FEATURE
DAVIS G. SEE
CREATING INTERACTIVE FICTION Low-budget, text-only video games, allow for personal stories
most people think of when it comes to video games, but they’re an essential part of the larger gaming space because they’re one of the few places that allow for deeply personal stories.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AUTHOR
L
Big budget games shy away from anything risky because they are beholden to the industry’s standards. Violence sells, so game developers rely on violent storylines. Stories about marginalised people who aren’t heterosexual, cisgender, able-bodied and white could alienate the industry’s core audience of straight white men, so are generally avoided. Franchises like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto are made by hundreds of employees with budgets of millions of dollars, so concessions are made to increase marketability. In comparison, we have games like Depression Quest, created in 2013 with virtually no budget.
ast year, I wrote a short story called “Time Passed,” based on a crush I held for a classmate in middle school, and about how those feelings continue to affect me a decade later. The story includes real memories from that time, and culminates in a fictional confrontation where I ask him: Do you remember me? Did you know? Did you feel the same way? Key to this story is that it has two endings. After exploring my memories, the reader must decide what is worse, that he and I missed our chance with each other, or that he doesn’t remember me at all.
In Depression Quest (depressionquest.com), players make choices as they navigate the daily life of someone with depression. Players go to work and manage relationships, but some options are closed off depending on how they cope with their mental illness. It’s a powerful metaphor for how depression prevents people from living their lives to their fullest. The game, made by three people using free tools, is available to play at no cost. Because it required no budget, the developers were able to make something that reflected their own experiences without worrying about how it would pay for itself.
My story isn’t a short story in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s interactive fiction, a text-only video game played by following hyperlinks between story passages. Think Choose Your Own Adventure novels, but only digital. Interactive fiction isn’t what
I began writing stories at a young age, and have loved video games for just as long, but two barriers kept me from writing video game stories. The first was a sense of being an outsider to gaming culture. I couldn’t relate to the masculine
THE WRITERS’ GUILD OF ALBERTA
24
protagonists of mainstream video games, and my enjoyment of them was always paired with frustration at what the stories and characters failed to represent. Also, I could not see myself making a game because I never felt welcomed by the gamers. Second, I found the game development process mystifying. I couldn’t begin to imagine everything that went into making my favourite games. I knew it involved coding, but how could I code when I couldn’t even do math? Time Passed and Depression Quest were designed with a program called Twine (twinery.org). Unlike other popular game development programs, Twine is free and requires almost no coding knowledge. Twine opens the game development space to people who can’t access funds or who have little understanding of technology and allows them to develop unique experiences that reflect their lives more accurately than the games they see on store shelves. Finding interactive fiction made in Twine was a revelation. Unabashedly queer textbased games, like Queers in Love at the End of the World or Your Gay Monster Family, proved that my stories would be welcomed, and encouraged me to create games. I want to write a game on a large scale someday. Still, until game development resources become more accessible or major studios are willing to take risks, interactive fiction will remain an outlet for me and many others to tell our stories free of restriction. Davis G. See is a gay Edmontonian. His writing appeared in Vitality Magazine and Crab Fat Magazine, among other publications. He also writes interactive fiction, which can be found at davisgsee. itch.io. See holds a degree in communications.