{"id":5860,"date":"2025-11-03T08:31:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/?p=5860"},"modified":"2025-11-03T08:31:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:31:46","slug":"game-engine-medley-prototyping-with-small-tools-and-mixing-game-engines-for-complex-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/game-engine-medley-prototyping-with-small-tools-and-mixing-game-engines-for-complex-storytelling","title":{"rendered":"“game engine medley” — prototyping with small tools and mixing game engines for complex storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nPictured above: Gamejam pizza!<\/em><\/p>\n

This post is a transcript of a talk I gave at BIMM University, Berlin<\/a>. Thank you for inviting me! I had a lot of fun sharing :)<\/p>\n

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\nLinks in this slide ~
\ntetrageddon.com<\/a>
\nalienmelon.com<\/a>
\nalienmelon.itch.io<\/a>
\nmackerelmediafish.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Games make impactful, unique, and complex storytelling possible.<\/p>\n

I think we have only scratched the surface of what that means, because interactive digital art is such a huge possibility space.
\nIt’s also important to look beyond games, and engage with other digital art, to really understand how broad a spectrum of experiences games are part of.
\nWe are really only held back by our habit of how we look at something. Our conceptions and expectations are our only enemy.
\nAnything is possible when we create here. The biggest hurdle to making interesting impactful work is to think outside of commonly held beliefs or established standards.
\nStorytelling is one of those things. Games, and the broader space of digital art, is our collective fantasy. What we create pushes the boundaries of what that is.<\/p>\n

I think that small game engines can help us realize all this unexplored potential.
\nIn this talk <\/del> post I hope to show how they helped me explore new and compelling ways to view interactive fiction, and maybe they can do the same for you!<\/p>\n

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\nLinks in this slide…
\nGames are giant weird story machines!<\/a>
\nGames Writing<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Games are giant weird story machines.
\nThey’re complicated structures. They’re often convoluted by their own complexity.
\nIt depends on what you want from your game, and there\u2019s a million ways to design one so that it\u2019s a meaningful experience to people.
\nYou will more often than not work against the system you created to be able to communicate a story, because a game\u2019s story has to be designed around a system.
\nGames are this medley of mechanic, visuals, sound, and then the story that kind of ties it all together\u2026 sometimes more successfully than others.
\nStory is often stuck in this weird silly realm of afterthought while being incredibly important.<\/p>\n

I know people will say that about every aspect of a game, but for me it\u2019s the story.
\nA game\u2019s story is the justification for a player to exist in a space, the way it informs atmosphere, and the resulting experience people get from it.
\nA game wouldn\u2019t be the same without the context you give it through its fiction.<\/p>\n

For example, one of my most favorite early experiences I had with video game story dissociation, that very much highlights the space video-game story is often stuck in, was when I was playing Morrowind.
\nThis is a very old one\u2026<\/p>\n

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You have this main quest line, and the game has characters that are vital to it. If you kill one of these characters before they fulfill their part in that quest you will get this notice saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this character\u2019s death, the thread of prophecy is severed. Restore a saved game to restore the weave of fate, or persist in the doomed world you have created.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which I always found hilarious.
\nLike, to start, it\u2019s quite a creative way to handle a warning dialogue to tell you \u201cYou broke my story.\u201d
\nI also find it fascinating because you can keep playing this version of the game, indefinitely, with it being stuck in a broken limbo.<\/p>\n

As a designer you can\u2019t account for everything. Sometimes you just have to let players play on their own terms, even if it means playing in a limbo.<\/p>\n

See how Red Dead Redemption 2 has an out of bounds that you can actually get to through a complicated way of breaking the game by exploiting a bug<\/a>.<\/p>\n