1. The Pointer
You are a cursor on a computer screen. The human who normally controls you has left the computer on and you decide to explore a bit while he’s away – to the places that he never lets you click upon.
You will navigate from application to application. The tone of writing will be somewhat humorous. I want to explore what the thoughts and feelings of those unused applications on your desktop would be. You encounter many characters – a homeless Clippy from Microsoft Word who has been kicked out of the lastest update. An abandoned, ‘starving’ Neopet whose owner left them a good five years ago. An old Geocities webpage that is about to be torn down. Etc. You have many choices in terms of how you interact with these characters – some may join you on your journey if you choose to befriend them.
The game will be more focused on exploration than reaching a certain goal. Eventually the game will ‘end’ (either positively or negatively) when the human comes back to the computer and assumes control of you once again.
Sample:
The human has left the computer on once again. The mouse sits helplessly on the desk, unable to move itself without the human’s assistance. You blink sleepily, flickering a bit on the screen. Gently rolling green hills surround you, and their familiar presence is somewhat comforting in the human’s absence. Gazing around the desktop, you wonder if you really do need to depend on the human to move. It would be nice if you could see the other side of those hills.
Well, there’s no harm in trying, right? Flexing all of your pixels, you prepare to…
-Wiggle slightly to the left
-Wiggle slightly to the right
-Wiggle upwards
-Wiggle downwards
-I don’t want to move anywhere. I’m content with sitting here.
(Depending on which way you move, you would have the option to explore different applications. Not moving would end the game.)
2. Mannekijn
You are a mannequin at Victoria’s Secret with an independent streak. Fed up of your body being put on display in lingerie for men (and women) to ogle daily, you wander the mall at night looking to trade places with a fellow mannequin. You decide which stores to explore and what to do – will you push fellow mannequins to the ground, brutally shattering them to pieces as you take their place? Convince them to leave their job? (I’ll try to not make this very dialogue-heavy.)
Sample:
It is 11 PM, and the store is being closed up. You angrily glare at the floor manager with your wooden-carved eyes. Today, she decided to put you in a skimpy push up bra and a thong that barely covers anything at all. The other mannequins giggle and grin to each other, cooing over colorful heels and bras and underwear, but not you. Why couldn’t you have been put in a classier place, like J.Crew or Bloomingdale’s? As you look towards the entrance of the store, you realize that the floor manager has left and shut the lights off, but has forgotten to put down the iron gates that prevent anyone from entering and exiting the store at night. This could be your chance!
-Wander over to the entrance of the store
-Sprint out of the store as fast as your wooden legs can take you
-Chat with the other mannequins a bit
-Stay frozen in place. After all, this is what you’ve been trained to do for the rest of your life.
Idea 1 – Nostalgia! This idea could make for a charming game, but I’m concerned that it will end up more dialogue/character focused (like assignment 2). If you do choose this idea, a suggestion is to make fake webpages and link them (or embed them if Twine allows you to do that) in the place of pictures.
Idea 2 – I like this idea because it works as a cute simple story, but can also be used to discuss body image issues or deeper topics that can arise when talking about a underwear mannequin. (That is, if you want to delve into those issues.)
For me the first idea would be the most fun to play because of the nostalgia it would bring me. Just from your description I was like oh noo, my neopetss!!! but at the same time I think that the second idea could be pretty interesting as well and more like a traditional interactive story with some good content.
The Pointer – Cool concept. Can the mouse see the third Dimension in the screen? What would this game be like if in the screen everything was colored lines on a horizon or looking out into the room? That would be a challenge to explore. Also a very visually interesting work. Basically I think the story really should be about the pointers altered view of the “world”.
Mannekijn – This sounds similar to Toy Story. I think your first idea of the mouse would be a more interesting view point. A mannequin is to similar to a human character in terms of interaction with the world.
Much to the echo of jmlee (I swear I’ll learn names eventually!), I think the first idea is way cooler and I actually got excited to read it. I think it is very character-centric, but if written with the right charm I think you can avoid a dialogue-heavy piece. If you can’t break out of that dialogue shell, the second idea is pretty cool too.
Like everyone else has said, the first one is much cooler and fun, there are a lot of references you could make to the unused applications and things like the blue screen of death or the screensaver. This one definitely has a lot of potential.
I like the idea of the first game. It could be interesting for files/characters you visit to reveal things about the owner’s personality that he doesn’t tell others, such as half-completed love letters to show his obsessive personality, or erotic fiction to show his sociopathic tendencies. By creating a distinct persona for the owner, you can also create more than one CYOA.
I am partial to the first idea. I think it would provide the user with a way to explore old pop computer fads and applications in a narrative way. Maybe the application will recount an old “experience” when clicked so that there is less of a chronology to the story. I also think that this would lend itself to a text-based game where the user gets to actual type in directions (like “Everybody Dies”) because the “space” of story takes place in two dimensions rather than three. Another idea to consider is that maybe the human comes and goes throughout the narrative, not just at the end, so that you can show the differences of what the computer is currently used for and what was popular in the past.