Narrative Programming

As an avid consumer of choice heavy role-playing games, it has been so exciting to be able to create a dialogue system for a game. Recent role-playing game fans will recognize the inspiration from Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3 in some of the design principles, such as the numbered dialogue choices and branching decisions. Additionally, we took inspiration from games like Hades that use character sprites during conversations. Our wonderful UI artists also came up with adding dialogue backgrounds representative of whichever character is being spoken with. For example, when speaking with old lady Gladys you will be able to see one of her precious doilies, while discussing where she received inspiration for her more recent turn to murder mysteries.

Dialogue interface for Gladys

To get to the nitty gritty of how our dialogue system works, we have a database of dialogue lines connected with their associated character, locations, and other important data. This tells the game how to react to the player’s choices, with each choice influencing the branching choices and mood of the character, which will alter how the player is viewed by the character. It was important to the dev team to encourage some choice and natural discovery of the personality quirks of our great characters. Quests given in the dialogue will update the player’s journal and future dialogue, as the player’s actions and progression will impact the characters, what they say, and how much they share.

The interconnection of quests and dialogue will allow players to interact with the colorful characters of Apartment 20. You can be nice, mean, or anything in between, and the character will react to how you treat them. So, what sort of detective will you be? How will you help Gladys? Find out for yourself in Apartment 20.

Gladys' differing moods

Kayla S, Apartment 20 Dialogue Programmer

Your Story

You wake up in a cool, dark room. Your face is pressed against the dusty floorboards of what seems to be an abandoned apartment. Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you make out a looming figure nearby. You get a feeling of wrongness from it, as if it’s not really present or even real. Even so, you can tell that it’s searching for something. Something that this person desperately needs, but they seem to have lost the energy needed to continue looking.

What could they be searching for?

The question sinks into your mind as you take inventory of what you have. On your person is a small journal and a magnifying glass. Perfect tools for a detective. Is that what you are? Written on the journal’s inside cover is a name. Ace Fletcher. That must be your name. That mysterious figure there would be a perfect case. There are several tabs within the journal. You could use them for suspects and clues that you find.

Excitement builds within you as you pull out the magnifying glass. It’s surprisingly large, and if you hold it up to your face, it focuses the world around you. Certain things seem to glow as you look around the room, one of which is that mysterious figure. Perhaps you could go to them to start asking questions. Or maybe you want to look around the room first. That figure weirds you out.

You look through the magnifying glass again and see a glowing vent nearby. What does it do? Is something buried underneath it? Is something stuck in it? Your curiosity only grows as you approach it.

Standing on the edge of the open vent, you can see that there is definitely something down there. A tiny shard of light pierces through the darkness below, almost begging you to explore. But something feels off. As you look around again, you see that the figure is no longer in sight. Where did they go? You spin around, only to be startled by the shadow directly behind you. Something feels familiar about the face, but you don’t have time to register anything else as you slip off the edge and fall down, down, down.

You plummet past pipes and bundles of wires, slipping through the cracks, toward that bit of light.

The world goes dark again.

This time when you sit up, you are surrounded by yarn. It’s soft and warm, unlike wherever you were before. It’s not nearly as dusty, but there’s still something lingering in the air. Upon a closer look, you can tell it’s cat hair. Sure enough, there’s a cat up on a shelf, just above you.

As you climb out of the box of yarn, you see someone else. An older woman who looks like she could be your grandmother stands a little ways away. She seems very similar to that figure you saw not too long ago, but she’s a lot more grounded and real. Could she be your grandmother, perhaps? You realize you don’t remember much about yourself. All you have is a name, Detective Ace Fletcher, and a mission.

This intentionally hazy opener allows for players to begin the game with just as much information as their player character, Ace. They will then go on to experience this narrative continued through our dialogue system.

Rebecca D, Apartment 20 Narrative Lead

Welcome!

Welcome to the beginning of the Apartment 20 game development blog! Our team, Rookery Studios, will be posting here every (time period) with explanations of our development process.

Apartment 20 is a narrative-focused 3D platformer where players will take on the role of Ace Fletcher, a curious child detective, to learn about and help the deceased residents of Apartment 20 to complete their final wishes. Players will do this by exploring detailed environments and speaking with the residents directly.

Why are we making this game?

Apartment 20 grew into what it is currently because our team has found connections through sharing individual interests, ideas, and skills. We are making Apartment 20 not just as a development team, but also as individuals looking to produce our own portfolio-ready work.

Many integral parts of Apartment 20 came about because one or two team members had specific skill development/portfolio/gameplay interests, such as: a branching narrative, at least one modelled character, the obvious Sherlock inspiration, and specific mechanics.

As a result of growing to 15 team members and fleshing out our ideas, the core gameplay and overall scope of Apartment 20 changed quite a lot at the start of development. Initially, the game was pitched with a total of 20 small rooms, hence the name. This soon was condensed down to six well-developed rooms, allowing for more depth and care to be given to each character and space.

Throughout development, the characters that call these rooms home have grown in complexity and they all have pieces of the team within them, their rooms, and their dialogue. Our team has put together something that we can be proud of and enjoy, both the product and the development process.

That being said, development must continue! We have one semester remaining before ‘release’ and we will be updating our social media and this site as we progress. We will have more blog posts coming every _ about more specific topics, as well as gallery updates as we continue to work.

Matthew B, Apartment 20 Product Owner