Posted on October 15th, 2013
Eden began with a simple idea: the player sets out to rescue a beautiful alien and the two might fall in love. Then I started wondering, “What gender should Eden be? And what about the player?” At first, I wanted to make Eden male just because it’s so unusual for a game like that, though I wasn’t sure what gender to assign the player. Then, I thought that Eden should be left un-gendered just because the idea seemed neat. As for the player, they could choose.
Then, there’s the mechanic that I actually used: while there IS a way to “choose” Eden’s gender, it’s usually random—and said gender isn’t revealed until, at the earliest, halfway through the game. After that, the player can decide how/if Eden’s gender affects their feelings for this blindingly beautiful person.
I think that makes a nice follow-up coming after the relative hopelessness of What’s in a Name. That game/story was about a time when I felt like my bisexuality was shameful, something I needed to hide or get rid of in order to fit in. In Eden, bisexuality is 1)your potential love interest’s nature (your gender doesn’t matter to Eden as long as your in-game good karma is higher than the bad) and 2)potentially rewarding. Not only can it make the path to romance easier; it can even earn you an achievement.
The funny thing is I don’t remember specifically setting out to make a “Bi Is Beautiful” game. It just sort of happened while I was working out the details, trying to sort out what would make the most interesting story and add the most fun.
That’s how 90% of the game happened, honestly. But that’s a topic for another post.
Posted on October 9th, 2013
I’ve got a new game for ya, very different from the first two — and the most traditionally “game-like” game I’ve made so far. It’s called Eden. You can play it here.
It’s sort of part RPG, part action game, and part dating sim, and it was created in Twine. As of 10/14/2013 I *think* I’ve fixed the last bug, but you never know. If the game throws any errors/blank screens for you (or you simply have a question or comment about the game itself), please let me know.
Oh, and not a lot is certain in this game. Who you’ll encounter. What turn events take. Not even your [potential] love interest’s gender. You’ll just need to see for yourself.
Enjoy! 🙂
Posted on October 9th, 2013
[Online Version]
Identical gameplay; Both Free/Donationware!
In some ways, Eden is my follow-up to What’s in a Name? Where What’s in a Name? went into the ways it can suck to be bisexual, in this game, it’s not only acceptable; it’s potentially rewarding.
In Eden, you’re a scientist faced with a choice: risk your life and career for someone else who’s beautiful, but “not even human” or look out for Number One. And that’s just the beginning. Can you really abandon this one to their fate? If not, how will you save them? Although the game is Twine-based, it’s coded with possibilities that are either triggered by earlier choices or occur at random–or both. A guard might spot you… or they might not. You might get caught if you try to take an item early… or you might be quick enough not to. Your love interest might be what you expected… or you may have to ask yourself questions these games tend to leave unasked.
Features include six different endings, four different achievements, a fair amount of original artwork (featured mainly in the endings) and a rather nifty soundtrack.
The offline and online versions play exactly the same. The offline version’s benefit is that once you download it, there are no preload times and you can play it whenever you like without coming back to the site. The good thing about the online version is you can check it out right away. (Well, except for the possible load times.)
Screenshots:
Posted on October 2nd, 2013
See that screenshot up there? It’s a partial view of the coding I’ve done for Eden, a new Twine game I’m working on. It only shows about one-third of what’s in there so far and I’ve still got a fair ways to go. It started off as a simple idea… and then I kept getting more ideas. And MORE ideas. And the game kept getting bigger and bigger. It’s gone from what could’ve been a simple choose-your-own text adventure to, well, a full-blown GAME. Random events. Multiple endings. Lots of different variables that change with the choices you make and can end up altering… well, a lot of things. It seems like everything in this game interacts with everything else. And that is pretty much the reason it exploded.
With a little scripting and a LOT of effort, it’s really something what you can do with this simple hypertext tool for interactive stories. Next time, I think I’m going to try survival horror.
(It’s possible you’re wondering now what Eden is about. But I’d rather not spoil the surprise—and this game has lots of them.)
