The Black Market
A text-based, non-linear narrative adventure. Traverse the streets through words alone and converse with the crooked characters that offer exraordinary wares.
[This is a solo project. All of the design, programming and creative writing were created by myself]
In my final year of University, I joined a club to improve my narrative design skills. During my time in that group, a game jam was held to challenge our relevant skills, and from that came this project: The Black Market. The two core aims of this project were to:
- Learn a new engine: Twine.
- Challenge myself to write an interactive, text-based adventure.
I designed the concept of a non-linear navigation system using a market street that the player could "move" through at their leisure – each page giving them the option to approach some of the nearby vendors. At each of these vendors, the player could strike up a conversation that, if played succesfully, would reveal information or knowledge needed to unlock new dialogue paths at a different vendor.
Initial presentation of one of the vendors
Narrative path unlocked following conversation
There are multiple narrative paths for the player to take, and accompanying endings for each. The paths are also designed in a way where exploration is both important and rewarded. The player must talk to multiple vendors in order to follow any specific plot, with progressive dialgogue options displayed in red to communicate to the player that they are more than just small talk.
An unlocked narrative option through previous conversations
If you are interested in experiencing this for yourself, the game can be played online for free on itch.io:
