The Mothercrystal beckons, but hers is not the only will of the star. Those whose morals permit them to challenge the way of things may find themselves in the company of the Eldritch Collective, an order of scholars dedicated to destigmatizing the 'forbidden' magics.
In the earliest iterations of this guild's story, I experimented with presenting some of the more typical interactions between my character and prospective members via the visual novel format.
While I ultimately decided to move our story away from this model, the Relic remains here in my portfolio for the curious.
What shall you see, when you stare into the Abyss?
Genre: Visual Novel
Platform: Web
Program Used: Construct 2
Team Size: 1
Design Process
The Relic originated as a plot device for my Final Fantasy XIV roleplaying guild, The Eldritch Collective. A mechanism through which characters could be granted visions of possible futures, I found myself increasingly burdened by the sheer amount of time it could take to realize these scenes given variable player response times.
Knowing that these scenes, while personal to the characters, were still following an established structure, I decided to fall back on my game development skills to re-create the process in an easily-accessible and immersive visual novel format.
Problems & Considerations
By realizing the scene in a game format, I was able to retain the critical elements of player agency while removing the most time-affecting variable: player response and typing speed. What could at times be hours-long sessions is condensed into a client that can be experienced in all of a few minutes, or savored over a long period of time. Making the client available on the guild's website also meant that players could engage with it at any point in time, on their schedule. Gone were the days of trying to find an hour or two block across multiple peoples' calendars!
In order to maintain that Final Fantasy feel, I decided to use UI and audio assets taken directly from the game client. Right from the start, the classic 'finger-pointer' selector on the main menu says 'this is a Final Fantasy-related experience'. Beyond adopting UI elements however, I was also cognizant of how the Final Fantasy XIV control schema affected the experience. To this end, I paid special attention to emulating the method by which players can progress or skip dialogue, such as forcing the text drawing to auto-complete by left-clicking, and then left-clicking again to progress to the next sequence.
Of special note is how Final Fantasy XIV represents different speakers through different text box templates. Knowing that I would be representing some aspect of the voices of Hydaelyn and Zodiark - deific entities in the game - I was conscious of how similar otherworldly entities were portrayed through a unique, cloud-like dialogue box, and drew inspiration from the main character's 'echo' power through which unfamiliar languages are innately translated; subtly indicated by displaying such text in italics.
The result is a brief but thoughtfully crafted delve into the Final Fantasy XIV universe.
My personal point of pride on this project is my attentiveness to pacing. The moment when the player chooses to make contact with the relic and the client suddenly goes dark, I strived to emphasize the jarring change in the presumed characters' awareness through the slow presentation of the text that follows.
Carefully, line-by-line, the narration rebuilds the scene and surroundings, with visual and audible elements coming into focus in tandem. When designing, I frequently try to draw upon my history in theater, and mise-en-scène is often at the fore of my design choices.