Research

I explored how choose-your-own adventure had been already utilized in different media, and looked at the pros and cons of each type. I already knew that I would have to be restricted to Twine for this project, but seeing what other choose-your-own adventure media with similar tones and experiences excelled and lacked in would help me design my scope, and what to really focus in on when creating my own project.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

Digital video format -- can be viewed from mobile touchscreen devices and on larger screens utilizing remote controls. Most of the audience was teens to young adults that were exposed to the media due to it going viral online. 

Pros

• Player input is immediately validated without having them do extra motions (eg. flipping through pages)

• Immersive audio and sound 

• High potential for virality due to being the first of its kind (on the platform it was uploaded to)

Cons

• Hosted on Netflix, where isn't usually the top pick for those looking for this kind of media

• Due to being owned by Netflix, has currently been taken down and is no longer legally playable anywhere 

• Expensive 

Missing at the Mortuary: Escape Room

In-person escape room with scheduled slots and a live host. Most of the audience are young to middle-aged adults and couples. 

Pros

• Host can provide hints and guide confused players 

• Can be extremely immersive due to literal physical presence of players in an unfamiliar space

  • The physical location was a retired morturary where illegal organ harvesting was once held

• Potential social event among friends

Cons

• Physical!

  • Players have to physically drive to location in order to participate

  • Requires a physical set-up, and could run into many logistics and funding issues 

  • Players have to actually walk around and touch stuff

    • Could be dangerous for immunocompromised players, and overall end up being a cesspool of disease

    • May be physically taxing, especially if sessions are long

• Players might not want it to be a social event, or due to the nature of how this escape room was held, when strangers are grouped together in the same session one party may become dominate and end up taking over the whole experience 

Mystery of the Maya: Book

A book with a 9-12 year old reading level, centering a plot about your best friend going missing in Mexico.

Pros

• Can be carried around and enjoyed in many places -- very portable

• Players can control pacing 

Cons

• Players who don't see books/analog media as being "gamey" will be turned off 

• Although price for actual experience is relatively cheap (and potentially free) if players cannot find the book at local library or do not have the space to store a copy, then the kindle/digital versions can be slightly clunky

• Level of immersion relies heavily on player's imagination 

Research Takeaways 

What to focus on🔍 I knew that my twine version would be closest to the book, with some features of the digitized video format mixed in due to the online nature of it. I realized that I really had to hone in on my descriptive language without being so overly wordy that players are not sure what is happening. In my writings I tried to emphasize descriptions of physical sensations and textures, while also being able to describe physicalities without going too into specific appearances or traits -- I wanted the player character and the player interacting the game to be the "same" person. I hoped that by focusing on these areas, players could more easily place themselves into the shoes of the imaginary avatar that they were piloting. 

Pros!👍 Despite not being able to utilize the immersive sound and design of a video format, players would get almost instant feedback when they made a decision! There would be no having to flip back and forward between pages. Although a bit rudimentary, Twine does have some visual tools (text colors, simple animations, etc.) that I was planning to use to their full advantage to weave a deeper narrative. Furthermore, it seemed that the lack of visual and audible feedback ended up opening many more gates for this game as I would actually have less constratints considering themes and events. I do not have to worry about set pieces, whether or not the actors would show up on time, or consider the physical exhaustion of players -- everything could be experienced for free from any desktop computer with access to internet!

Target audience🎯 I also noticed that my target audience seemed to begin in the middle of what the two references had, so I was not sure how that would end up working in a real-world environment. It could end up perfectly with the targeted audience being alerted and gathered, or it could end up blowing up in my face by making no one happy with the experience. While preparing the first version of the game for playtesting I thought about my classmates and realized that maybe only two of them lay in my target audience category, but this could be really good for research since it may give better insight into what kind of person really enjoys the experience. 

• Still not sure how things would have played out in the real-world, but with my classmates the playtesters that found the most enjoyment with the project were those that aligned with my target audience. Some feedback I received from those that found the twine game to be more slog than enticing was that there was too much text, and that the theme actually made them not want to progress.