Posted on September 14th, 2013
I’m working on a new Twine game now. It’s the first that’ll be really game-like instead of a “life experience in a game type format” sort of thing. As such, creating it is a different–and interesting–process. (more…)
Posted on September 1st, 2013
Note added in 2017: This was my very first attempt at making a game. I had fairly recently heard of Twine and thought it would be fun to use; I was also a big fan of the game Today I Die and wanted to try something in that vein to hopefully help other people who had had similar feelings. I don’t know if it was successful, but I do know it isn’t something I would make right now. Anyway, here it is, saved for posterity.
I also saved the original text from when I first posted this in 2013. Here it is below. It’s funny for me, looking inside time capsules like this.
My First Game
Like the title says, I made my first game. It’s called The Choice; I made it in Twine, a sort of “Build-your-own online text adventure type” thing. It’s a very nice tool for folks like me who have plenty of story ideas, but zero game development experience, so I figured I’d start off with that before really tackling something more involved. (You can find a nice beginner’s tutorial from Auntie Pixelante Here.)
The subject matter might be kind of unexpected. But the way I figure it, what’s the point of hurting if you can’t use what you’ve been through to help someone else?
Posted on January 16th, 2013
So, about a week ago, I made a little game. Just a short Twine game based on a personal experience, posted for the world to see in hopes that someone might relate and/or find something of value. In the time since then, that little game has been featured at The Border House. And by the nice game devs Usustar. And (much to my complete amazement) on Kotaku. And by a lot of nice people on Twitter, including Auntie Pixelante. Basically, a LOT of unexpected attention that I wasn’t sure how to process, and it still feels incredibly weird. Not “AAAHHHH!!!! THIS IS MUCH TOO MUCH AND IT’S FREAKING ME OUT!” weird like it was at first; it’s become more “I’ll be darned. Maybe it DOES mean something to people, and that feels kind of nice.”
When you do something early on that catches on so unexpectedly, I think it can be either a really good sign or a little scary, or even both at once. Good in that maybe–just maybe–you’ve stumbled on what you should be doing; scary in that there’s always the chance it was purely a one-time thing, and nothing you do from that point on will ever measure up. But you never know how it’ll go until you try, and even if lightning doesn’t strike twice, you’ll always have that one moment.
I can’t help but wonder now what I could do with more, and I’m feeling a lot less hesitant about that BIG game project now. Realistically, it won’t/can’t be as intimate as What’s in a Name? was because it’s so totally different, but I still hope to do a couple of things that (at least as far as games go) either haven’t been done before or have only been done rarely. The details of that will likely come out over the next several months. Or, if development goes REALLY slowly, over the next few years. :p And yeah, I’ve got some more ideas for Twine as well. Someday, I might even do one about something that’s NOT depressing! ^^
Anyway, to everyone who’s enjoyed What’s in a Name?, thank you so very much. It’s been quite an experience in quite a short time. XD And I hope you’ll stick with me for whatever I do next.
Blessings to all,
Posted on January 10th, 2013
This was my second attempt at a game, also made in Twine. Thanks to an unexpected mention by a person who was well-known online, it wound up making an unexpectedly big impression. It was mentioned in Kotaku. It got a nice write-up in Bit Creature. It was even the IF Game of the Day at The Border House. Needless to say, I did not see all that coming.
Anyway, this one is about my early experiences in coming out bisexual. Let’s just say that things didn’t go as planned; I think the main reason this hurt so much is because it came from a source where one would expect understanding. I’ve become more comfortable in my identity since then (otherwise, I couldn’t have made Eden) and I know you can’t judge an entire group by the behavior of some, but that first impression can become a lasting one for many. (more…)
Posted on January 3rd, 2013
Like the title says, I made my first game. It’s called The Choice; I made it in Twine, a sort of “Build-your-own online text adventure type” thing. It’s a very nice tool for folks like me who have plenty of story ideas, but zero game development experience, so I figured I’d start off with that before really tackling something more involved. (You can find a nice beginner’s tutorial from Auntie Pixelante Here.)
The subject matter might be kind of unexpected. But the way I figure it, what’s the point of hurting if you can’t use what you’ve been through to help someone else?
[Play The Choice; opens in new window]
