Cinnamon
The game in brief
Cinnamon is a solo visual novel project, made using Ren’py, with visuals borrowed from pixabay and pexels and background scores from Kevin MacLeod for the most part and one groovy song from purple planet music.
This visual novel was made in 2 weeks from conception to inception, during the time I spent in college (2016) as part of one of my exams. The topic was “Objects and Belonging”.
The game is about people and their relationships to objects, varying from clothes and attitudes, to things they want or wish for. Each object has either different memories or a different form of what it means to ‘belong’. The idea of the game is not only to communicate different forms of belonging in relation to objects, but also to make people think about what an object means and if and when it ‘stops’ being an object, then what does it become and what meaning does it then hold?
gameplay video & downloadable game file
Below on the left is the gameplay video of Cinnamon. On the right, when you click on the “download the game” image, your download will start automatically. Wait for the zip file to download, then unzip it and immediately inside the first folder just open the “Cinnamon icon” and the game will run!
The gameplay video above shows only one of the routes in the game. There’s a total of six routes! Spoilers & details below ^^
breaking it down!
I’ll start with where my inspiration came from – spices!
I started this project by questioning what an object could be defined as, moving on to what defined belonging.
One of the reasons I started questioning what it meant to own an object or to associate a sense of belonging with an object was because people do hold a ‘belief’ that an object belongs to them even before they buy it. People imagine lifestyle changes and behavioral changes associated with said object.
For example, say you normally use pencils. You find pens inconvenient. But then, you discover this paint brush like pen which feels like a pencil. At the moment, you are unable to afford this pen. You start to imagine what it would feel like to own this pen and begin saving up for it. ‘This pen belongs to me’ is a thought that crops up, much before you actually acquire it.
The interesting part when talking about objects and their importance to people is the memories it holds for them and how these memories are triggered. Most often, it is a sense of smell, touch or taste that helps us uniquely identify with an object.
Which brings me to the image on the left. The machine in the picture is a grinding mill. Many people came to the mill to have various spices that they used regularly in their houses ground. Each person brought a different variety of spices, and when I spoke to them, I came to know that each of them uses a specific set of spices because it reminds them most of their childhood, or their home, or the smell gave them a sense of comfort.
the story, the player, their choices and interactions
When I started writing the story, I emphasized more on the feelings, emotions, moods, smells, sounds and taste as opposed to the visuals. The initial prototype was without any visuals whatsoever, just a black screen with text and music in the background.
Me: OMG I managed to make a game!
Mentor: Go find some photos and add visuals because you don’t have the time to draw anything even if you think you do.
Yes, I had unrealistic dreams. I was planning to draw 18+ backgrounds in 4 days. I still look back and thank my mentor to this day for the advise. It also makes me think realistically about deadlines and goals and the amount of time within which anything is realistically workable.
As the game is a visual novel of course, you get choices! Not as many as I’d like unfortunately, since in the two weeks I had, between research and figuring out how Ren’py, to then writing the story, I didn’t have much time to make more choices that directly influenced each path you took in the game.
Despite this however, I somehow managed to write six endings that are fully functioning and make some amount of sense.
Flowchart for the same below!
what’s next?
The game isn’t going to be receiving any future updates, since it’s complete. I may add a little more to the documentation later in the event that I’ve missed out something. Hope you enjoy playing the game!
credits
Just crediting the various sites that were pivotal in making this amazing project!
Images from Pixabay – https://pixabay.com/
Images from Pexels – https://www.pexels.com/
Purple Planet Music – https://www.purple-planet.com/movin-on
Kevin MacLeod – https://incompetech.com
- Teller of the Tales by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4467-teller-of-the-tales
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - George Street Shuffle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3800-george-street-shuffle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - Rains Will Fall by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4262-rains-will-fall
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - Eternal Hope by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3716-eternal-hope
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - Carefree by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3476-carefree
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - Clean Soul by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3514-clean-soul
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - Dream Culture by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3675-dream-culture
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - Lone Harvest by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3990-lone-harvest
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - Undaunted by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4561-undaunted
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright © Anjali Shibu 2016. All rights reserved.