Confessions of an NPC
Content Warnings: This game covers sociopolitical issues such as school shootings, mental health, racism, intergenerational conflict, sex work, and corporatism. There will be various content warnings throughout the game. The game deals with its topics in a nuanced manner meant to advance discussion around their topics.
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Play Length: 5-10 minutes per story, 6 stories, 30-60 minutes total
Interview 6 different characters from a kingdom not unlike our own. Their problems reflect the problems of our times. See what they did and what you would have done.
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Confessions of an NPC is a Twine game where players interview six characters in a fantasy world with analogs to political crises in modern America, including school shootings, mental health, racism, intergenerational conflict, sex work, and corporatism. The stories emphasize realism through their dilemmas, but light fantasy elements allow a level of abstraction to make the topics more palatable to a consumer audience. Through the players' choices, players find out about the characters' stories, and are posed with what they would do in the characters' position, while the characters' stories continue unchanged. By respecting the characters' agency, players can empathize with their conflict while circumventing the problem of erasing the validity of that characters' choice, which is a common fear for writing marginalized video game protagonists.
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Writer, Programmer, Game Designer - Charles Hans Huang
Cover art by Wen Shi
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TROUBLESHOOTING: If game starts on a blank gray screen...
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Sorry! That seems to be a constraint on the itch.io upload at the moment and I'm not sure why
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Development log
- A note on The Monster's MotherApr 22, 2019
Comments
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My therapist will hear about you tomorrow!（ｉДｉ)
Very well made. The writing was particularly good and immersive. Made me really think about how morality and perspective tie in together. Keep it up!
Ah thank you! Comments like this are really encouraging to me! Thanks :)
Really interesting game. Well done.
Thanks!
I've played a lot of games on this website, but I don't think any of them have stuck onto me like this one has. I really like being able to write out my answers at the end of each "route" because it feels like I have more of a personal impact and connection towards the story as a whole. They've really made me question my insight on certain scenarios and blurred the lines between what we typically see as black-and-white.
This was well-made--I really hope you can continue to create more games in the future :)
Aww thanks so much for the kind words. It's been a long time since I've released this game, but I'm glad it's still having an impression on people. There are many things I would want to change about this game to this day, but I'm glad that my goal of encouraging self reflection is still working for people.
Thanks so much!!
Wow.
I'm sitting here at 2 AM, having one of the most emotional revelations i've had in years, with an actual letter clutched in my hand. It's an odd feeling, and an emotionally exhausting one, but a much needed one too.
I didn't expect it to hit nearly as hard as it did. It's a very well crafted story, and I love it both as a concept and in practice. Your writing, at least in this work, has a way of making me feel... grounded? I feel more appreciative of the bonds I have with others, is the best way to put it. This was an experience I don't think I'll forget soon.
Thanks so much for playing :)
Interesting... This was really something! The experience was really well made, and I think it captures the truth of things well. Thank you for making this... It was really nice :)