@espressocat.bsky.social
Narrative Director & Writer • Formerly State of Decay, Marvel’s Avengers, and NDAAAAs • Currently reverting to my base form ✍🏼• exploring dreams, making memes ✨ • 🎙️ 1/2 of Furidashi Podcast • she/her
NO STOP THIS DOUBT!! You can do it!!! Pass along the knowledge! Express what you’re struggling with!! Show them they belong !!!
Me right after GDC though this week all my screens have been good ✨✨
It was great to see you! Can’t wait for April !!
For everyone, my friend found the 2020 demo which is on YouTube and poor Raf my god how much they changed him. The horror www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXP...
Congratulations!!!
yes well, mine is Xavier so am I really any better
Real talk design principles. 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
ACTIVELY EXPLORING VR is not how I expected to be on the bingo card but it makes a lot of sense now.
🙂↕️ 🙂↕️ so who’s your main Zoë who refuses to let go of the claw machine
Now in everyday life they created tons of features to simulate dating.
Each dialogue line is unique for each love interest with multiple AI behaviors (behavior trees) and dialogue.
Example of the claw machine for two LIs and I am not gonna call them out for anyone who plays to Easter egg 🤣
It really feels like you are fighting alongside a love interest and companion not just fighting alongside a friend.
While I was hoping for the talk to detail further into the story moments of the intimate cards I am really excited to see that romance in combat was taking so seriously that they created a huge process from dialogue to animation and AI behaviors all from the romance as a pillar angle.
For writing, we needed to create a logical and consistent romantic progression and restructure both the combat system to start as separate but coordinated to together and intimate. Only then did players feel comfortable seeing more intimate animations.
Omg the difference of the 2020 demo to the 2024 launch is insanely different from their POV to the character design. My friends I cannot release these images of Raf to the public from 2020 but I really am so glad they blew through their constraints.
Combat as Romance || It’s interesting to see that bringing combat to romance was both a romantic concept as well as a mainstream approachable choice. From the writing standpoint fighting together with companions created the depth of early otome AKA “trauma bonding”
If my followers don’t actually know what this game is - it’s the one that won best mobile game last year 🤣 this slide describes its genre.
YAAAS FINALLY THE MOMENT WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR ✨✨✨ Romance in game development through writing and narrative!!!!
New ribbon drop in South Hall @ GDC ✨ Good thing because I lost all my ribbons last night! 😩
EVERYONE BUY THIS BOOOK <yodelling yell>
I better see _you_ tonight
YAAAAS GALAVANT
i did not approve this change
Only just
Finally, four headlines to think about when working with existing gameplay constraints when narrative and story do not exist.
I love talking about narrative in games, because most of the time people don’t see that
game narrative = context + agency
in a world that has unique rules and constraints similar but different to our own.
Players need to know why they’re playing the game. It can be explained as progression design in path of exile. Or raid mechanics in wow. Or as simple as we’ve built an open world, with interesting mechanics, and boss encounters… but no one cares?
What’s your game’s story?
Motivation design. When you can’t bring yourself to say “Story matters.”
As someone who published a master’s thesis on ludonarrative harmony, the biggest challenge I’ve found at later stages of development happens when people forget that humans rely on context and motivation to play, not just fun.
Stop by the Expo Hall and find @iftechfoundation.org in the Indie Arcade!!!
Great trips for anyone in narrative. Specifically about editing.
1. Build relationships. Trust is the most important.
2. Dialogue over directives. Work with people. Not over them.
3. Reduce cognitive load ✨ not all your narrative needs to be on screen.
Give more from less.
