Toilet Paper
This was a module focused on narrative design using the old Unity tool Fungus. Whilst it isn't widely used anymore, Fungus was a good introduction to narrative whilst I was still learning the basics of Unity.
I was close to studying game writing as opposed to design. I'm very thankful to have chosen design but I do still enjoy writing which is why I enjoyed this project. We had a lecture discussing quests in games, one such example was fetch quests.
Thinking about fetch quests made me consider a real-life fetch quest that I had later that day, buying toilet paper. I thought of it initially as a comedic quest purely because I never considered buying toilet paper as one.
However, I attended university not long after the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to follow that train of thought. The boring, repetitive, mundanity that many people experienced, somewhat aligns with many people's views on fetch quests. So I decided to blend the comedic side of buying toilet paper with the mundanity of lockdown.
Initially, this started out with a sentient toilet paper that wanted more of its brethren. Whilst fun I found it to be too odd. I moved onto it being a sentient list called "The Lustrous Lord List".
I stuck with this idea for quite some time, until I shifted more of the focus onto lockdown, and the news cycle at the time, which was often a daily cycle of horror. This led me to make the villain of the story "The Daily Cycle". A sentient newspaper that always demanded the same thing, toilet paper. I remember viewing the news almost as this evil thing at the time, draining what little sanity I had. So I went forward with this idea.
It worked as a blend of absurdity, mixed with allegory that managed to strike a balance that people seemed to enjoy. I had people describe it as a time loop, which was intentional, but in my mind, it was never a loop, just consecutive days that felt the same. I think time loops are quite popular which is why it was enjoyed, but subconsciously I think people were able to relate to that feeling we all had during those times.
I enjoyed using Fungus, but never came to use it again. I've dipped my toe into narrative since but not as much as I would like. Hopefully, in future projects I will.