Threads
Threads is a narrative-heavy, relationship-based game created by Elizabeth Renn, Martha Hamlin, and myself for our first semester Capstone project at Northeastern. The goal of the project was to create a game that explored a topic that interested all of us, and try to create a cast and setting that felt unique and diverse. On our team, Martha took over as lead programmer and project manager, and Elizabeth acted as our narrative and dialogue writer. I was in charge of creating the initial art assets that are visible in game, as well as refining dialogue and iterating over character design and story. The project is in an early beta state for now, though we have discussed returning to the game in the future, and are using the base mechanics from the game in a second, more puzzle based iteration to be created this semester.
From our design doc:
“Threads is an adventure set in a world where small magical abilities are commonplace, and protagonist Aliya has just discovered her own ability. Newly gifted with the ability to see “threads” of relationships between people, she begins a journey to help others around her find where their threads lead, and figure out why she appears to have no threads of her own. By interacting with friends and strangers alike in a variety of settings, she learns about the many diverse types of relationships that take root all around her, and how much more complex these relationships are than she had realized.
Players will navigate through various towns and cities as Aliya embarks on her journey, each location boasting its own personality and diverse cast of characters. Aliya can toggle her focus to a single character’s threads, or potential relationships, to further explore these locations and seek out relationship candidates. By speaking to characters and learning more about them, Aliya can pass information on and help the people around her enter into happy, lasting relationships.”