A Whisper in Steel

Inspiration

In 11th grade, I had an idea for a horror game based on exploring a metal world filled with metal monsters, but never got around to making it. When I considered what project I should make for Technica this year, I realized completing this game would be a perfect hack. After a bit of restructuring, I present the text-based horror adventure A Whisper in Steel.

What it does

A Whisper in Steel is a text-based video game where you can explore various rooms in an abandoned laboratory. When encountering monsters, if you have gathered certain items through exploration, you are given the option to negotiate with the monster, thus resolving the conflict peacefully. At the end of your exploration, you confront the person behind the laboratory.

How we built it

I used the platform Twine, which allows you to create text-based games while also using web design elements such as HTML, CSS, and JS.

Challenges we ran into

I also was a bit rusty with Twine as the last time I used it was during high school, and I spent some time rewriting it. The story map got very complicated very quickly. While I numbered each room, I realized that having a set exploration order would be very boring, so I wrote the game to allow users to explore in any order they prefer.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm proud of finishing this game, especially since it was sitting in development purgatory in my mind for a long time. I'm also proud that I impressed my friends who I tasked with intermittently testing.

What we learned

I learned to never give up on my projects. I had thought that this project would never come to fruitition, and while coding I thought things had escalated way too quickly, but I ultimately prevailed and finished the game.

What's next for A Whisper in Steel

I was originally going to add images, but because of Google's blocking of third-party cookies, I realize that might be easier said than done. I'm hoping that this experience allows me to create more games in the future.

Built With

• twine