29: Refine text formatting, fix broken passage links, resolve variable logic errors

  • October 30: Submit the complete and refined project.

  • October 31: Submit the P2 Reflection.

Challenges and Solutions

The Little Prince is intrinsically a poetic, philosophical allegory lacking clear antagonists, or traditional dramatic stakes. In an interactive fiction format, this subdued pacing risks feeling dry or failing to provide immediate player motivation. To solve this, I will elevate Micro-Choices with high emotional stakes. For instance, during the climactic snake encounter, the choice expands into whether the Fox physically hurls itself at the serpent, giving players profound agency and emotional ownership even within an inevitable tragic outcome.

Another challenge is that interactive fiction thrives on agency, but The Little Prince has an absolute, immutable tragedy at its core (the Little Prince must leave Earth). Giving players choices risks creating a false promise that they can save him, leading to player frustration if the outcome feels rail-roaded. Considering this, I will shift agency from outcome to meaning by framing choices around how the Fox faces the departure rather than whether it happens. Players cannot alter fate, but they fully control the Fox’s inner transformation, whether through wild impulse, grief, or philosophical enlightenment.

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