A Murder's Worth A Thousand Words:
An Ersatz and Spats Adventure
This Interactive Narrative Project is a prototype made within a digital narrative creation plugin I am currently building in Unity 5. The narrative follows private investigator Leeroy Spats through a Noir world built on intrigue, corruption, and zippy one-liners. The player/reader navigates the narrative by making choices at key decision points, with each of which impacting how the story will play out. The game is built almost entirely within Unity 5's GUI system, and I developed a basic series of editor scripts that allow me to generate pages and add content to them from a 'Page Control Panel'. Going forward, I would like to add further options and convenience to the system by integrating it into a visual node-based editor, and then release the plugin for sale into the Unity Asset Store. The game is available for download here for both Windows and Mac systems.
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Text Sample:
“What’ll it be, Spats?”
My partner leered at me from across the desk, a manilla folder in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. He jabbed the folder in my direction.
“You want the job or not?”
His name was Ersatz, and he made up half of our agency, Ersatz and Spats Private Investigations. If you put us side by side you’d say that he made up a lot more than half, but who could blame him? Work had been slow lately, and I was usually the one who did what little there was.
The clock read 7:15. I yawned and looked past Ersatz through the fogged glass of our office door and into the reception area. There was a figure silhouetted by the light outside - a client, a dame by the looks of it.
The rest of the office was what you’d expect: wood panelling, empty bottles, a few lightbulbs hanging from the wires, and a great view overlooking an alleyway. It was our home away from home.
Ersatz shifted impatiently, his paunch threatening to overtake his slacks at any second. He’d caught me napping, and I was still digging the sand out of my eyes. I was on a stakeout job last night: Grimy motel, cheating husband, standard fare. Got fifty bucks for my trouble too, but that don’t keep the lights on.
I took the folder and flipped it open on my desk...
Screens:
A shot showing how pages are generated into the project in Unity 5.
A shot of the project in Unity 5, with the Page Control Panel active.
This is what the game looks like while in play.
A shot showing how pages are generated into the project in Unity 5.