{"author_link":"\/users\/demn","author_name":"Demn","author_uid":"demn","comments":[],"epoch":1534876660,"event":"LD42","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":118125,"likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"121358","p_author":"Demn","p_authorkey":"1007061","p_urlkey":"337393","p_title":"Dev log 2\/3 : Writing and narrative design in Take Care of Her","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD42","p_time":"1534876660","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1007061","us_name":"Demn","us_username":"demn","event_start":"1533859200","event_key":"73","event_name":"LD 42"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD42","removed_author":false},"_superparent":97793,"_trust":1,"author":7061,"body":"## Hey there!  I want to talk to you about the way we designed the narrative and the texts in *Take Care of Her*. If you haven\u2019t played it, you can click [here](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/42\/take-care-of-her-1) to play it! ##\n\n![TakeCareOfHer.png](\/\/\/raw\/59b\/1\/z\/1a5d5.png)\nSo I won\u2019t go spoiler-heavy, but will merely tell you how we designed the narrative sequence of the game, and how we tried to work on certain aspects of the game to make the reader or player feel moved and engaged in our game.\n\nMy main inspiration for this work was as much from books as from games. First, the French writer **Annie Ernaux**, that you may know for her autobiographic work about her life and her will to write. She creates room in her text thus **the reader can easily project themselves** in these holes, filling it with their experience and point of view. From games, I mainly got the inspiration from narrative-heavy games such as *Firewatch*, which **frames characters and events by very little amount of text!**\n\n\n  What we really tried with *Take Care of Her* was to create a character, Daniel, who had a unique life, yet **you could easily identify with him on many levels.** We wanted the player to feel like each fragment of memory was a part of Daniel\u2019s life, but could also **be a part of their own life.** Here are several ways we used for this : \n\n  - Most of the memories about Daniel depicts a peculiar moment of his life, but **most of us already lived what he lived** (last day of school, looking at stars with friends, attending a wedding\u2026), thus we can easily **relate to the event** with our own experience and the symbolic meaning we gave it.\n\n  - Text is written with an **emphasis on senses and how Daniel \u201cfeels\u201d the world**: it mentions several colors, several smells and feelings, like being in a crowd or smelling sweating bodies in a party. Also, there are a lot of mentions about **the body and its condition**: being hot (and you are probably quite hot because of this bloody summer :D), being in bad health state, being sweaty and moist. What we want is for the reader to \u201cfeel\u201d the text. If it works, they can more easily connect with it and the sensations that are expressed. \n\n\nThus, each choice that the game offers to the player are getting harder and harder. In the end there is only **one choice** : am I building Daniel, or am I wishing I could live again these memories I have and erase some of them ?  \n\n### Thanks you for reading this! And, please, [**Take Care of Her**](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/42\/take-care-of-her-1) ###\n- Lucas\n","comments":2,"comments-timestamp":"2018-08-21T22:46:34Z","created":"2018-08-21T18:06:00Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":118125,"love":3,"love-timestamp":"2018-08-21T22:14:02Z","meta":[],"modified":"2018-08-21T22:46:34Z","name":"Dev log 2\/3 : Writing and narrative design in Take Care of Her","node-timestamp":"2018-08-21T18:37:40Z","parent":109788,"parents":[1,5,9,97793,109788],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/42\/take-care-of-her-1\/dev-log-23-writing-and-narrative-design-in-take-care-of-her","published":"2018-08-21T18:37:40Z","scope":"public","slug":"dev-log-23-writing-and-narrative-design-in-take-care-of-her","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":353638},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"118125","n_urlkey":"337393","n_parent":"109788","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/42\/take-care-of-her-1\/dev-log-23-writing-and-narrative-design-in-take-care-of-her","n_slug":"dev-log-23-writing-and-narrative","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"7061","n_created":"1534874760","n_modified":"1534891594","n_version":"353638","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/42\/take-care-of-her-1\/dev-log-23-writing-and-narrative-design-in-take-care-of-her","text":"## Hey there!  I want to talk to you about the way we designed the narrative and the texts in *Take Care of Her*. If you haven\u2019t played it, you can click [here](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/42\/take-care-of-her-1) to play it! ##\n\n![TakeCareOfHer.png](\/\/\/raw\/59b\/1\/z\/1a5d5.png)\nSo I won\u2019t go spoiler-heavy, but will merely tell you how we designed the narrative sequence of the game, and how we tried to work on certain aspects of the game to make the reader or player feel moved and engaged in our game.\n\nMy main inspiration for this work was as much from books as from games. First, the French writer **Annie Ernaux**, that you may know for her autobiographic work about her life and her will to write. She creates room in her text thus **the reader can easily project themselves** in these holes, filling it with their experience and point of view. From games, I mainly got the inspiration from narrative-heavy games such as *Firewatch*, which **frames characters and events by very little amount of text!**\n\n\n  What we really tried with *Take Care of Her* was to create a character, Daniel, who had a unique life, yet **you could easily identify with him on many levels.** We wanted the player to feel like each fragment of memory was a part of Daniel\u2019s life, but could also **be a part of their own life.** Here are several ways we used for this : \n\n  - Most of the memories about Daniel depicts a peculiar moment of his life, but **most of us already lived what he lived** (last day of school, looking at stars with friends, attending a wedding\u2026), thus we can easily **relate to the event** with our own experience and the symbolic meaning we gave it.\n\n  - Text is written with an **emphasis on senses and how Daniel \u201cfeels\u201d the world**: it mentions several colors, several smells and feelings, like being in a crowd or smelling sweating bodies in a party. Also, there are a lot of mentions about **the body and its condition**: being hot (and you are probably quite hot because of this bloody summer :D), being in bad health state, being sweaty and moist. What we want is for the reader to \u201cfeel\u201d the text. If it works, they can more easily connect with it and the sensations that are expressed. \n\n\nThus, each choice that the game offers to the player are getting harder and harder. In the end there is only **one choice** : am I building Daniel, or am I wishing I could live again these memories I have and erase some of them ?  \n\n### Thanks you for reading this! And, please, [**Take Care of Her**](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/42\/take-care-of-her-1) ###\n- Lucas\n","title":"Dev log 2\/3 : Writing and narrative design in Take Care of Her","wayback_source":[]}