Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
to the player. In Emily Short's
Bee
(2012), the player makes choices about how to use the time
of the main character, a home-schooled girl who's studying to become a spelling-bee cham-
pion. At the beginning of the game, the player is shown two attributes that are affected by her
choices: study more, and the Spelling Skill attribute will rise, but the Motivation attribute will
decrease. If Motivation is too low, some study-related choices become unavailable,
but Motiva-
tion can be raised by pursuing other kinds of activities (see Figure
7.12
).
Figure 7.12
Making choices in
Bee
sometimes affects the character's attributes, at left.
Although Spelling Skill and Motivation seem like the focal points of the game and its stated
goal, other parts of the system are affected by the player's choices as well—most notably the
relationship of the main character to her parents, sister, and other peers. Interestingly enough,
many of the outcomes of the story—some of which describe what happens years later or
involve abandoning spelling mastery altogether—are linked to what kind of relationship the
main character has with others.
Bee
must be played several times to feel out the contours of this
system to interpret what's going on in this girl's life.
Although the game presents a straightfor-
ward narrative of overcoming difficulty, increasing skill, and mastering problems to become a
