As a self-proclaimed bookworm who only reads fiction (with the rare exception of memoirs), it never occurred to me that games could provide the same kind of sensation you get from reading novels. Reading gives me a way to stop being myself and imagine filling someone else’s shoes – all done through words and my imagination to fill in the blank spaces. Interactive fiction games, on the other hand, shift that ratio a little bit – there are words, but also many other immersive devices (like sound, music, visuals) to help convey the designer’s story. The reader/player’s room for interpretation and the author/designer’s intentions seem to have a give-and-take relationship based on how many devices are used to narrate the story.
For my own interactive fiction game, after fleshing out most of the words in my game, I made full use of these devices to fully immerse the player in an intimate sento setting. As I received more playtesting feedback, I added more and more devices to each new prototype version; I noticed that each addition conveyed some meaning that I couldn’t quite put into words.
- My first addition was the visual background and sprites – two people soaking in a bath, to supplement the explanation of “sento” through visual cues.
- My second addition was the sento music – it created a serene, tranquil, relaxing atmosphere of a sento. After I finished the game, I think that this also mimics that real cathartic experience of dipping your body in hot water after a long day. Many playtesters commented that they felt like they were actually at a sento – and music played a big role.
- I also added SFX to hovers and clicks – it adds a nice touch to make the interactive fiction “game” feel like an actual “game”. Books can’t reaffirm or refute the reader’s thoughts as they read, but digital games give us the affordance to provide player feedback.
- Another addition that reinforced my intentions as a game designer was animation. After some playtesters had mismatched the player sprite with baachan’s sprite, I added animation to supplement the text where the player “helps baachan into the sento”, then “slides in after”. This small touch got rid of misaligned intentions and interpretations without words.
- The final touch was steam animation – I wanted to visually represent baachan’s hazy/lucid mind through the steam. Although this connection remained hard to make for playtesters on their first play of the game, it became a noticeable detail that adds to the steamy ambience of the game.
Overall, my P2 experience had me reflecting on different media and what tools they use to convey a story. My new understanding is that interactive fiction isn’t interactive just from the branching mechanic; it’s also the usage of devices to immerse the player in the scene. While I still love reading novels and filling in the gaps myself, interactive fiction games can have a wide range of tools to convey the same story at different opacities, and this assignment made me want to explore more modalities of storytelling.
