The Spirit Cases Project. Narrative, Gameplay and Generic Features of Detective Video Games

Visually impaired people, especially blind, have very limited possibilities in terms of consumption of interactive media. Without any visual feedback, it is almost always impossible to properly enjoy videogames, since they often require high-speed reaction to visual cues. This renders blind people and the ones with extremely bad eyesight in a disadvantageous situation in the world, where interactivity rules all and videogames slowly become the dominant form of entertainment. Our team strives to eliminate this issue, by creating an interactive product, that can be enjoyed by the visually impaired. However, in order to do that, it is necessary to develop a new generic, gameplay and narrative toolkit, that will allow us to create a fully audio-based interactive experience. We take a closer look at academic research on generic system of videogames and their gameplay features. Based on the results of this research, it is apparent, that our project should be thematically oriented. After that, we analyze common usage of non-linear storytelling and its features. This allows us to further deconstruct gameplay and narrative elements though the lens of non-linearity and, eventually, create an original toolkit for non-visual videogames. The nature of our project is then described at length, as well as plans for future development.