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The Pattern

Pattern.png

in which I did

Game direction, narrative design,

programming, quality assurance

â–¸ Wrote 30+ pages of dialogue for 9 unique short story narratives
â–¸ Playtested two different versions of the project for 25+ different people
â–¸ Researched the Enneagram personality types and used them for creative writing
â–¸ Learned and coded the game in Ren'Py

IT University of Copenhagen

Thesis project

 

  • Kinetic novel

  • Serious game

  • Made in Ren'Py

"Can you learn more about yourself by relating to fictional characters?
Can video game narratives and characters be used for personal development?"

creative process

My thesis project was made in collaboration with Think About It, Denmark's leading Enneagram company. The game contains a personality test, followed by a narrative with a protagonist which reflects the player's result from the test. After the narrative, the player gets introduced to the Enneagram, so they can put the narrative and the characters into an Enneagram context.

 

I worked alone on this project and managed to create a learning tool, which both showed more engagement from the players compared to traditional personality tests, but also more interest in the Enneagram overall, after having played The Pattern. These results were met with big enthusiasm from Think About It.

 

The thesis project got grade of 12 (top grade).

design process

test flow.PNG

The Pattern starts with a personality test, to narrow down which characters the player would most likely relate to the most. The personality test, as well as the game itself, was programmed in Ren'Py.

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The test flow is shown in the graphic above. The player would get a question, which relates to a specific grouping of the Enneagram types. If the player picks the statement they relate to the most, on the back-end, the three types that represents the statement, gets a point. Then, to further narrow down which of those three types that the player relates to the most, a sub-question is given, which represents each of those three types. If the player picks the statement they relate to the most, only that type gets a point. Then a new main question is presented, with a different grouping of the types, and the process continues, until all the questions have been asked.

character_select_edited.jpg

At the end of the test, the player can pick one of three characters, based on their test score. Each character represents one of the Enneagram types, and the subsequent narrative that the player gets to see, is written from the perspective of that character, to put emphasis on the relatability between the player and the character.

Screenshot 2021-01-31 16-14-03.png

Only after the player has experienced the narrative of their chosen character, the Enneagram will be presented and explained. This was done to put the immersion first, the fun before the learning. The player was then able to explore all the narratives and read about each Enneagram type, in case they felt like they related to a different character that they picked.

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