In the Shadow of St. Amelia's
Writer and Designer
In the Shadow of St. Amelia's is a single player, text based narrative adventure game, inspired by games like Firewatch, Disco Elysium, and What Remains of Edith Finch.
Set in a fictional lighthouse on the coast of Nova Scotia, you play as a lonely caretaker grappling with a guilty conscience. As you explore the lighthouse and rediscover the object of your guilt, you must reckon with the skeletons of your past as the world around you breaks down...
This game explores dark themes, so please note the following content warnings if you choose to play: mental illness, self-deprecation, and implications of suicidal thoughts.
Twine Layout from In the Shadow of St. Amelia's
On this project, I ...
-
Wrote and iterated on an original narrative exploring themes of guilt, avoidance, and forgiveness
-
Designed branching narrative structure integrating non-linear segments, to maintain cohesion and interaction while replicating the feel of navigating a physical space
-
Implemented game narrative in Twine
In my final year at the University of Rochester, I finally had the time in my schedule to take a class called Video Games as Interactive Storytelling. I had been wanting to take it ever since I discovered it was an option. The final project, for which over half of the semester was dedicated, for the class was to write, design, and develop an original narrative game in Twine.
​
I was incredibly excited to dive into a solo Twine project; the last time I had the opportunity was in the summer of 2022, when I was first discovering the tool. But that excitement set me up to face the crucial and hard truth all designers grapple with: over-scoping.
I had originally envisioned a much grander version of the St. Amelia's, a scope akin to Disco Elysium, with a narrative spanning multiple months and many more branching paths to follow. Perhaps one day I will get the time to expand the game to fit that original vision, but I quickly learned that the scope of the time allotment and the circumstances of the project would not support that vision.
Idea document outlining revisions to In the Shadow of St. Amelia's
Cover Art Sketch for In the Shadow of St. Amelia's
However, I cannot understate the value I found in re-scoping the project. Adapting the narrative of St. Amelia's to a much shorter time span and, albeit, a limitation in the major available endings gave the game a claustrophobic feeling I sought in the original vision. The challenge was to make sure the game didn't feel rushed: I still wanted to create a drip-feed of information, scattered around the environment, that helped to build tension to an intense and bizarre climax. I feel I've achieved that, but ultimately it's up to the audience to judge for themselves!
​
While I love working in team projects on ambitious projects, I find it creatively invigorating and fulfilling to work on solo projects like St. Amelia's, in a paired down but still flexible tool like Twine. I look forward to iterating on St. Amelia's as I grow as a writer and designer, and I hope this is just the first in a series of solo projects where I can create original interactive narrative experiences like this one.