The Silent Age: Episode One is a story-driven point-and-click adventure game with a minimalist interface and a heavy emphasis on puzzles. The game uses time travel as a core mechanic to solve puzzles.
The game was developed in Unity by a small, four-man team. I wrote the story, the narrative and all character dialogue for the game as well as designed the internal dialogue system. In addition, I assisted with the interface and other UX matters.
As the subtitle denotes, the game is episodic. Due to constraints on time and resources, we split the game into two episodes, each five chapters long. The first episode was released for iOS and Android in March 2013. Episode Two was released in early 2015. The game has garnered just shy of 8 million players across all platforms and was very well received by the gaming press, too, with an aggregate Metacritic score of 84 at the time of this writing.
Accolades
The game has received the following awards and nominations:
The game is available here:
Excerpt from the introduction:
“It’s 1972. Love is free. Flipflops, English Leather and bandanas are the height of fashion. Meanwhile the Cold War is more than lukewarm and a real one is being waged overseas. Movements are happening. Environmentalists, the female liberties movement, and on the dance floors an entirely different kind of movement is overtaking the underground clubs. The winds of change are certainly blowing over the country.
Somewhere in the big city, in a tall, faceless government building, someone left a window open. All the winds of change are doing here is blowing leaves all over Joe’s newly-swept floor. He’s been there for two years now. Working a dead-end attendant job making sure the building is as spotless as the suits walking the halls. It’s been like this for years, going from one soul-devouring job to the next.
Our protagonist is Joe in more than just name. He is quite literally Joe Average. Average height, average weight, average IQ. In fact, the only thing remotely remarkable about him is exactly how much he conforms to the median of the hypothetical everyman, and up until this point, Joe’s life hasn’t exactly been biography material. This is all about to change.”
Screenshots
Below is a video and some screenshots from the game. The graphics were done by my colleague Thomas Ryder.
Above: Joe has been summoned for a meeting with the company CEO.
Above: A big patch of poison ivy is preventing access to the apartment. The player has just tried drenching the plant in wallpaper paste.
Above: Joe finally managed to open a hidden safe and is handsomely rewarded with the gift of quiet introspection.
Writing challenges
Due to the player’s ability to jump between the year 1972 and 2012 at any time, as well as dealing with a time travel story that loops back in on itself, the writing process became highly complex. Having the main character avoid himself while criss-crossing other characters as the story unfolds into the narrative equivalent of a klein bottle forced me into creating charts such as this for each individual major plot point to keep track of conundrums.
By far the biggest writing task, however, was doing all the comments and reactions for the main character. Because we’d made the decision to have the protagonist make multiple unique comments and remarks about any background element and item interaction to keep the player engaged, I had to write several lines of dialogue for every single one of the many thousands of possible item combinations in the game – all the while keeping things interesting, insightful and witty.
Dialogue example
Following is another snippet of dialogue from the game:
SCENE: EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT OFFICE
Following a cryptic note left by his colleague Frank, our janitor protagonist Joe has made his way to the executive floor of Archon Defense Technologies, where the company CEO has had him summoned for reasons unknown.
MR. HILL: Ah. Jasper.
JOE: It’s… It’s Joe, sir.
MR. HILL: Of course. Joseph. How long is it that you have been with this company, Joseph?
JOE: About two years, sir.
MR. HILL: Ah. Yes, then by now you must know that what we do here is very important.
MR. HILL: National security may just be a word to most people, Jasper, but for men like you and I, it means so much more. We see the people behind those words.
MR. HILL: We understand that it means the safety of every citizen in this country, not to mention the shareholders and the hard working clerks and stakeholders at the government funding agencies.
MR. HILL: It also means a lot of pressure. A lot. And some men just … buckle. Which brings me to the main point on my agenda: A position just opened up and we’re promoting you, Jasper.
JOE: It’s… I’m… Sir?
MR. HILL: Don’t think the company doesn’t notice its hard working employees. We reward achievement in this organization, young man. And you just made yourself a gold star.
MR. HILL: This means that from now on you will be in charge of not only yours, but Frank’s assignments too.
MR. HILL: That’s right: That means downstairs labs sanitation, drain assignments, the works. With all the clearance that entails. That’s a lot of responsibility we’re investing in you, Jasper.
JOE: I… Thank you, sir. But what about Frank?
MR. HILL: I know you made a great team, but Frank… decided to pursue a different career path this morning. We wish him all the best.
MR. HILL: Oh, and of course you understand that we won’t be able to present you with a fancy title or a measurable pay raise. This is a modern company, you understand. We like to keep a flat organizational structure here.
JOE: I…
MR. HILL: So congratulations, Jasper. I bet you must be very excited to get back to work with all your new responsibilities. That’s perfectly understandable. I won’t keep you a minute longer. Here’s your keycard.