Game writing sample
Art by Duncan Eaglson
GAME WRITING SAMPLE FROM SUSURRUS: SEASON OF TIDES
Below is a sample of a quest from the text adventure game Susurrus: Season of Tides. At the game’s opening, the player character chooses to be a vampire, werewolf, or mage in a modern urban fantasy setting. In time, the PC chooses one or two of ten factions to work for. The writing assignment for this quest was to send the PC on a mission with the companion NPC associated with one of their chosen factions, with the goal of advancing that relationship.
My questline focus is The Gandolfinis, a typical crime family whose atypical patriarch, a powerful mage, has decided he is the literal Hades, god of the Underworld - or at least, that everyone had better behave as though he is. The young companion, Cheryl Gandolfini, is one of his three volatile grandchildren - werewolves by choice - who run security as the Hounds of Hades (or Cerberus, of course). She wants you, the new blood, to help her reconnect with her estranged uncle Tomaso, whom she thinks can shift the family dynamic back in their favor.
In this game system, stats the player has built up affect the available choices, and in turn, choices the player makes shift the character’s stats further, creating a more defined personality as gameplay progresses.
This sample features some quest dialogue and the start of Cheryl’s character development. It also demonstrates the branching choices the player can make in a given conversation, some nested choices, and the shifts in the character’s stats or temperament that can occur as a result.
QUEST: “AN UNFAMILIAR TEXT”
Quest step: You made it
Cheryl walks up to the fountain without looking at you and tosses a penny in, waiting a beat before speaking.
"So you showed up," she says, as if to nobody. "Good. You passed the first test, at least."
Ask: "Test?" (Go to quest step: "Test?")
Say: "If I knew it was going to be you, I'm not sure I would have." (Go to quest step: "Not sure I would have.")
Say: "Yeah, okay, let's get on with it." (Go to quest step: "Get on with it.")
Quest step: "Test?"
"Yeah, test, is there an echo?" She reaches into one of her many jacket pockets and pulls out a cigarette and a gold lighter, etched with the familiar flaming skull logo. You can't help but notice that her hands are a little shaky.
Offer to light her cigarette. (Go to quest step: Offer to light her cigarette)
Let her struggle. (Go to quest step: Let her struggle)
Quest step: Offer to light her cigarette
You pull a lighter out of your pocket, produce a flame, and hold it out to her, wordlessly. She side-eyes it, then you, then the lighter again, before putting the tip of the smoke to the flame and drawing it to life.
"Thanks," she says, tucking her own lighter back into her jacket without further comment.
She takes a long drag, still staring into the roaring water. "Look, I never thought I'd say this, but I, uh." She darts a glance over one shoulder, as if being overheard in this particular confession would be unrecoverable. "I need your help."
"My help?" You almost laugh. "Things must be really hopeless."
"Who asked you?" she retorts, but without much passion; it's just a reflex. "I need to talk to somebody, and I need somebody like you - somebody new around here, somebody every punk on the street doesn't already know - to help me get to him."
She looks at you, finally, with just her eyes. For the first time, they seem less hard, even a little scared. Then they flick away. "They're not listening to us anymore. We need to try something else."
<If Character has completed a certain previous quest:>
You have a flash of Cheryl being dragged from the room at the Gandolfini mansion, her loud and crass protests shuttled away from view, an embarrassment.
<End conditional text>
"I need to know more," you say, though you have a feeling you're locked into this regardless, now.
"Let's go for a drive," she says.
(Go to quest step: Go for a drive)
Quest step: Let her struggle
You watch as fumbles the lighter once, twice, then finally gets it open and sparks it. Her hands steady as she draws the cigarette to a bright cherry, then snaps the fancy lighter shut and tucks it away.
"Listen," she says, still staring into the mists of the fountain as if they'll prism the late afternoon light into rainbows of meaning. "You're fresh meat around here, and you don't trust me, I get it. But I need somebody like you, somebody nobody knows yet. Help me out, and things might shift. For the better. For you people, I mean."
"You people?" you echo again. You can't quite figure out where the insult is, but you're certain there is one.
"All you new Awakened, or whatever."
You raise an eyebrow at her.
<If PC is a Vampire> "Ya know. Being dead, all of a sudden. Then not. It's pretty fucked up."
<If PC is a Werewolf> "Look, I know what it's like, okay? Being... suddenly an animal."
<If PC is a Mage> "I mean. Magic. What the shit, right?" <End conditional text>
“It's weird, it's new. You're looking for answers. Me too. I'm just saying help me, maybe you find some things out, yeah?"
You didn't approach this job thinking there was any kind of choice. You don't pretend there is one, now. "Sure."
[Stat change: -1 Heart]
"All right. Let's go for a drive."
Go to quest step: Go for a drive
Quest step: "Not sure I would have."
"Ha!" Cheryl actually laughs, a bitter chuckle that seems genuine. "Gutsy. I like it. Scared of me, are ya? Grrrr." She shoots an over-the-top growl at you, holding up one hand like a claw. Joke or no, you sure notice her teeth as she snarls, just a little elongated and sharp. Her other hand digs in her jacket and pulls out a lighter and a cigarette pack. She lights her cigarette, shaking her head and still laughing, slightly. "You'll be perfect," she says on her first outbreath of smoke.
"Perfect for what, exactly?"
"Little job. I need to talk to someone. Or rather, I need you to talk to someone for me. Think you can do that?"
"I can talk.”
[Stat change: +1 Body]
"Great,” she says. “Let's go for a drive."
Go to quest step: Go for a drive
Quest step: Get on with it
She looks at you askance as she lights a cigarette, shielding the flame from the wind.
"Eager to serve, eh?" she says, a half-smile quirking one side of her face as she puts the lighter away. "Cool. Let's blow."
She turns and strides back toward the car, which has somehow miraculously avoided being ticketed thus far. Magical parking protection, maybe? You make a mental note to look into it.
[Stat change: -1 Mind]
"We're going for a drive,” she says. “I need to talk to someone."
Go to quest step: Go for a drive