FOR LUZ

Play here -> https://nekrofelia.itch.io/luz

CONCEPT & MECHANICS

“For Luz” is a non-linear visual novel about the struggles of creativity.

The story is told through a reinterpretation of the “found footage” genre: two archeologists from 3125 are setting up an exhibition about videogames, in a world recovering from years of an oppressive regime that erased any form of entertainment.

One of the relics they come across is a computer of a girl named Luz. By watching her videos and playing her games, the two archeologists uncover her thoughts about the connections between her work as a game designer and her life.

THE NARRATIVE APPROACH

The bits of Luz’s life can be experienced in any order, as they are thought to be self-conclusive. Each video is meant to make a point about a certain topic, also represented in the mini-games. The connection between the videos and the games is mostly loose to represent the messiness of trying to transform a stream of consciousness into a fully fleshed game.

To compensate for the lack of programmers and artists (the game was developed by two designers), we chose Visual Novel Maker, an engine made exclusively for visual novels, that didn’t require any programming skills.

We designed the mini-games to have a prototype-like quality that played in the game’s favor. Because we wanted to tell the story of a person who was experimenting with making games, we didn’t need them to be particularly polished or complex.

The two archeologists create a narrative frame: their comments after each video or game refocus the narration through their lens and add a layer of reflection. They assume a role similar to the player’s, external viewers with no knowledge of who Luz is or what her story might be, to the point, in the end, to directly include the player in their reflections by inviting her/him to choose the future of Luz’s PC.