HOME - A post-mortem

HOME was the personal game I described 2 posts ago. It's finished now (and you can play it here: http://art-wolf.itch.io/home ), so I thought I'd reflect on it to you, my dear reader(s). HOME began with a very simple design goal. Tell this particular story the way it felt to me. I did this by including choices that the player could make, but the end position will always be the same (until the end). To that end, I think I did well. The game certainly conveys the feeling of powerlessness I was going for, and overall the feedback was pretty positive. I did get some very interesting feedback though. Mainly that the game was not relatable across all people. One person in particular told me that the themes the game contained were not something they could understand. I decided against changing it at that point. I figured if it doesn't relate to someone on the level I was aiming for, then I will consider that person lucky. For the most part, people understood the feelings I was trying to evoke, which I count as a success.

The choice to use Twine ended up being a lifesaver. While I will need to brush up on my scripting skills, the chance to design a story was too good to pass up. I thoroughly enjoyed writing the game. It was good to get it all out there, and as a game designer, games are my medium of choice. It's been far too long, and doing this game reminded me of exactly why I want to do this. In that sense, the project was successful. I do love game design, and I'd been lacking the motivation to continue until this. (Thanks Brendan :D).