{"id":188,"date":"2026-10-30T03:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T03:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/?page_id=188"},"modified":"2026-10-30T05:44:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T05:44:51","slug":"week-05","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/week-05\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 05"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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From Narrative Planning to Prototype Development<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t

01 \u2014 Lecture & Development Focus<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

This week began with a guest lecture about independent game development and creative practice.

One of the ideas I found particularly relevant was the importance of working within a realistic scope. The speaker discussed how limitations can become part of a game's design, rather than simply restricting what can be created. Early playtesting and allowing ideas to develop through experimentation were also important points.

This made me reconsider the scope of my own project. Although I have ideas for a much longer narrative, completing the entire story within six weeks would not be realistic. I therefore decided to focus on developing the first night into a more complete and representative experience.

I was also unwell for much of the week, which limited my ability to attend scheduled sessions. Most of my progress was made independently, concentrating on narrative development, visual adjustments and revising the prototype.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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02 \u2014 Visual Development<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

One of my main focuses this week was developing the visual assets for the game.

I began by refining sketches created during the earlier stages of the project. These sketches had helped me establish the initial composition and atmosphere, but they needed further development before they could be used in the prototype.

As the project was being developed within a limited timeframe, I also explored ways to produce visual assets more efficiently without losing the illustrated appearance I wanted for the game.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Alongside the narrative development, I continued refining the visual direction of the game. One of the main ideas I explored was using colour to reflect the player's changing perception of food.

At the beginning of the game, the food should appear relatively warm and appetising, fitting the familiar atmosphere of a small restaurant. However, as the player discovers more information about the restaurant and its customers, the same food should gradually become less appealing.

I experimented with shifting the colour palette towards colder and less inviting tones to create this effect. I was partly inspired by the television series Hannibal<\/em>, particularly its use of food imagery and the unsettling relationship between presentation, context and the viewer's perception.

Rather than making the food visibly rotten or disturbing, I wanted to explore how changes in colour and narrative context could make an otherwise ordinary meal feel increasingly uncomfortable to look at. I also continued refining earlier sketches and making minor adjustments to the visual assets. Some customer silhouettes were generated with AI, while certain backgrounds received small AI-assisted modifications to improve their consistency with the character artwork.

Finally, I revisited feedback from previous sessions and began rebuilding the demo around the revised narrative and visual direction. The main goal was to create a more coherent experience in which the story, player choices and visual atmosphere support one another.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Initial warm colour palette, presenting the food as familiar and appetising & Cooler colour treatment, exploring how visual changes can make familiar food appear less appealing.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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03 \u2014 Narrative Development: Night One<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

The main focus of this week was expanding the narrative structure of Night One.

I continued developing the story in Twine, turning the earlier outline into a more detailed sequence of events, dialogue and player choices.

The opening introduces the protagonist's financial difficulties and his decision to take a night-shift job at a yakitori restaurant. The first part of the night focuses on ordinary activities, including meeting the owner, changing into a uniform, taking orders and serving customers.

I wanted these everyday interactions to establish a sense of normality before introducing anything unsettling.

The atmosphere gradually changes when an unexpected customer arrives and asks for a meal that appears to have been prepared for the staff. This leads to an investigation in which the player can examine different clues, including a meal note, the order book and an unusual detail involving the protagonist's sleeve.

These discoveries lead to several possible responses. The player can choose how to handle the customer's request, whether to involve the restaurant owner and how much information to reveal afterwards.

Although some branches eventually reconnect, the choices allow players to approach the situation differently and discover different details.

I wanted the tension to come from uncertainty rather than an immediate threat. The player is placed in an ordinary working environment but gradually begins to question the meaning of seemingly insignificant details.

The night concludes with the protagonist leaving the restaurant and noticing something unusual on his way home. This ending is intended to leave the central mystery unresolved and encourage curiosity about what might happen next.

Creating the expanded flowchart helped me understand the pacing of the story and identify the interactions needed for the playable prototype. It also allowed me to establish a clearer narrative direction without having to complete every planned night.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Opening sequence of Night One, establishing the protagonist's situation and the restaurant setting.<\/p>\n\t\t

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The transition from ordinary restaurant tasks to the first unsettling encounter.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Investigation branches and player choices during the central encounter.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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The closing sequence and alternative dialogue paths leading to the end of Night One.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\tExplore the Full Narrative Flowchart \u2192\n<\/a>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Reflection & Next Steps<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Although illness affected my progress this week, I was able to establish a clearer direction for the project.

The expanded Twine flowchart helped me organise the first night's narrative and understand how player choices could contribute to the atmosphere. The colour experiments also gave me a more specific visual concept: as the player learns more, familiar objects should begin to feel increasingly uncomfortable.

For the final week, I will focus on refining the playable Night One prototype rather than attempting to implement the entire story.

My priority is to make sure the narrative, interactions and visual presentation work together to communicate the intended experience.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Narrative Planning to Prototype Development 01 \u2014 Lecture & Development Focus This week began with a guest lecture about independent game development and creative practice. One of the ideas I found particularly relevant was the importance of working within a realistic scope. The speaker discussed how limitations can become part of a game’s design, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-188","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jy4g25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}