Dev Diaries: MicroTwines For The Times
Developing two interactive fiction twines.
Throughout May and June, I wrote several short interactive fiction stories, AKA MicroTwines. Some for fun, others for the Neo-Twiny Game Jam. Here, I’ll walk through my process of two paired twines.
At a time when my “writer’s roadblock” was at its peak, A Microfiche of Me and A Reverie of You came after 9 ideas and 5 completed twines!
Coming well under the 500 word limit, I submitted both stories to the jam.
At 353 words, Microfiche came first. My intent was to put the player in a reincarnation scenario moderated by a machine.
Reverie, the second, was an unintentional follow-up after I decided to write a kinetic visual novel around a poem. At 300 words, it reminds the player to celebrate their living memories through a similar slide-viewing process.
Concept
In A Microfiche of You, the player learns about their sudden death through interacting with a system named ReInCarnatE (A punny backronym of Resynthesizing and Integrating Discarnate Entities). They can reincarnate into anything except another human like themself.
The game could be uncomfortable or silly depending on the player’s inputs. A friend enjoyed faking their death in one of their favourite places and reincarnating as a wizard, while another playtester found the story bleak with its cold treatment of human life.
In A Reverie of Me, the player follows a poem that starts each line with “Remember.” Each line can be read in any order within a verse.
Process
Draft in Scrivener
Completed draft in Twine Sugarcube
Creating gameplay structure
Linking components
Adding UI elements (images, sound)
Playtesting (8-10 times)
Narrative: A Microfiche of You
After a brief introduction, the system asks two sets of questions. The first set are mundane – age, name and the like. The goal was to set a “baseline” that seemed ordinary when programmed into a machine, but clinical and cold to the player; as if they’re at a medical check-up.
The next set of questions deepens the immersion by first forcing the player to describe how and where they met their death. ReInCarnatE then continues to ask the player difficult questions on whether they are happy with their current life.
Once the player has input all their choices, the system prints all their choices for review to drive home their “confirmation.”
The ReInCarnatE system then proceeds to “Start the process.” By answering two sets of questions, the player completes their reincarnation of choice and finishes the game.
This game has 2 endings, the main one where the player chooses to reincarnate into something else, and the alternate route where the player declines and accepts death. The alternate route was coded to be a missable option if the player doesn’t select it within 6 seconds. This was designed to imitate the sudden human urge of changing their mind when faced with such an intense, extreme scenario.
If the player chooses to interrupt the process, they get one less chance to reincarnate, or agree to “disappear”. If the player chooses death, the system breaks a bit of its programming, stuttering out a final “I am sorry” before completing the process to delete the player forever.
Because this game is so bleak, A Reverie of Me became the complete opposite to contrast the heavy subject. Meant to celebrate life, I wrote a poem that urges the player to remember their living memories.
Game Design
In Microfiche, I wanted to emphasize the clinical, inhumane way the system processes the player’s reincarnation. I also wanted to inject a retro, dated feel to hint that the system had been used (or inactive) for a long time. I clipped together old computer beeps and cassette transitions sourced from Creative Commons sites.
True to its title, I created the aesthetic of scrolling through a microfiche, AKA a microfilm. Each question was on its own “slide,” and every screen transition would play the sound of inserting/removing an old cassette reel (I couldn’t find one of an actual microfiche). I created the background to replicate the flickering, noise-filled blue screen of an 80s computer with monospaced Courier as its font.
Once completed, each line of text ends on a blinking cursor to further emphasize the programmed, stuttery aspect of the system.
I repurposed Microfiche’s nostalgia of using a slide-viewer for Reverie. Being a happier follow-up, the player uses a View-master camera to view lines of a poem over photos edited to match the grainy, dream-like aesthetic.
The poem is an anaphora that starts each line with “Remember.” Like a lullaby, each stanza transitions slowly with each mouse click. Each verse was on its own “slide,” and every screen transition would play the sound of cycling to the next photo in a View-master reel. Yes, the actual sound!
The link to replay the game puts Reverie in an eternal loop, starting and ending with “Remember.”
Both games were built on Twine’s Sugarcube, using macros to take in names, numbers and add text delays. I tested them at least 10 times before publishing to itch.
Trivia
In Microfiche, the system tells the player that their reincarnation choice may not be able to consume food. I added this for believability if the player chose an object or creature without a digestive system
Programming Microfiche took twice the time to write it
The poem in Reverie follows iambic trimeter
I didn’t know what an anaphora was until this poem