For my Senior Thesis project, I had to create a game from start to finish. The project was intended to last for the duration of my senior year, taking a full year to produce. Students were to create a finished, deliverable game by working in small groups, much like how a game studio would operate, with each student assuming a design role for themselves.

For me, I assumed the role of Lead Writer.

Unfortunately, there were setbacks almost immediately. Due to internal issues among various group members, our project fell to the wayside. Before long, our group split into two, each deciding to pursue their own strategy.

With several weeks worth of work now severed, many group members gone, and a new, accelerated timeline in place, my Senior Thesis was to created a full game in just twelve short weeks before graduation.

Despite the setbacks, my team and I succeeded in creating a working prototype, albeit not a finished game.

Our prototype was Bonded, the story of a brother/sister duo separated first from their parents, and then each other. Told in 3 chapters, Bonded is a third-person wide-linear puzzle game with emphasis put on its story telling by way of a poignant narrative, self-composed music score, and uniquely blended art styles.

You, the protagonist, play as a seventeen-year-old boy. Beginning within the confines of a juvenile detention cell, you are in the hands of the law. A bad score caused an even worse outcome for you: Alone and broke.

Frustrated at your predicament, confused as to why you’ve been abandoned without a bailout from your sister, and anxious to get back to normal, you embark on your journey to break out of juvie and find your sister, struggling to find reason for the criminality of your shared past along the way.

Needing to “unlock” the way forward, the player must find keys, extract passwords out of people, or hide from the law in order to move through the levels.

Writing Bonded

As the Lead Writer, I not only focused on the plot direction and the overall narrative of the game, I also focused on including lore to bolster the validity and well-rounded feel of our game.

To do this, I wrote several “newspaper” articles that you can find scattered across the game while you’re progressing through. The articles would reference the various crimes your sister had committed – allegedly – in and around town. The articles were to be found in clippings and were indicated to span across several years. Each clipping you found also increased in threat level from the last and foreshadowed the struggle at the end of the game.

I also wrote dialogue for the non-playable characters that were planned to be included in the later chapters of the game; characters who hinted at the destructive nature of your sister, and what she had done in the past.

Ultimately, I worked to give the game world of Bonded as much context and juice it needed, not just to feel like an immersive experience, but also to make the game world that much more interesting for the player.

bonded Details

Being a wide-linear game, the end result was pre-determined, but it’s the inclusions of things like world lore or a detailed narrative direction that can drive the player to feel satisfaction playing the game. It’s hard work that gives an ethos to your art.

For Bonded, the end of the game was meant to have a branching storyline option.

After breaking out of juvie, returning to town on the lam and in search for your sister, uncovering the truth of your shard past, and confronting your sister, you are forced to make a moral decision.

Option A: Save your sister from her doom and inner demons by helping her cope with the trauma of losing your parents and being forced to take care of you the only way she knew how. freeing you both from bondage of despair and crime.

Option B: Return to your lives of crime, never addressing your sister about her struggles.

Option C: Save yourself from your sister’s entrapment and the life she has planned for you both, choosing instead to abandon your sister as she had done to you, leaving her to fend for herself.

Option D: Fueling your sister to “cope” with her trauma by enabling her to increasingly dangerous crimes to be committed.

Our main inspirations were games such as Life is Strange, Fallout, Persona 5, and indie titles like Florence and Little Nightmares 2.

in the spotlight

Beyond The Pale is currently a work in progress/concept for an open-world nonlinear RPG.

Please refer to the Pitch Deck or the Narrative Design Document enclosed below for a better idea on the current thought process on the game.

All documents are subject to change.

All images have been taken from Google Images or Pinterest. All rights are reserved to those who created the reference images and sourced materials.

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Alexandra Hoth, Beyond The Pale Narrative Design DocumentDownload

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