Posted October 14, 2020 by Haley Price
Over the past few weeks I have begun to experiment with making functional and fully playable branching narratives. I used Twine to create a first draft. This was supposed to be an extremely rough draft of the first level of the game where you are introduced to key figures and places. Based on conversations I've had with my thesis advisors, the content will change pretty dramatically, which is good! For me, the goal of making this draft was to test out how a branching storyline worked and for me to get a better idea of how I could later translate this kind of story into Unity. I was less concerned with the content at this stage; it was more of a test to see if player choices worked well.
I was able to play test the game with three people in my target audience: three college-age individuals with little-to-know knowledge of Renaissance Florence. Each one reported enjoying the game, and they were all engaged by the story. They pointed out a few small areas of confusion, which I made note of, but overall played through the game without issue. When they finished the level, I asked them broadly what they learned about the Renaissance in terms of government, economics, art, and religion. Each player was able to briefly explain the world of Renaissance Florence in these four areas. Their genuine interest in the game also prompted fruitful discussion where I could answer their questions about the Renaissance and encourage them to consider how it compares to modern America.
You can play the Twine demo in your browser right on this page!