AREA OF FOCUS: Narrative Design, Writing

GENRE: Interactive Fiction

ENGINE: Twine
PLATFORM: PC Browser Game
TEAM SIZE: Solo Project
TIMELINE: September 2020- April 2021

MANZIL

WINNER:

Opening Up Prize (New Media Writing 2021)

Blazing Griffin Award for Narrative Design (ADGS 2021)

Play it here!

Read the Dissertation

Project Goals

Learning a narrative-based game engine
Practice writing branching narratives within a small scope
Improve on media and genre analysis
Maintaining the core of the Bollywood without recognizable music
Development of writing and narrative design skills

Research & Planning

Narrative Design

Development of the narrative design happened simultaneously to the writing and choice of engine, with all three influencing each other.

I wanted to develop my understanding of branching narrative and writing for them while remaining within scope. I used GDC talks from writers and narrative designers about strategically placing choices in order to gain a better understanding, and modified the story accordingly.

A key element for designing the game and narrative was reliant on the engine being used. As such, each different engine had a different concept due to the tools available.

An element I wished to explore in the game was the concept of biased choices, where the person presenting the decision to the player has a "correct" answer that would conflict with what players knew was correct. This idea was discarded early on, but the tension surrounding choices was kept in as I moved to development. I looked at Loved as a game to take inspiration from.

Writing

I initially looked to my personal projects and goals, wanting to ensure that I would be able to give my full dedication to my research topic for a year, while also completing some passion project or developing a skill and practice that I wanted. I was interested in improving my media and genre analysis skills, as well as practicing my fantasy writing. The chosen topic was to study and explore what the fantasy genre might look like if designed in a non-Eurocentric perspective. Raji: An Ancient Epic was a reference at this stage.

During this time, I studied old mythology and stories that were considered to be the beginning of fantasy, such as Beowulf, Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as the works of JRR Tolkien, which is considered to have a large influence on modern fantasy.

Through this research, I was able to find a few key elements in old Indian texts: the involvement of family and the circumstances of someone's birth defining their character more than their actions often will.

In December, I made a change to narrow the scope of the project and switched the research focus on exploring family-oriented stories in Bollywood and how they could be adapted into video games.

I chose to focus on family-oriented stories due to the previous research conclusions, as well as my findings when looking into family portrayal in video games. I found that families are not given much focus in mainstream gaming, serving as an objective to save, a tool for the main character's growth or a background voice of support. Based on this, I decided to remove the musical elements of Bollywood and focus entirely on a family narrative, testing if the type of story and character dynamics would be enough to make the influences clear even without the key musical components.

The story was also constructed with the research in mind, to be focused on a modern retelling of an early scene in the Ramayana. I compiled a list of the highest-grossing Bollywood movies and selected three films that heavily involved the family in their story and were locally available. Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham is a film about an exiled son's reunion with his family, 2 States focuses on a couple trying to convince their families to overcome cultural differences to accept each other, and Dangal tells the story of a father and his daughters struggling with legacy.

I looked at games like Night in the Woods and Hades as reference for their casual dialogue and character interactions.

Development Process

Fantasy Story Development

I aimed to focus more on research and theory for this project rather than a more practical approach. Due to the options of multiple engines, I decided to make a quick prototype to test the learning curve and tools of each program so that future versions would be time-efficient to create. The initial concept for the fantasy setting was of a woman who must earn points from positive interaction with her family in order to eventually be allowed to leave the home. This version was developed in Charisma.AI and Twine.

Charisma.AI allowed for development for mobile, which was preferred for accessibility. The engine also required players to type their answer when given a choice, and the AI would detect key words and present a pre-written path based on that. Due to the game's time period (ancient India) and the high tension of personal drama, it was decided that Charisma left paths too uncertain and required too many factors to be considered to make a game in the allocated time period.

The Twine prototype was faster to build and had the tools to make a straightforward narrative experience. The difference in versions and difficulty navigating save states made it a challenge to have the game remember specific boons.

Bollywood Story Development

By this time, the direction had changed to a study of Bollywood, and I drafted a paper version of how the manipulative choices might sound. It is a more dramatic version than the final game. As the project went on, the dramatic dialogue and decisions were altered a bit to fit the characters and research results.

Based on the research gathered, a common trend in Hindi movies was for the protagonist (usually male) to rebel against a life plan that was set for him. This most often appears in the form of career or partner choices, as the main character has a clear sense of identity that does not align with what they are told to assume their identity is.

I took note of common tropes and personalities for the various family members in Bollywood movies. Then, referencing both the common tropes and the research I did regarding the role of families and particularly women in game narratives, I constructed personalities for each of the characters, focusing on making the characters more natural.

