Your decision to represent a child's imagination and sense of wonder as The Little Prince was a great idea. Especially as the story progresses and they find that not only did they miss their six year meeting, but they cannot even remember any details about the Prince despite being an important aspect of their life. A good analogy for how many people upon reaching adulthood find themselves unable to dedicate time to themselves and lose their sense of wonder.
Here are a couple of suggestions going forward when completing this project:
- The list of words asking questions about The Little Prince pop on and off extremely fast. I thought it was a glitch. -The animated calendars felt out of place to me. It was jarring reading the story from the point of view of the author, only to suddenly be in conversation with an inanimate objects that has the ability to speak. - Make sure to test the timing on how long it takes for underlined words to appear. I almost restarted the game twice because I found myself in a narrative loop and didn't see any new options pop up even after waiting for a few seconds.
Wow- I really loved this whimsical game. The playfulness with the fonts, text fade ins, and sudden cuts was so fun to watch, and was thematically effective as a retelling of The Little Prince. The different cuts, pauses, and text placement was so compelling and exciting to read. I particularly loved the “follow the crowd” loop, where it continued to repeat until the player waited for the “Go home” link. There was a moment in the beginning where thought the game was over and almost exited, so I would suggest cutting this pause slightly to avoid the risk of someone leaving the game preemptively.
Your sense of humor is fantastic. I loved the calendar and the social media scrolling, and I think my favorite part hands down was the “jobs” in different font. What a neat way to bash the capitalist machine!
I really liked the fairy tale tone of this, I never knew where it was going next! I was a little confused at times about the narrative through-line. The transitions between the scenes got a bit jarring, which I think added to my confusion about the narrative. I really enjoyed the way you played with talking to different apps, as well as the way you played with Twine itself using timers and false options. There was a lot of really funny stuff in this story, and I really liked the seagull who wanted to sip.
This was a really fun one — I know the pacing was hard and inconsistent with the timers (stuff like that often just requires a lot more playtesting than the timeline for this assignment allowed), but I really appreciated the use of invisible timers and thought they added a lot to the experience. You had a really strong, whimsical tone, and I also enjoyed that this iteration had more consistent notes of humor integrated throughout the story. The biggest critique I have is regarding pacing (not in regard to the timers though), specifically endings and transitions. I found that the shifts from scene to scene were abrupt in a way that is sometimes jarring and/or confusing. That's not uncommon in fairy tales, and it didn't detract too much from the overall experience, but adding in some more transitional language could definitely help the player feel more involved.
heads up for anyone still trying to play: some of the in game timer was set too slow because I underestimated how long it would take people to read text(if nothing is happening it will eventually happen)
The format was so interesting! I thought it was wonderful how I started out in a real, grounded world, and slowly entered the dream-state. The way you used the text effects and formatting helped to set the scene very well. My favorite part was the dream sequence, and the calendar app conversation. If you want to continue working on this: I think the beginning can have less details. Once I get to the calendar app conversation, I feel like the real game has begun. And the loops of clicking to refresh the news page, or to push through the crowd, feel like they're stuck, and I had to go back a few passages to get the story going again. Hopefully this is an easy fix! It seems like a coding error.
I love weird stories like this! It was super engaging all the way through. I always felt interested in what was happening and very motivated to continue reading. I loved the non-traditional choice structures too; the ones involving fonts, waiting, etc. They were very creative and very well-executed. My one critique is that it could have tied more directly to the Little Prince in order to align with the restrictions of the assignment. It feels like a story that references the Little Prince, not an adaptation of its narrative. Overall, very fun game!
(Looking at June's response, I think I had a similar issue where the story didn't load past the point of the child describing keeping the bottles close to him. I've waited for it to load and reloaded the page, but nothing is happening. I'm really sorry if I missed a large part of your game!) I don't remember the entirety of the story of The Little Prince, but I liked the modern spin you put on it! I loved the false choice, where a bunch of choices popped up and then disappeared. I'm not sure if I completely understood who the child is, but I get a sense that he's a young kid with a big imagination, like the Little Prince in the story! The story feels like it comes from a child's imagination, with the surreality that often accompanies a child describing their fantasies.
my bad, i guess the choice just didnt load up in time to continue. What a quirkly little adventure I just went on! I really like how you played around with text fonts and stuff, although it did get messing and unappealing to look at when talking to the calendar. perhaps that was the point?
waiting for stuff was something i wasnt a fan of- there isnt really good indication sometimes that i should be waiting, especially since text wasn't being typed up. still lead to some very interesting puzzles though!
I really liked the special effects? in the beginning with the dialogues - the bunch of questions part. I really liked the pacing of the story as well. It was simple yet informative and easy to read and understand. I really like the direction of the story and expressions to make the world come alive. The little prince adaptation was also quite interesting as well. It was fun to play!
I really like all the meta effects of the text of the game! You introduce them at a great pace, such so that I was never lost when trying to "solve" one of the text puzzles. I especially like the dialogue between you and the first calendar, but all the writing is very funny and I like the sense of humor. You do a really great job of evoking a surreal atmosphere, and though I've never read The Little Prince myself, I have no doubt that you evoke the ideas of it with great skill. Overall, you did a great job with this adaptation.
