Connor Runyon

Writing for an Audience

Both A Wistful Cry and Familiar Delusion were developed with an audience and context in mind, as they were to be presented live and played through by my narrative design peers as a group. Knowing this, I wrote these two games in a way that maximized their appeal to that particular audience and within that gameplay environment.

For example, I anticipated that a large group of players going through the game together would have a strong tendency to gravitate towards comedic options whenever those were presented. With that in mind, my placement of ‘joke options’ was careful and deliberate.

In Familiar Delusion, a less serious story, I placed many of the funniest or most amusing interactions behind these choices to increase the likelihood of players running into them and feeling satisfied with their choices.

Conversely, I included or omitted comedic options in A Wistful Cry depending on how deeply I wanted the players to consider a particular choice. In some segments, they were used to add a lighthearted break; for serious decisions, however, the sudden lack of them encouraged players to think harder about their choice rather than defaulting to a funny option.

Utilizing Technical Systems to Enhance Narrative

Although ink and Twine are, by default, relatively simple text-adventure engines, I researched and implemented technical features into A Wistful Cry and Familiar Delusion to make the narrative experience more engaging.

The most notable example is the custom text-rendering logic I created for Familiar Delusion. Normally, Twine displays all text per screen instantly, but I wanted to give a more natural feeling flow to speech by modulating the way text displays. To accomplish this, I programmed an entirely self-made system that displays text character-by-character, reminiscent of RPGs or similar games.

Furthermore, I modified the display speed of text in some places for narrative effect, such as adding mid-line pauses to emulate real speech or punctuate certain words. Rather than letting the technical end of these games merely be a vehicle to deliver the script, I employed the technical systems to actively augment the narrative.

Working under Constraints

These projects carried various constraints and requirements I adhered to when developing them. For example, total playthrough duration and characters-per-line were limited, and I frequently cut down my original drafts to accommodate these restrictions. Although I sometimes had to cut portions I would’ve rather kept, I worked to make the best use of the space available and slim down while maintaining the heart of the narrative.