Finding Liv (thesis project)

Finding Liv is a game prototype that was created as part of my masters thesis. It is not yet clear if I will continue development afterwards.

The game

 is a short visual novel about a Detective that is hired to find a missing cat called Liv for a distraught old lady. During the investigation you talk to her neighbours to find out what they know and figure out where the cat is. To talk to the characters you write your own questions into the dialogue box, instead of having a classic dialogue tree. The characters will then respond to your question to the best of their ability, reacting to a set of keywords. Their responses vary depending on whether your questions are perceived as polite or rude, so trying to be nice might pay off in the end ^^

Information you collect during your playthrough is saved into the Detectives notebook, which can be accessed through the menu. Here you can read up on your collected clues in chronological order in case you couldn't remember everything.

The thesis 

is called "Being Polite is a Choice: Trying to Create Immersion through Conversational Inputs and adequate Reactions to the Player's Manners in Role-Playing Games". The goal is to find out whether writing your own dialogue contributes to the players (your) immersion. The hypothesis is that this will make the dialogues and therefore characters feel more real, making it easier to form a bond and become immersed in the narrative. For this purpose I have created a questionnaire, to record the players experience with the game. If you end up trying the game or even solving the case, it would help a lot if you also fill out the questionnaire, regardless of whether you liked the game or not. The link to the questionnaire can be found through the menu inside the game and at the end of the investigation. I am grateful for every participation ^^

Credits:

Created by - @the_first_lilly (Discord)

Art by - @annotherdemon (Discord, Instagram)

Writing by - @the_first_lilly and @annotherdemon

For questions about the game, the questionnaire or the thesis contact me through discord or here in the comments. I'll do my best to respond quickly.