I’ve never been into video games, let alone build one, so this project was not something I was looking forward too. However, after completing the video game project, it is not too bad. Still not my favorite thing ever, but I can bear it now. There was much to learn when creating my game, but I managed and am quite proud of the game, For Lysteria.
Before I started creating the game, I needed a storyline. What did I want it to be about? What did I want my users to do? I asked myself these two questions quite a bit through the process. Eventually, I settled on a hero’s journey game set in Lysteria. In my opinion, the hero’s journey is easy enough to write creatively. I did not want to get stumped half-way into creating the game. However, the hero’s journey is very common, and I wanted the game to feel like my own. So, to do this, I chose to utilize my created world from the World-Building Project. With an idea and storyline to follow, I started to build my game for my audience of potential users.
I didn’t have any audience in mind when creating it. But, now looking back, it seems that the audience would be for middle schoolers to even college students. There are some aspects of romantic emotion, and I feel that a young kid might still have the immature notion of ‘cooties’ in mind. Also, there is some violet ideas and death within the game that may be deemed controversial for a younger audience. I find that an older audience might not enjoy it as much since the storyline is quite simple and does not require much thought; older audiences prefer some complexity. Despite all my critiques to determine an audience, my game is quite universal as long as the user’s guardians deem it appropriate and have an interest in a fairytale and heroic quest game.
As a person who doesn’t play or like games that much, I had a hard time convincing myself to be the “game writer”. I didn’t know what I was doing. But, through this learning experience, I think I have been able to find my “game writer” self. I am essentially creating a story, so my job as a writer is to guide my users through this story. I do that. In many emotional parts of the game, I let my users know of inner thoughts. This allows them to know exact details and give them context to their decision in the game. I am essentially telling them how to feel, and as the user, they must trust this if they want to understand the game and the decisions they make.
As the users are making decisions in my game, they are utilizing my game’s procedural rhetoric. Every decision they make can change the outcome and experience of the game. For example, if the user chooses not to ‘share the blanket,’ the user may not feel as much of an impact later on when Lexi dies. The user makes the conscious decision to interact with Lexi, and within that decision, the user has developed a romantic connection with Lexi. On the other hand, there would be less interaction with Lexi to build feelings upon. Another example of procedural rhetoric within my game is that individual decisions can lead to entirely different endings. These endings allow the user to explore beyond a winning experience and, in turn, learn of new feelings and experiences within the game. No matter the decisions made in this game, I hope my users may still find it a pleasant experience.
Now, learning of the processes and procedures of my game, I hope you enjoy my game’s play experience. Will you play my game?
Writing About Magic - Angela Pham 