Right from the beginning of the semester, I was eagerly waiting to do this assignment involving designing a game. While creating a Twine Game with my team, I played the role of a game compiler. My duties involved compiling all the scenes, coding them on Twine Games application, and thus creating the final output. From ideation to the final product, we all had a lot of fun putting it together.
Our end goal for the assignment was to create something relevant to the current times. Each of us had something to bring to the table. We all had different effects of COVID-19 in mind that we wanted to address. First, we put them down and then tried to combine them together in our storyline. We were a team of four, from India and from the USA. Both the countries faced adverse effects but in their own way. This global perspective helped us add a universal appeal to our game.
We created a document on Google Docs and noted the points we wanted to touch upon. Then, we started writing the script together on a zoom call. After hours of writing, rewriting and editing, we were ready with a plot which everyone was satisfied with. Then, we divided roles and rehearsed for the class presentation. We divided the content in a way that the person explaining a particular aspect was the one who had done it or suggested it. For example, I gave a demo of the game since I had coded it. This way we could do justice to each part of the game. By the end of it, the distance between us did not seem like a barrier.
We have created a game, Covid Disparity Quest, highlighting how economics disparity played a role on how people were affected by the pandemic. It was up to the player to choose which section he wanted to belong to and he could switch roles when playing it again. Our idea behind this was to create empathy amongst people for those who are different from them and try to help as much as possible.
I’m very happy with our final product. After the assignment, I sent all my friends the link to the game because I was really proud of our work. Through this assignment, I discovered my inclination towards this mode of communication. If I could go back to the start and do this over, I would have preferred we paid more attention to the character sketch than we did. But overall, it was a fun e=and enlightening experience. Right now, I visualise myself experimenting with more games in the future.
Mudita Jain ENG 101 