- A Collegial Conversation [SeedComp]
Alyshkalia’s SeedComp entry presents the player with a frozen block of time. There’s an unchangeable sequence of events, nothing can divert the course of the story. The characters will inevitably do what they do, say what they must say.
But what richness is discovered through the exploration of the characters’ inner perceptions of this fixed chain of events! On every page the player can choose to click on the name of one other person to view the next part of the story from their standpoint, skipping from one POV to another.
Each person’s point of view reveals bits of their social background, biases and insecurities. The words on the surface, the insincere compliments and backhanded sneers are already a challenging excercise in reading between the lines by themselves, but the game’s central device to let the player experience them from within each personage’s frame of mind lends them unique meaning for each individual.
The writing is great in conveying the different personalities, describing the intimate motivations and reactions in a sensitive way. Even though they’re not all equally likeable, the way the characters are written does bring some understanding of their view on life and their place in it.
(Oh, funny association: the character I started with was Erandan, Head of the Department of Sewage. This reminded me of Terry Pratchett’s Harry King, King of the Golden River.)
Great interactive story.