“Who is Phil?” is a great question I didn’t know I necessarily had before playing, but I instantly became quite curious. Luckily, for the player, a lot of elements of the game work to answer just that. One specific element is dialogue, which is portrayed either as Phil the rabbit's own monologue or better describing his actions.
The game really wants us to understand Phil, and what better way than being him and acting as his curious self. The game provides many interactable sprites and items, which the player, just like Phil does, feels the need to discover and mess around. What engrains the idea that this is something Phil does though is the dialogue. Even in the first scene, Phil and the player are excited to find “fresh veggies”, letting out a “Woo!” as well as Phil’s favorite toy. There’s even a name tag with all of the demographic information about Phil, extending this biographical game to some facts instead of just characteristics.
Dialogue is pretty limited in Bitsy, but the creator even utilizes effects like shaking text to illustrate Phil tearing up his owner’s clothes. He really is a rascal! There’s one thing missing from the player’s experience in the game as Phil, and that is interaction with his owner. Each scene showcases the care and love the owner has, but for a while, there is no direct interaction.That is until Phil curiously goes near the phone and his owner asks “Phil, doing ok?”. The player, wanting to respond or know more, goes to the phone and again hears “I am coming back, Phil”. Some pets are an afterthought, but with the multitude of toys and entertainment present in his environment and his energetic responses to them, we see the owner cares. The owner, wanting Phil to not worry until they get back, wraps it up nicely in a bow, showing that Phil is an important part of the showcased household and the owner’s family.
Prompt 4: Describe how text is used.