Home Security

Friday, June 2nd, 2023

I've wanted to make a Bitsy game for a while, and for the current Bitsy Jam I came up with an idea I thought was interesting, and that became Home Security which you can play on Itch now!

Spoilers follow!

I’m a big fan of the staging of the play Gaslight and the film Rear Window because of how they use a single set to stage an entire plot. I wanted to try something similar, and also explore how the actions that one character can make in a scene can drastically affect the story when another character is introduced. And so I decided to make the game similar to a three-act play. In act one, the human character is introduced and 'instructs' the player to close all the windows in the house. However, in act two the character changes to that of a cat who wishes to gain access to the house, and if you have closed all the windows then they will be unable to do so. In the final act, as the human character, the player will see the aftermath of their initial decision. If they want to change the outcome then they can play again.

The game is basically built around dramatic irony, as the player you have access to information that neither character does, and so you experience the endings differently. However as a game, unlike a film or play, you get to affect the outcome when you discover information by going back and trying again. I really enjoyed exploring how to use this here.

I really like this game, and it whilst it was a little complicated to put together I had a great time making it in Bitsy and I'd encourage you to try the tool if you're interested in this kind of storytelling. It's a super accessible tool (runs in the browser, requires no external software) and is very opinionated about what it's for, which makes it easy to focus on making the game rather than creating additional tooling.