Mindscape
So I had decided to follow through with the game idea of “Mindscape.” I made the setting within an empty, seemingly endless house that is falling apart and in the constant darkness. The player must explore and find the memories they must face to try and escape this house and wake up.
I while making it on Twine I separate it into two separate “stories” so that I could have a closer look at what was going on and not be overwhelmed by having everything in one (this also saved me from losing my entire game).
They were separated by the content which they contained. One was just the hallways and exploration of the house, including the opening of every door, the ticking away of time, the increase of depression, the increase of confidence, and small secret elements the player could find. The other story was the complete interaction with one of the memories you have to face in the game focusing around the impact of parents on body image.
If you notice in the picture there is an “ERROR” story, that was my first try and making the hallway portion of my game. I got to a point in which I was almost done and then Twine completely crashed on me. I lost that entire hallway scene and had to completely remake it, I was just lucky I enjoy writing things down on paper and not creating it only online, so I had a general outline of what my story was so I technically didn’t lose everything. (Also a side note, “ERROR” will not let me delete it, it is resilient and refuses to die)
In the end, I was able to make the small demo of the first floor of this house so that people can experience the empty doors, the frustrating voice in your head that just wants you to give up, a secret element that can increase your confidence, and an encounter with a suppressed memory. I’ll try and figure out how to link a playable version of my game to people. If anyone is extremely passionate and wants to play this demo message me and I’ll see what I can do.