Writing Interactive Fiction with Twine

18. Developing a Strong Player Character

In Admiral Jota’s game Lost Pig, you play an orc. As you can imagine, you don’t speak in clear, lilting sentences. Your phrasing is fragmented, brief, and grammatically incorrect:

Pig lost! Boss say that it Grunk fault. Say Grunk forget about closing gate. Maybe boss right. Grunk not remember forgetting, but maybe Grunk just forget. Boss say Grunk go find pig, bring it back.

Grunk the orc’s speech has a clear cadence and rhythm, and it gives the game a distinct sound. That sound is the game’s narrative voice. Narrative voice is how the narrator speaks and, by extension, how the storyteller presents the story. A lot of elements go into defining the narrative voice, including personality traits revealed ...