The Characters

For the Father, I tried a different spin on the father in Kabhi Khushi. The grandfather was the head of the family and their business, who had a sense of humor but would quickly put his foot down and be stern when required to make decisions. By contrast, his sons were unequipped to manage the family in that way, and were more liberal towards their children. I created a Father who was in between the two; He was used to being the head of the family and the voice most listened to, but didn't make himself the stern villain the way the grandfather did. His light-hearted nature was present always, but turned into mocking the other person when things did not go his way, rather than confronting them with anger.

The Mother is similar to a typical Bollywood mother, but given a reasoning for her place in the conflict. She herself has experienced the trials of being a woman wanting to fight the system and discover herself, and wishes to spare the main character the hurt that she endured from it. However, she also wants the main character to be able to survive future hardships, which creates a conflict in her approach to the discussions that happen during the game.

The Brother was chosen to reflect Lakhshman in the Ramayana. In the original, he is a loyal servant to Ram from the moment of his birth and never wavers from this goal. I wanted to explore the potential discomfort and sense of additional responsibility this would have given Ram. Brother is similar in behavior to the main character, whether through coincidence or deliberate imitation. This causes some discomfort for the main character, as they feel conflicted about wanting to protect him, not wanting to be like the adults around them, but also wanting to avoid responsibility.

The main character in most Bollywood movies is sure of themselves, in at least one aspect of their life goals. They are able to fight and usually come to an understanding with their family (depending on the time period the movie was released in) because of this certainty in their own identity. Looking at the characters of the family, I decided to make the main character the opposite of this description. They are someone who has no certainty about any aspect of their life, including their own identity. The character wants to find out who they are, but cannot fully articulate what is different about them. Unlike a Bollywood protagonist who's desires are to forge their own path without losing the connection they have to their family, the main character of Manzil does not know what path they want and is driven by their desire to severe themselves from the family.

I initially wrote a brief character bio for each of the family members and their relationship to the main character. This served as a reference point when writing the first draft of the conversation points and flow.

Narrative Design

The main conflict of the story was focused on the main character being uncertain of themselves and having to ask for the freedom to explore who they are. In order to have the players more closely relate to the frustrations and suffocation of the character, I made sure to minimize the choices in the story and give the main character a distinct personality. Similarly to Loved, where the player can select a gender and is then told what they are, I wanted players to feel the inability to express themselves through the gameplay, either connecting with the main character's desire for freedom and fighting like them to reach that goal, or disconnecting themselves emotionally and observing what happens in the story. The choices given to the players in Manzil allow them to find out more about a few select items, such as the room, or dig a bit deeper into dialogue. Most importantly, players are able to choose which family members to speak to and convince to allow them to move out.

Players would not be able to control what was said during the conversations, but are able to choose which two family members to talk to. When creating the intial prototype, Twine and Bitsy were tested for this. Bitsy could not be used with variables, thus Twine was once again the engine in which version 1 was build.

The initial writing of version one and the character building was happening simultaneously to the research into movies. Therefore, the first version of the game had single-line descriptions of the scene and was primarily used to check how many scenes were required at minimum, as well as test variables. I made a flowchart of all the choices in the game along with the days that they take place on, which allowed me to clearly calculate and plan the variables.

Prototypes and Testing

Manzil went through five versions during development (see image for details on what each version contained) in twine. I had also begun development on a version of the game in Ren'Py, both as a test of the engine and a test of other factors, such as art, being added to the game for extra effect on emotions and visuals. In the end, that was discarded due to time constraints.

Mid-development, testing was conducted regularly. Throughout the process I was reading and editing each section of the game and ensuring the flow, but also sending the game out to testers and collecting feedback that ranged from the family's personalities, player choices and spelling errors in the game.

What Went Right

Project was finished far ahead of deadline, allowing more time for polish and testing
Using Twine allowed for rapid iteration and testing
Player feedback showed that the game was similar to the drama and experience of Bollywood movies

What I Learnt

I became familiar with Twine, Ren'Py, Bitsy and Charisma.AI's tools
I was able to practice a more research and theory based design with playtesting as a later stage, rather than an early prototype and playtest-focused design process

What Went Wrong

Project scope was too large with the initial concept
Research question could not be drastically altered once pitched
Initial feedback was negative towards the family members and players felt a constant building pressure

How I Overcame It

I discussed my project with my supervisor and was suggested to narrow the scope of the question
I was able to use the limited capacity of changing the brief to connect family-oriented stories to the original research and utilize the previous information gathered
The "Friend" section was developed and added, allowing players to see a conflicting side of MC and have a physical action with which to vent the previous tension