Working with Twine

For my research I tried an application called Twine.

Twine is an interactive storytelling app. It's also open-source! And the great thing is, you don't have to be a programmer to understand this program! That's actually great for me because my programming skills are not exactly top notch.

So I wrote a little story in twine about survivors in an alien attack. I wrote it in dutch because that's my first language. And I usually have a problem writing and thinking in English.

The story is about two brothers locked in a basement with a few other alien attack survivors. Twine is made for one person experiences but I tried to create story for two players. This little game focusses on tough choices and interaction between players.

My story in Twine (dutch) a branching storyline.

But did the players think the same? Not really. Joost, one of my classmates thought that there could be a little bit more interaction between players. There was not much room for interpretation.

He suggested that I made a test in which I described situations with images. Players then have the possibility to discuss their choices, focussing more on interaction between players instead of interaction with the game.




My classmates also suggested a rock paper scissor system. In which both players make a choice and the computer picks one of the answers based on variables.
 
In this game there was a narrator describing what's happening in the game. But it would be nicer if the players had more to say. More dialogue. Maybe there won't be a need for a narrator because the story could be told with images leaving things open for interpretation.
This little test was focused on interaction outside the screen. That didn't really work out in this first test. My classmates wanted more dialogue, where players do weird voice overs. Like in the Yahwg. (that game I talked about a little while ago)

So fun for a first test. And great feedback! So off to write some more tests, maybe something with images this time!