Atefeh Jamilpour Portfolio

Twine Interactive Story

My Role: Interactive Story designer, writer, and storyteller

Tools Used: Twine, Dall E 2, Google Forms

Timeline: January 2023 - March 2023(3 Months )

Overview

Lucy’s Missing Ring is an interactive narrative designed and developed using the Twine platform. It explores a mysterious story about a woman named Lucy who lost her rings. The interactive story allows readers to make choices that influence the story’s outcome and lead to different endings.

Objective

Writing is a process that will never be perfect, so I have tried to make it more mature.  I delved deeply into the intricate details of the narrative as I developed my story. I didn’t just want to tell a story; I wanted to create a rich, immersive world to captivate my readers. While writing the story, I tried to develop various places and characters to make it more engaging and dramatic.

 

The primary goal of this project was to design an interactive digital story through the Twine platform. This project not only allowed me to expand my storytelling skills but also provided a unique opportunity to explore the complex elements of narrative dynamically and engagingly.

Throughout the story of Lucy’s missing ring, I used a variety of story elements, such as characters, setting, and theme. I found it fascinating to coordinate the actions and choices of characters to create a dynamic narrative in the writing process. The concept of “Agency” allowed me to empower these fictional personas with the freedom to make decisions, altering the course of the story. This not only added depth and authenticity to their roles but also enhanced the overall engagement of the readers.

 

The story begins with Lucy introducing herself, her family, and her habits related to her birthday in the first person. By involving the reader/player in helping Lucy find her ring, I hope to create a sense of Agency, allowing the player/reader to feel that their decisions and choices can make a meaningful impact on the game/story.

By adjusting the points of view through different characters, I provided a sense of Agency that improved the engagement. I also used time travel as a mechanic, which profoundly impacts narrative experience, non-linearity, multiple outcomes, and choice and consequence impact.

I utilized various Twine affordances to present a more interactive story/game, such as:

Setting artwork

Throughout this story, all pictures were generated with Dall.E version 2

My strategy for making the players/readers fully engaged and immersed in the game, which will create an enjoyable and captivating experience, was to design four endings that had their feelings and lessons. My feelings and thoughts about each end are as follows (that may differ for each person.) 

  • It leaves players/readers feeling shocked and uncertain, free to make their conclusions about the story when Ava picks the ring.
  • In terms of burglars, players/readers have a fear that nobody is always immune from thieves! It also evokes an emotional response like empathy when Lucy talks with him!
  • In terms of Richard’s surprise, it makes sense of disappointment to the reader/player that he is forced to say that the ring is not lost!
  • The cyclic link conveys that the thief doesn’t respond and backs the player/reader in the same passage!

In conclusion, Lucy’s missing ring is the initial version of the game. I’ve utilized various Twine affordances and designed them based on the principles of creating an interactive story. I will incorporate more features to enhance the game’s quality and appeal.

Personal learnings

  • My experience crafting interactive narratives has been instrumental in my journey toward becoming a better storyteller as a designer eager to learn storytelling. This experience has enriched my understanding of empathy and emotion, essential elements that impact UX design and interaction.
  • During this design experience, I improved my programming skills as the story got more complex, and I realized that CSS code was required for conditional logic.

Do you want to try my game? Here we go! That’s my game link:

https://atefeh-jamilpour.itch.io/lucysmissingring