twine game 1 - in absence, there's return

This game represents the cycle of return, implying an eternal round of leaving home, experiencing disorientation because of your absence and the experiences you endure during your dissapearance, and then returning back. 

Each passage title represents the actions named in the paragraphs such as “home, “ “egress,” “the unknown, and “the invitation” but the body of text resists these ideas. For example, in “the unknown,” though the fragments of the village look familiar, the individual also recognizes varied shifts (i.e., smaller houses, unfamiliar laughs and faces). This challenges the meaning of “the unknown” to question the accuracy of location and memory. 

The structure of this twin game suggests that the past and the present consistently reframe one another. My goal in the creation of this game is to convey the inescapability of the decisions we make in our lives and how they haunt us by retracing the same steps. This cycle of return shows us that even in usual and altered environments, we continue to carry our homes and pasts with us. 

When participating in the playtest, I noticed some unresolved tension in some parts of the cycle. I went back and added varied symbols like the fox, the letter, and the bow so that each encounter emphasized the beginning panel of “home.” These symbols are meant to reflect the decisions tied to specific places that become distant or absent.