The Vessel

Overview

“The Vessel” is a work of interactive science fiction, about an unpiloted sentient mech on a mission from a government agency to explore a foreign land revealed by the mysterious appearance of a portal on Earth. This is my first game I programmed entirely myself from scratch, and I'm really excited!

Unlike traditional branching narratives, each scenario is set in stone; however, players can select from three choices how they want to tackle the problem presented in each scenario. Their solution may be successful or unsuccessful depending on a hidden dice roll. Throughout the narrative, players must gather as much information as they can about the conflict and decide upon a final solution. Depending on their choices and their successes, they may gain more or less information before this final decision.

How to Play

Unzip the folder and begin playing by running the enclosed .EXE file. This is a console application only. All text. No images. Runs in your command console. Written in C#.

Players may interact with the narrative by typing in the number (1, 2, or 3) of their selection and hitting the ENTER key.

Stats and Dice Rolls

It is recommended to play the game first; however, if you want to know the inner-workings of the systems, read on.

There are three stats: Pluck (intelligence/craftiness), Vim (strength, brutality), and Zeal (faith). Each stat begins at 1. The player is prompted to select a stat in their first choice, which will add 1 to that stat. 

Each scenario has three choices, corresponding to each stat in the order presented above. A dice roll occurs behind the scenes, rolling a 1, 2, or 3. A success occurs on 2 or 3 and fails on 1. A success adds +1 to the corresponding stat. A failure decreases -1 to that stat. 

Before the final choice is made, three messages are presented to the player, again corresponding to the three stats. If the stat has ended up with a value or 2 or more, the message is clearly displayed; if not, a garbled nearly unreadable message is displayed instead.

Credits

Writing, Programming, Game Design, Narrative Design - Evie Mae

Planet photo in cover image by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Photo in banner image by Clu Soh on Unsplash

Stars in cover image photo by Getty Images Pro via Canva

Nervous font by Anke Arnold via dafont.com