JOEY MAZERO

My Responsibilities:

• Build and drive home a theme about miscommunication.


• Incorporate a branching narrative via Inkle that reacts to the player's in-game decisions.


• Work directly with programmers, designers, and artists to create gameplay that supports a paranormal-noire atmosphere.


• As Narrative Lead, provide story outlines to promote teamwide communication and vision cogency on the narrative.

The Theme:

The biggest inspiration behind the theme came from when our lead designer told me about the core mechanic of the game: an ethereal ability that allows you to speak to a character's physical shadow. I made each of these characters' "shadows" represent their own unique and deep emotional insecurites, so that when the player got an opportunity to communicate with one, it was as if they were peering into that character's unfiltered and primal thoughts.

Through this definition, the narrative purpose of this mechanic was realized and allowed for the player to observe an interesting dichotemy of what a character was saying versus what their shadow revealed. This played very well into the mystery aspect of the game by serving as a vehicle into the motivations behind each character. I was able to deliver on the theme of miscommunication by showing the distrust characters had in themselves and, subsequently, those around them.

See an example

A Systematic Narrative:

Immersing the player in a story that feels reactive to their gameplay style was an important part of our vision for the game. This is why I implemented a narrative system that shapes the story based on the player's relationships with other characters and the actions they take in the world, without breaking the bank on scope. This was achieved by finding the balance between giving the player actual game-altering decisions with more small-scope decisions that felt impactful.

This required the tracking of outside gameplay variables as well as internal story variables that represent the current state of a player-character relationship. By performing variable checks at the appropriate times, we were able to have characters that reacted based off of the player's gameplay as well as their relationship.

See an act outline

Accomplishments:

Displayed at the 2020 GDEX Exhibitor Showcase