{"author_name":"kristoffer zetterberg","cat":"LD #27","comments":[],"epoch":1378129620,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"37986","p_author":"kristoffer zetterberg","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"73602","p_title":"Notes on departure, postmortem","p_cat":"LD #27","p_event":"LD27","p_time":"1378129620","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1377216000","event_key":"18","event_name":"LD27"},"text":"

Play Notes on departure here<\/a><\/p>\n

I had heard about Ludum Dare a couple of times, seemed like porpentine<\/a> \u2013 who got me into making Twine games in the first place \u2013 had made quite a lot of her games for these kind of game jams, but I thought I\u2019d not be able to make one for a jam myself, as me writing under time pressure doesn\u2019t work very well.<\/p>\n

Seems I was a little bit mistaken.<\/p>\n

Ludum Dare 27 had been going on for about half a day when I by some chance stumbled upon it. The theme suited me perfectly; I wanted to do something minimalistic and the idea of having something that would only last for ten seconds made me thinking that this will actually work out.<\/p>\n

\"notes-on-departure\"<\/a>

Click on the picture to play Notes on departure<\/p><\/div>\n

I wrote the script almost entirely in Swedish (my first language) to begin with, using OneNote and Word, I then began translating it with at least two different translating tools and one online dictionary, and I actually texted a friend of mine a couple of times too just to get his opinion on the translation.<\/p>\n

When I code in Twine I always consult porpentine\u2019s twine resources<\/a>, and it\u2019s thanks to her and Leon Arnott\u2019s<\/a> macros that the games turn out the way I want them to. Be sure to check out their games this LD too; they\u2019re amazing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure how long it took me to create the game; I\u2019m usually only creative in short bursts, the rest of the time I\u2019m consciously thinking or doing something else.<\/p>\n

Apart from writing it, what took me the most time by far was making it look the way I desired; I\u2019m always having a problem with the colours and how the text lines up.<\/p>\n

These things considered, turned out I had a couple of hours left until the deadline, but I didn\u2019t want to change or expand on anything. I know everybody thinks my game is short, personally I don\u2019t have such a long attention span \u2013 especially when it comes to reading on a computer \u2013 and I\u2019m more interested in getting the player to think and contemplate on the experience, rather than for it to actually be lengthy one, so it has both to do with this, and the fact that I\u2019m a slow writer.<\/p>\n

I had an explicit idea of what I wanted to do with my game: I sought for it to remain open to interpretation so that the player could put in their expectations and wishes and let the experience kind of be what they wanted it to be, or perhaps the way that seemed most natural to them. The interactivity had to be meaningful, and had to be approachable and able to interpret in a lot of ways, and as I didn\u2019t have the time to try and expand the game as that would have jeopardized my vision, I focused on making what I had as good as it could be.<\/p>\n

By doing that I hope that instead of bringing a longer experience the tale would live on and expand in the imagination of the player, as it really is their experience and story, and I have no idea of what they choose and how they choose to interpret this, though I would love to know.<\/p>\n

This has been a very inspiring and fun thing to be a part of, and I\u2019m thankful for all the comments I\u2019ve been getting and have really enjoyed playing your games. If you\u2019re interested I have a tumblr<\/a> where I publish my games (or interactive fiction if you prefer) just two of them so far but I\u2019ve got some under development and some just waiting to get translated.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading! I appreciate all your feedback and comments!<\/p>\n \n

Tags: interactive fiction<\/a>, postmortem<\/a>, Twine<\/a><\/p>","time":"September 2nd, 2013 8:47 am","title":"Notes on departure, postmortem"}