[IFComp2013] Saving John
Saving John, by Josephine Tsay, is another web-based interactive fiction. It is designed to be played through multiple times. You can play it online here.
A note: I recommend playing the game before reading the description on the comp website. Even though it's just a sentence, it kind of has a spoiler.
Like several other HTML pieces I've played so far this comp, Saving John is more interactive story than pure game. It opens with the protagonist drowning off a dock, his girlfriend Cherie reaching out a hand to rescue him. The player explores the character's life through flashbacks, learning about his friendships, romantic entanglements, and conflicts. It doesn't follow a strict branching structure, but flows from topic to topic in a natural-feeling way. The player may focus on different memories and even sometimes make decisions although the events seem to be in the past. Depending on the player's choices, the ending of the story changes.
I was glad I hadn't really read the description of the game on the comp website, because that let the realization that [Spoiler (click to open)]John's friends are actually manifestations of his multiple personalitiescome to me more gradually. This dawned on me slowly, as it was never quite explicitly revealed. The use of color in the narrative, along with the repeated theme of [Spoiler (click to open)]injured knuckles, gave subtle hints without beating me about the head with it.
I enjoyed this game/story. The writing was poetic and I felt as if my choices impacted the course of the narrative. I do think that "dead/dying character remembers things about his/her life" theme is a bit overdone in the genre, but this is a well-crafted example of that theme.
A note: I recommend playing the game before reading the description on the comp website. Even though it's just a sentence, it kind of has a spoiler.
Like several other HTML pieces I've played so far this comp, Saving John is more interactive story than pure game. It opens with the protagonist drowning off a dock, his girlfriend Cherie reaching out a hand to rescue him. The player explores the character's life through flashbacks, learning about his friendships, romantic entanglements, and conflicts. It doesn't follow a strict branching structure, but flows from topic to topic in a natural-feeling way. The player may focus on different memories and even sometimes make decisions although the events seem to be in the past. Depending on the player's choices, the ending of the story changes.
I was glad I hadn't really read the description of the game on the comp website, because that let the realization that [Spoiler (click to open)]John's friends are actually manifestations of his multiple personalitiescome to me more gradually. This dawned on me slowly, as it was never quite explicitly revealed. The use of color in the narrative, along with the repeated theme of [Spoiler (click to open)]injured knuckles, gave subtle hints without beating me about the head with it.
I enjoyed this game/story. The writing was poetic and I felt as if my choices impacted the course of the narrative. I do think that "dead/dying character remembers things about his/her life" theme is a bit overdone in the genre, but this is a well-crafted example of that theme.