Time Travel Adventure

1. The character finds themselves in the city, and stumbles upon a newspaper that is dated 1940.
2. Time Vortex!!!
3. Character finds a walkie talkie asking them to get in a building. 
4. Enters the first room of the building and goes up the stairs.
5. Hallway-esque room with multiple exits. 

6a. Bar with item to collect (does not advance story)

6b. Pool with briefcase to get character back to proper time.

7.   Final Time Vortex!

 

            The biggest takeaway from McCloud’s concepts was the idea of abstraction. When working with Bitsy, I struggled a bit at first due to the nature of the program. I didn’t enjoy having only pixels to work with and I felt very limited in what I could do. I had to really give in to the idea of abstraction, but more so in learning what I need to capture certain objects, or vibes in room. By using basic shapes, it’s easier than I first imagined to actually construct a complete story. There are some elements that are easy to portray, such as objects and items. By using symbols for various objects, like the walkie talkie, briefcase, and others, the player can have a sense of what the object is before interacting with it (pg. 127). Another more subtle sort of symbolism is when the player interacts with the walkie talkie. The text bubble shakes, mimicking a “faulty” connection. McCloud briefly mentions how this is used in text boxes in comics, but I feel like this is applicable to Bitsy stories (pg 134.)

 

            When designing the game, I took into the account of not only having an interactive world, but also a way of the environment telling part of the story as well. From the beginning I included a blimp with an animated tail, the stars twinkling, and the lights flashing on the bridge. These are small details but add so much to the world and how immersive it feels to the player. With the first item, I made the newspaper flap open and close, which helps illustrate wind, and it’s similar to how some animatronics will move or sway back and forth to create the illusion that they are being affected by the weather. The second street section also builds on that sort of feeling of a quiet night, along with the color scheme that I chose, to make it feel unified. When you enter the building, I actually chose the green color scheme to mimic the feel of The Haunted Mansion in Disney.