Of Three In One
Interactive story quest for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ◦ 8 weeks ◦ 2014
Player Communication in an Unconventional Quest
A challenge in crafting Of Three In One was communicating the odd nature of a “psychic vision quest,” particularly the fact that the player character’s mind is being united with those of two other NPCs. Through playtesting feedback from peers and professors, I was able to pin down where clarity was lost and fill in the gaps.
Ghostly figures appear and comment on the strangeness of the spirit quest
A script attached to a potion effect manages almost all aspects of the vision quest in action, including teleporting the player and cast of characters around as needed. An update function checks a couple dozen different variables, triggering a variety of other functions and behaviors in the world at different stages of the quest.
Potion effect tracks the progress of the quest and executes scripted events
In order to communicate that the player is becoming other characters, ghost versions of Charles and David confront the player, explaining the context of each room in the quest. Immediately following this, the potion script forces the camera to third-person and changes the player’s outfit to the character that they player currently represents.
The player's outfit changes to reflect the characters they control during the quest (Fullscreen)
Additional scripted effects include making objects and characters in the world appear and disappear with magical particle effects, adding and equipping weapons at key story points, teleporting NPC characters in and out of the level, and managing the player’s inventory at the start and end of the quest.
Characters sometimes disappear in a wave of dreamscape magic (Fullscreen)