CS 148/248
IF Design Document
Student Name: April Grow
IF Name: Crawl
Due: 2-18-10
Describe the story arc for your game. What happens in the beginning, middle, and end? Is
there a central dilemma or crisis that the player character has to overcome?
One of the major goals that I have in mind for Crawl is avoiding a true linear path and
having a small branching/looping structure instead. The main theme guiding player movement
through these paths is transcendence of the mind/body. Crawl will be an autobiographical IF
representing my own struggles with mental/physical restraints and sanity. Because Crawl
attempts to model real-life struggles, it is reasonable for there to be possible regression and no
one true path.
That being said, the story will move through four possible stages: an initial sequence
where data is first gathered about the player, a setting of physical struggle, a setting of mental
struggle, and the limbo world. Depending on the actions of the player in the initial sequence, the
player will have to contend first either with the physical or mental struggle stage. Depending on
the level of success and updated player attributes in whatever stage the player first played, the
player may transcend and win the game, move on to the other struggle, or be dumped into limbo.
After the second struggle, updated attributes depend on whether the player then transcends or is
dumped into limbo once again.
Limbo is a unique world in that, while physical and mental struggles take place in the
'real' world, limbo is a place outside of the 'real' world. Many attributes of the limbo world will
be dependent on the player's attributes and actions thus far, so that the number of times visiting
limbo and actions taken in between trips to limbo will drastically change the setting and meaning
of limbo (such as being a frightening hell-hole or a peaceful retreat). While transcendence from
a 'real' world scenario represents a more 'normal' life and a recovery into a functional social
existence outside of the scope of this game, transcendence from limbo can, although not
necessarily, mean a transcendence from struggle into a madness so deep that the player cannot
recover.
What is the role of the player character in the game? Does the player play multiple
characters? If so, what is the relationship between the multiple characters?
The player simply plays themselves, or who they would be in the unstable
mental/physical struggles described above. I will avoid referring to the character's gender or
name and simply allow the player and their imagination to fill in the gaps. Interactions with
other NPCs may offer ambiguous or conflicting reports on gender to further push an open-ended
identity of the player. Actions that the character takes will affect a wide variety of character
attributes behind-the-scenes that will change the flow of plot and appearance of limbo world.
So, in a way the player may play multiple characters, but not in a single play-through.
Describe each location that will appear in your game. Draw a map showing how the
locations relate to each other (boxes and lines are fine for the map).
In the first question, I used the term 'real' loosely to describe the initial area, mental, and
physical struggles, because in order to fully tell an embedded narrative in this time-constrained
project, time and space in these realms will not make perfect sense. With that in mind, I offer
four rough sketches of the major areas of Crawl that will most likely change as I fully develop
Crawl.
Initial Area: Hospital.
I do not wish to think about the amount of time that I've spent in medical facilities, but it
has been quite a lot. This is where the story begins, for me, and for most other people: in the
delivery ward.
Physical Struggle: School Yard.
Some of the most critical developmental stages in a child's life occur on the elementary
school yard battleground. We begin to notice, and be persecuted for, our physical deformations.
Will the player submit to peer pressure?
Mental Struggle: Daddy's Trailer.
Depending on each individual's flavor of mental dysfunction, the stage is set much
differently. Because Crawl is my world, the player plays in my playground: facing both
emotionally taxing and mentally scarring events in this run-down trailer.
Limbo: ???
As described, limbo will change in how it is described, what objects are in it, and what its
purpose is depending on many different factors. Laurel K. Hamilton authored Anita Blake's
limbo as a place of cold, hard stillness, the place she goes when she is ready to kill. Limbo is the
place I have visited in times past when I have been on the edge. We all know that place if we
have been there. Be grateful if you do not.
What are the significant objects in your game? What role do they play in the game?
The primary object, and NPC, in Crawl will be a kitten doll that the player begins with.
The kitten will give the only glimpse the player has into their hidden attributes, namely the
sanity portion. The kitty doll will warn the player whether they are going to fall into limbo
prematurely, as well as being the closest companion the player has throughout the game.
Besides small, simple puzzles such as those found in Photopia, Crawl will not be a
heavily object-oriented game such as Zork I. Rather, all importance of the rather mundane
objects will be in which objects the player focuses on and how the player uses that object. For
example, in the opening scene, the player will have a choice of weapons including a gun and a
baton. A gun is an impersonal and safe weapon that can be used at a distance, a distance that the
user can be comfortable with and not get their hands dirty. However, to beat something's brains
in with a baton, or to stab someone fatally, requires a much more personal connection with the
victim, and to use bare hands even more personal still. These are the types of choices that will
shape the psyche of the player, but the actual array of objects themselves will be quite ordinary.
Objects found in limbo may be far more personal and dependent on the player's attributes, but
that is to be decided later.
