The Life of Alex

Suddenly you find yourself in a diner with no memories of who you are, how you got here, or who the people around you are. Will you care to find out who you are? 

-------- Artist Statement ---------

The Life of Alex - Designer-Choice Twine Game

My larger game was based on my obsession with "figuring life out." I chose this obsession because I believed the format of multiple possible narratives would lend itself well to a story about figuring out one's identity. I used the "key-nodes" structure from Nat Mesnard's article "Branching Infinity" as a starting point. I chose this approach because I wanted there to be key moments in the character's life that all players experience. However, as I created more possibilities, I realized I could interconnect different points in the story to create a more complex narrative. This resulted in a structure that, while containing key nodes during gameplay, this isn't obvious when viewed as a whole. Here’s what I mean:

I engaged with Greg Costikyan's definition of a game because the narrative creates an interactive structure with meaning specific to my story. Elements like "The Birds" or "The House" are interactive pieces of the story that add meaning to the player's experience and are unique to my game. Costikyan's definition is also fulfilled in the aspect of struggle toward a goal. In my game, there is a clear goal: the player needs to figure out their identity and what happened to them before the game started.

I playtested by having my best friend Nick play it in its early stages, and then my brother-in-law Leo and my sister Julia tried the final version. Perhaps the most practical help they provided was pointing out spelling errors (my sister is an English major) and finding bugs, of which there were many. Besides that, I asked all three of them to explain their thought process as they made decisions. This was insightful, as it showed how much they cared about the well-being of the main character, Alex. They really wanted the hero to reach the "good ending." After a few minutes of gameplay, I also asked about their expectations. Nick told me he expected Alex to either have a very happy ending or a terribly tragic one. This feedback inspired me to develop the story further, including more tragedy. I believe his insight made the story more captivating. Both these questions were taken from what Nat shared with us during the lecture.