Ben Artis
narrative design : world design : level design
NARRATIVE DESIGNS
A collection of some narrative concepts that I've come up with as well as a collection of images that helped for inspiration and envisionment of the concept.
All my narratives are set in either reality or have a paramnesia element where the reality has been tweaked slightly with small variables changed. I feel this allows the player to become immersed in the narratives and narrative environments far easier as well as helps with highlighting some of the messages and issues I try to raise in my concepts.
A bleak reimagining of the American 1950s under an invaded Russian communist regime. The game explores the huge contrast between the bright and vibrant post-war American ideals for the future against the dark and bleak Russian views of the 1950s.
The player plays as a little messenger boy in the country with his father running a postal service. When instructed to deliver a package by a strange Russian soldier, the boy travels to the city to deliver the package - and on the way learns about the new communist invaders what they've done to 1950s America.
The boy ends up delivering the package to the leader of the invading Russian forces. The package turns out to be a bomb, it detonates, killing the boy, however, it also kills the leader of the Russians as well as starting a coup to end the Russian invasion.
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MESSENGER BOY
TOMMY BLITZ
Set in London during The Blitz, the player plays as an 11 year old boy called Tommy. He lives with his mother while his father is off in France fighting in the war - Tommy is very proud of this. During one of the air raids, his mother is killed and his home destroyed. He is found and taken in by a London Blitz crime gang.
From here it is a moral battle for Tommy whether to commit the crimes that he is ordered to, so can continue to be looked after by the gang or find alternative moral ways around it. Tommy's mother narrates throughout the game giving her opinion of Tommy's actions and how he's turning out as a person.
Throughout the game, Tommy starts to find out more about the gang as well as the leader - 'Feather'. Tommy continues to do a good job (either morally or immorally) and eventually meets Feather, who turns out to be Tommy's father. He never went to war and instead renamed himself Feather (as women would give 'coward' men white feathers for not going to war) and went underground into crime to continue to live.
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RETROFUTURISM
In a retro-futuristic interpretation of America, the increased pace of industry in this universe has meant that society is far more advanced than our reality, however, it has resulted in an unbreathable atmosphere, extreme weather and the collapsation of 'Surface Society'. The US government saw this coming and constructed giant spheres under major cities to continue society when the surface becomes inhabitable. They also reinvented government to be a God-like figure called UNI which is shown to be the saviour of humanity.
The player plays as a citizen and (like everyone else) unknowing of the sphere that they live in or the history as to why they live in it. The player starts to hear rumours and starts to question the reality he perceives. With this, he works with a revolution group to expose the lie they live in and find out answers their questions.
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