My Robot Ex-Girlfriend Needs A Prom Date

In 2013, I was enrolled at Rutgers University’s MFA program in creative writing, working with two undergraduate designers on creating a working game. The result is a parody dating simulator.

Mechanics

Given our deadline and design limitations, we had to make the game 1) simple 2) playable in five minutes 3) interesting. We only had one developer tasked with learning Twine, one artist, and myself serving as both writer and project lead.

Collaboration

The biggest challenge was aligning art, mechanics, and writing. We brainstormed genres that were best suited for text-based gameplay, before settling on a dating sim. Similarly, we iterated on the art style a great deal, but finally settled on something that captured the retro feel we were going for.

Story

The game we wanted to make was meant to tell a story, but not the story that the player expects. The player’s task is an impossible one (getting the protagonist to find love), which in retrospect, is a frustrating experience and something we would have addressed for 2.00. But for the five-minute, non-replayable experience we wanted to create, it worked.

Unfinished

There are several paths (especially the goth kids’ paths) that have typos and broken links. But the original designer can’t access the source build on Twine any longer, so for better or worse, this is what we have.