Final Idea Presentation

Similarly to a point-and-click adventure videogame, you will be able to interact with and investigate the environment.

Similarly to a visual novel, the core of my game is its interactive, branching narrative.

Targeted at the type of people that would enjoy a low barrier of entry tabletop game with historical theming

My narrative is heavily inspired by the research that I have done about open access and public libraries, which makes for a more realistic narrative which explores different topics in the narrative branches.

Once again, my characters are heavily based on figures and groups that I have researched, like Aaron Swarts, the Open Access movement and Edward Edwards. I believe that this serves to make more believable characters with interesting motives and goals in conjunction with eachother.

I think that a world inspired by 19th century England is an intertesting stage to explore this topic, especially since it was during this time in the real world that social reforms led to the improvement in the quality of life for the working class and a refocus on improved literacy and the introduction of public libraries. I have also done research on the fashion of the time, which makes the world more immersive and realistic. The topic of academia and education will be shown through the magic system of this world, and the elitism and gatekeeping of magical skills.

The Graphic Novel – the core of the game

Dice – for mechanics that need RNG

Stamp – to mark off the books you have collected on the character sheet

Book Cards – a physical representation of the books you collect throughout the story

Character Sheet – keep track of your characters stats (money, skills, relationships, books)

The amount of tokens your earn are dependant on the choices you make throughout the story, and will play a part in determining which ending you will get.

Money can be earnt and spent

Skills will allow you to gain more or less from certain actions

Your suitcase will be used to store important items that you pick up

The ‘Books’ section allows you to mark off how many books you have collected using a stamp

Your relationships with the characters around you, who you choose to befriend and who becomes an enemy will be very important to the narrative and ending.

You will have options and paths that you can pick from throughout the story, and you will make theses choices using the panel numbers.

Puzzles will manifest as hidden numbers and objects that can help you make choices throughout the narrative.

In the 19th century, the comic strips of the time would have been printed using lithography. I am inspired by the inked comic art of this era to create a comic in-keeping with this style, suggesting the time period through not only the worldbuilding, fashion and ideals but through the art style. I want to create detailed monochromatic artwork for this comic.

I have also considered varying the font per character to match their personality and potentially make it easier to tell who is talking when characters are not in the panel. However, I believe this might make the overall comic look less consistent and less professional.

There are three main ending you will be able to achieve:

Government – Despite the Government claiming to be receptive to your lobbying, the Public section of the library is destroyed by a terrorist group (which you discover was a plot sponsored by the Government).

Anti-Intellectualism – An anti-intellectual group that has been gaining momentum eventually turns terrorist and destroys the entire library. This ending is achieved by not taking enough action or questioning the establishment.

Rebellion – You join the rebellion and secretly give free access to the premium section of the library, you steal and reproduce books from the library and complete your underground library. In this ending, you either:

• Fail to save the Grand Library, Ilyas dies
• You save the Grand Library from destruction – The True Rebellion Ending