Hello, all. I’m Leigh, otherwise known online as Pixie or Pixiefang. This was my first foray into interactive fiction, and I’m really pretty jazzed about what I produced and just happy in general to be here at all. I’m humbled, to say the least, but I’m also just really excited to be part of the community.
I didn’t have any expectations for placement because I knew I was underprepared. I didn’t give myself enough time. I actually feel embarrassed to admit this, but for transparency, I didn’t have anyone beta test, either. There were a few bugs that early players encountered with broken links and random traits being added to players for no reason, but some very kind people alerted me, and I fixed them. I made rookie mistakes. I used slow text. I won’t use slow text in a competition where time is really important for judging ever again. I didn’t give myself enough time to really fully learn everything I was dabbling in, and I do learn on the go, but I could have used more time to really proof my work and sit with it a little longer.
The slow text was just for a fun thing, but I promise the other aspects have more thought behind them. I wanted to play around with some code and test the possibilities of Twine as a first timer. I used to code back in the day when I made my own HTML Xanga layouts, and then later I dabbled in some MySpace stuff, I think, but most of my HTML learning came from Xanga. I asked ChatGPT and Claude for help for a couple of ideas (sorry), and there were a few lines that were helpful. I am still trying to learn on my own.
The notes section was created to make notes of certain milestones in the game because I removed the “back” function. Since that makes things kind of disorienting, I wanted there to be a space where certain memories were kept and where you could add things that you think are important to note/might change your position. I also purposefully made it so you’d have to track your own traits, if you were interested in doing that, to see if you were following a specific path. Not sure if it’s necessary or not, but fun? Maybe?
There are multiple endings. I won’t get too spoilery on the off-chance someone else out there actually wants to play, but endings, I will admit, are difficult for me. If anyone has particular thoughts on endings, I also welcome those. I had some fun with these, but I know I’d love to know how players felt once they reached those endings.
Originally, this was a piece of short fiction. It wasn’t inspired by any particular piece of vampire lit or film or lore, although I am a big fan of all vampire film, literature, etc. I needed to write a story, I wanted to write a vampire story, and I thought of this idea of a vampire asking for help with an assisted suicide. I expanded this story a lot for the game and really did sit with the lore. I may not have given myself enough time overall, but I do take storytelling seriously. I already had some foundation for the story, but I also wanted to make it my own. Vampires often follow x,y,z, and I wanted a contemporary spin on things. I know the idea of these nearly vegan vampires is ridiculous, but I personally thought it was delightfully ridiculous. Opinions will vary, of course. I also just learned this little tidbit about the vampire bat, as I was writing this part—a bat whose reputation is as big and bad as Dracula, but takes these tiny little sips of blood droplets so small that sleeping chickens don’t even notice. It’s so cool. Bats are cool.
I know I have a lot to work on. This entire story could be expanded. There’s plenty more room for depth and room for you, the player, to sort of explore who you are and why you’re here. Originally, it was sort of political. I removed that from the game because I wanted the you of the game to be a little more flexible. I really appreciate everyone who took the time to leave detailed reviews and feedback. I know that everyone has different tastes as a player, but there are already some consistencies that I’ve noted. There’s also somewhat of an issue with an empathy/anger crossover, but I thought it almost kind of made sense. However, that can be established clearly as its own path. A conflicted empathy/hatred should have its own devoted set of interesting choices. I know I have a lot to learn as a writer of IF.
Anyway, I could continue rambling, but what I see myself doing is continuing to work on this later down the line and re-releasing it to itch.io as an expanded version.
Thank you to everyone who gave it a try, who rated, who left feedback, and who took part in this year’s competition in one way or another. It’s been fun. I do really appreciate the feedback and critique, and I’m excited to learn from it.
but I am also a bit of a slow reader.