Adapting Frankenstein

The process of writing the literary adaptation was slow at first. Of course I refreshed myself on the story and decided on what section I wanted to adaptate. I felt like I would have the most creative control if I did the creature's journey so I started with that. I did not have a solid idea for how I wanted the story to function so I started writing to see where I ended up. At first I was writing a faithful adaptation in text game form but making notes of where I could create choices and deviate from the story. However, once I got to the section where the creature watched the family I felt like the writing was starting to become repetitive and boring. My first draft was too faithful to the text and did not feel like its own thing. So I thought it would be interesting to have the story take place as the creature is learning in real time rather than him relaying the story to Victor when they meet. I wanted there to be branches where the story is a bit different depending on if the creature displayed some level of confidence and openness to learning. I reread the chapters of his journey many times to familiarize myself but while doing that each refresh made me feel more desperate for the creatures happiness. It may be cheesy but I wanted there to be a branch that if the creature was open to all forms of learning that he could create his own family rather than asking Victor. I originally wanted to make four slightly different endings but I ended up only having three because two of the branches ended up being very similar. The last branch that I worked on was the most different from the original story, which was the section where the creature chooses not to read any of the books. I was a bit worried about deviating from the original story because I was afraid I would not be able to match the tone. What made me ignore that thought was I felt like the endings were on opposite ends of the spectrum. I felt like there needed to be an ending that was somewhat a middle ground.

I had a lot of fun adding text styles to the story to attempt to show the colors that the creature was in awe about. Frankenstein made it a point to talk about the beauty and colors of the surroundings so I wanted to make sure I adopted that as well. Coding in the game is relatively simple. There was a moment where I had to dedicate an hour to making sure the if statements were working properly and that it kept track of what the player had read. I wanted to add variables to other sections of the story but with the way that the branching worked it was not necessary. However, I do realize that using variables could have been easier than using if statements but the learning process was worth it in the end. What made the project better than I imagined was the feedback I received during the play testing sessions. I did realize after I received feedback that while writing I lost track of how I wanted my story to function. Having the assessment of my peers in mind made it easier to stay on track. I was a bit worried that the way the story was written would not be attention grabbing enough but thankfully through feedback that was not the problem in the game. The main criticism was not enough description of the surroundings and how the creature felt. I added a bit more describe his feeling of despair but it may have made the game slightly triggering to some because there is mentions of suicide. Overall, I believe this is a more fleshed out version of what it originally was. My main focus was the writing because it has been years since I have thought out a story and written one myself. I feel as though I accomplished my goal of how it was written but I do think that it can be improved in many ways.