Creating 'Chasing Sunrise'

This game is published! You can check it out here.

This is the third of three interactive fiction stories; they’re standalones and available on my itch.io page.

What's the game about?

This horror-comedy is based on "Get out" + "Squid Game" + AI hype. I’m also inspired by the frailty of human connections in our rapidly changing world; eg. some of us engage more with chatbots than with other people.

You as the player can choose between truth-finding or the status-quo. There's a price to pay either way :)

What is my game dev process?

I've refined this process thrice over the three stories:

1. Hammer out ideas on paper:

   • The page count helps me gauge how fleshed-out an idea is
   • Ideally the idea is fleshed-out and I'm still passionate enough to make it

2. Type out idea in Google docs

   • Type out a blurb + character + settings, and the plot + story
   • Ensure all branches/endings are sensible. If there's only one ending then this is a regular story/comic
   • Check the story for length: ideally the story is not too long AND long enough to be worthwhile

3. Add the story to Twine, an open-source tool that publishes to HTML

   • I use the Harlowe story format due to its minimal UI
   • I reuse CSS from previous projects for styling
   • At this point I get my husband to play-test it for feedback

I print out the script and doodle different approaches.

4. Draw and add illustrations

   • The good news is I draw fast, since drawing is my oldest hobby
   • The bad news is I need to psych myself up to draw, since I only draw occasionally now. I also plan the shots in the picture above
   • After adding the images I get my hubby to play-test the story again. He may suggest adding/changing images, and which sounds to add

5. Add sounds

   • I make a list of sounds and search for them on Pixabay
   • I save the attribution for the sounds used and add them to the credits page
   • After adding sounds I get my husband to play-test again before publishing the game on itch.io. I usually submit the game to a few game jams to get more feedback

A note on my drawing process

A page of my illustrations for the game; I wrote and illustrated all 3 games myself

• I draw on looseleaf paper to trace previous pages. The pages might be printed on one side, since I’m a reuse-reduce-recycle person
• I draw by hand using a pencil and Sharpie; the pencil is removed digitally and the Sharpie pen really smells
• I use black and white because it’s graphic and simple. I’m a minimalist at heart and took art lessons in China, where we emulated the old masters using black and white watercolors. Now I use a Sharpie, but the same principle applies

Fun fact

The most time-intensive part is NOT drawing or ideation, but the word-smithing eg. editing the story to minimize word count while maximizing emotional impact. The longer the story the longer the editing.

You can check out 'Chasing Sunrise' here.