Comments
Your decision to represent a child's imagination and sense of wonder as The Little Prince was a great idea. Especially as the story progresses and they find that not only did they miss their six year meeting, but they cannot even remember any details about the Prince despite being an important aspect of their life. A good analogy for how many people upon reaching adulthood find themselves unable to dedicate time to themselves and lose their sense of wonder.
Here are a couple of suggestions going forward when completing this project:
- The list of words asking questions about The Little Prince pop on and off extremely fast. I thought it was a glitch.
-The animated calendars felt out of place to me. It was jarring reading the story from the point of view of the author, only to suddenly be in conversation with an inanimate objects that has the ability to speak.
- Make sure to test the timing on how long it takes for underlined words to appear. I almost restarted the game twice because I found myself in a narrative loop and didn't see any new options pop up even after waiting for a few seconds.
Hey Steven!
Wow- I really loved this whimsical game. The playfulness with the fonts, text fade ins, and sudden cuts was so fun to watch, and was thematically effective as a retelling of The Little Prince. The different cuts, pauses, and text placement was so compelling and exciting to read. I particularly loved the “follow the crowd” loop, where it continued to repeat until the player waited for the “Go home” link. There was a moment in the beginning where thought the game was over and almost exited, so I would suggest cutting this pause slightly to avoid the risk of someone leaving the game preemptively.
Your sense of humor is fantastic. I loved the calendar and the social media scrolling, and I think my favorite part hands down was the “jobs” in different font. What a neat way to bash the capitalist machine!
-Jude
I really liked the fairy tale tone of this, I never knew where it was going next! I was a little confused at times about the narrative through-line. The transitions between the scenes got a bit jarring, which I think added to my confusion about the narrative. I really enjoyed the way you played with talking to different apps, as well as the way you played with Twine itself using timers and false options. There was a lot of really funny stuff in this story, and I really liked the seagull who wanted to sip.
hi steve!
This was a really fun one — I know the pacing was hard and inconsistent with the timers (stuff like that often just requires a lot more playtesting than the timeline for this assignment allowed), but I really appreciated the use of invisible timers and thought they added a lot to the experience. You had a really strong, whimsical tone, and I also enjoyed that this iteration had more consistent notes of humor integrated throughout the story. The biggest critique I have is regarding pacing (not in regard to the timers though), specifically endings and transitions. I found that the shifts from scene to scene were abrupt in a way that is sometimes jarring and/or confusing. That's not uncommon in fairy tales, and it didn't detract too much from the overall experience, but adding in some more transitional language could definitely help the player feel more involved.
-jess
heads up for anyone still trying to play: some of the in game timer was set too slow because I underestimated how long it would take people to read text(if nothing is happening it will eventually happen)
The format was so interesting! I thought it was wonderful how I started out in a real, grounded world, and slowly entered the dream-state. The way you used the text effects and formatting helped to set the scene very well. My favorite part was the dream sequence, and the calendar app conversation. If you want to continue working on this: I think the beginning can have less details. Once I get to the calendar app conversation, I feel like the real game has begun. And the loops of clicking to refresh the news page, or to push through the crowd, feel like they're stuck, and I had to go back a few passages to get the story going again. Hopefully this is an easy fix! It seems like a coding error.
I love weird stories like this! It was super engaging all the way through. I always felt interested in what was happening and very motivated to continue reading. I loved the non-traditional choice structures too; the ones involving fonts, waiting, etc. They were very creative and very well-executed. My one critique is that it could have tied more directly to the Little Prince in order to align with the restrictions of the assignment. It feels like a story that references the Little Prince, not an adaptation of its narrative. Overall, very fun game!
(Looking at June's response, I think I had a similar issue where the story didn't load past the point of the child describing keeping the bottles close to him. I've waited for it to load and reloaded the page, but nothing is happening. I'm really sorry if I missed a large part of your game!) I don't remember the entirety of the story of The Little Prince, but I liked the modern spin you put on it! I loved the false choice, where a bunch of choices popped up and then disappeared. I'm not sure if I completely understood who the child is, but I get a sense that he's a young kid with a big imagination, like the Little Prince in the story! The story feels like it comes from a child's imagination, with the surreality that often accompanies a child describing their fantasies.
hi
-it was really short, (i got up to the partmy bad, i guess the choice just didnt load up in time to continue. What a quirkly little adventure I just went on! I really like how you played around with text fonts and stuff, although it did get messing and unappealing to look at when talking to the calendar. perhaps that was the point?
waiting for stuff was something i wasnt a fan of- there isnt really good indication sometimes that i should be waiting, especially since text wasn't being typed up. still lead to some very interesting puzzles though!
wonderful and whimsical job!
I really liked the special effects? in the beginning with the dialogues - the bunch of questions part. I really liked the pacing of the story as well. It was simple yet informative and easy to read and understand. I really like the direction of the story and expressions to make the world come alive. The little prince adaptation was also quite interesting as well. It was fun to play!
I really like all the meta effects of the text of the game! You introduce them at a great pace, such so that I was never lost when trying to "solve" one of the text puzzles. I especially like the dialogue between you and the first calendar, but all the writing is very funny and I like the sense of humor. You do a really great job of evoking a surreal atmosphere, and though I've never read The Little Prince myself, I have no doubt that you evoke the ideas of it with great skill. Overall, you did a great job with this adaptation.