What is the role of non-player characters (NPCs) in your game? Can the player talk with
NPCs? If so, how will dialog be implemented (topic keywords, conversation dialogs, etc.)?
Do NPCs move around and take action or are they primarily conversational? If NPCs
move around and take actions, what do they do?
I placed the kitty doll as on object rather than an NPC, but as I said, they are both. Its
role was also partially described: as a measure of closeness to limbo and range of insanity. The
kitty will also provide hints as necessary, although the player does so at their own risk. For
example, if the kitty responds as “...” the player has a fairly strong foothold in reality, but if the
kitty responds with words (its personality may change, see interaction below in how kitty's
personality may be programmed to reflect the attributes of the player in other ways), then the
player is getting nearer to limbo. If the kitty speaks to the player without being prompted first,
the player is dangerously close to limbo (and may fall into it if the player converses with the
kitty as a living NPC).
Other NPCs will exist in the various locations. In the school yard, there will be peers
who physically and mentally abuse the player, and a woman on yard duty who will attempt to
help the player both with the peers and with making progress through the world. The yard duty
character may change skins as the player moves through time and space within the physical
struggle episode. In the trailer, the primary NPC will be the character's father and the location
will remain fixed. Limbo will most likely remain void of NPCs, except for possibly the kitty
doll depending on how the person arrived in limbo. All NPC interaction will most probably be
through topic keywords and trigger words, although I may enlist the help of an extension to help
guide interactions.
The reasons for the NPCs are to provide atmosphere, guidance, and additional struggle
for the player. The NPCs described above are for conversation and will not act autonomously
outside their purpose. However, not listed here are NPCs that do not interact with the player
through speech: creatures that may appear in the opening sequence and limbo world. As in most
of the Silent Hill series, these creatures will be machinations of the player's mind more than a
'real' monster in the 'real' dimensions of Crawl. However, their presence, and their threat, are
more concrete than anything else in Crawl.
What prior stories, story genres, or games will your game reference? If so, how will you
leverage the player's prior knowledge in your design?
Crawl is heavily influenced from the Silent Hill series, specifically the most recent one
released: Shattered Memories. Shattered Memories uses a combination of episodes in which the
player is explicitly profiled by a psychiatrist and hidden values that change based on the actions
of the player in-game. These variables changed the appearance and attitude of NPCs within the
game world and the game ending. Crawl will apply its own adaptation of the ideas suggested in
Shattered Memories, keeping the profiling of the user more subtle, and changing more than just
character/setting appearances and cut-scenes. Silent Hill's psychological thriller and internal
struggle aspects will also carry on in Crawl. Finally, Gravitation, being an autobiographical
game, also influenced how I would personalize Crawl into a unique IF experience. The player
will not need to be familiar with any of these games to receive the full experience of Crawl and
no attempts will be made to strongly link Crawl with any Silent Hill games. However, Crawl
and Silent Hill share very similar target audiences.
How will player interaction be integrated into the story structure? Will the player be
uncovering a story that already happened? Will the player have an impact on the plot (and
if so, how)? What will be the relationship between story and discourse in your game? In
describing the interactive story structure of your game, use terminology from the readings
from the first half of the class.
It is hopefully clear by now that the character's actions shape how the story unfolds and
the conclusion to the IF. Based on a classification of actions, such as attacking (and with what
weapon), thinking, keeping various items in the inventory, who the player interacts with and
how, etc, different attributes, such as bravery/cowardice, violence/pacifism, cunning/bluntness,
will change behind-the-scenes. Different values and combinations of these attributes will cause
interactions between other people (especially the kitten) and interactions with the world to
change (especially in limbo). These attributes, and how much they change at any given time,
will determine the types of struggles (mental/physical/social puzzles and situations) that the
player will be presented with. How the player succeeds in these struggles will determine where
and how they transcend.
Care will be taken to focus on short, intense episodes of action in order to keep the user
entertained. If time permits, I would also like to change discourse (and not just the story) when
attributes change, such as giving the system (kitty doll) a caring tone to a compassionate player,
or a militant tone if the player is rough and violent. As I work through Crawl, I might lean
toward organizing these reactions as set of archetypes that the player takes based on their
attributes, but I am attempting to make this system as flexible as possible in the short span of
creation and play time that this assignment offers.
Because of the amount of deep content involved, Crawl will include high data and
process intensity, as described by Chris Crawford. I also want to make sure that the range of
verbs and responses are compact yet rich enough (through high material and formal affordances)
that the listen-think-speak look with Crawl will be of high quality (and the game itself as high in
agency). I want Crawl to provide both evocative spaces, such as recalling possible situations
that the player may have been in real life (hospitals, playground/school) and offer a range of rich
emergent narratives depending on the style of play that the player decides to enact. I hope that
Crawl will be an intense internal experience that offers both exploratory freedom within miniworlds of struggle, as well as a strong ontological impact upon the overall game world.