House Sitting
House Sitting
Project Breakdown
Project Breakdown
House Sitting was a Twine project I wrote while attending on Full Sail University's Virtual Experience International. During the workshop, attendees were challenged to explore game design on a storytelling level by using Twine to create an interactive story in an hour while applying basic game systems.
While creating House Sitting, I wanted a final product that could actually be completed in an hour and felt like it could be adapted outside of the text-based format; something that felt not just like a story, but an actual game. Besides, I also wanted the writing to be entertaining by itself.
In this game, the player has to house sit for their mom while she is on a trip.
When writing, time was less of a constraint and more of an stabilishment of expectation. The goal should be so clear the player shouldn't be playing to achieve it, but to intentionally make mistakes out of curiosity; they aren't being tested on their reading or memory skills, they are having fun reading the game's responses to their actions. This came not only through narration, but also the way the player's mom answers to their lack of skill in taking care of her house.
I also added just enough of a backstory to make the relationship between the player and their mom feel real, without having to overexplain and drag the narrative along.
Conditions for different endings had to be very simple in this project, as I wouldn't have the time to mess around with variables on Twine.
Good: the player took good care of the house.
Conditions: the player fed the fish and watered the flowers
Neutral: the player didn't take good care of the house.
Conditions: the player didn't feed the fish, but watered the flowers, or the player fed the fish, but didn't water the flowers.
Bad: the player didn't take care of the house.
Conditions: the player didn't feed the fish or water the flowers