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www.ko-fi.com/levelstory CREDITS Writer & Designer | Danielle Carpenter Writer | Naomi “Bez” Norbez PHOTOGRAPHERS Ileana Da Rin Abe Baali Iwan Shimko Tim Durben Igor Starkov Ann H Bongkarn Thanyakij Brooke Lark Thought Catalog Math Moose Photos Kelli Tungay Vitaliy Paykov
FEATURES 5 // Story Overview 6 // Beauty in Simplicity
Storytelling in video games is getting better and better with age. What began as simple forms of combat, exploration, and journey missions, has evolved into something much more sophisticated than once allowed. No longer are we content to only be concerned with gameplay mechanics. Although gameplay is really important, the gaming community also cares about other attributes such as style, design, musical score, and of course story. As time has passed, video games have steadily begun to provide well crafted stories to accompany their gameplay. But unlike mediums such as the novel or film, video games are not well respected and therefore are not considered to be an art form. They began as a series of objectives for the player to immerse themselves in. It was only as the technology developed that creators began to challenge the mediums original intent. Video games are still tainted with the taboo of mediocrity that many find to be silly and for the immature. This is an outdated notion. Video games, new and old, are important. Stories are important. All stories regardless of the medium are worthy of study. My goal is to examine the stories that exist in classic and modern day video games. Through careful exploration I will analyze these stories just as one would analyze a novel. Is the story well crafted? What themes are at play? How do our characters grow? And ultimately, what attributes of the video game directly contribute to the game’s core narrative? This is Level Story Magazine. WORKS CITED 1. 2. 3.
Webster, Andrew. 2017. “Florence Is a Game about Love from the Designer behind Monument Valley.” The Verge. The Verge. October 24, 2017. https://www.theverge. com/2017/10/24/16533918/florence-iphone-game-announce-ken-wong-interview. Remington, Kate. “Kevin Penkin’s Intimate, Conversational Soundtrack For ‘Florence’.” WSHU Public Radio: NPR News & Classical Music. WSHU, June 21, 2018. https://www. wshu.org/post/kevin-penkins-intimate-conversational-soundtrack-florence. “RENT - Look Pretty and Do As Little as Possible: A Video Essay.” YouTube video. “Lindsay Ellis,” December 31, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0qfFbtIj5w.
8 // The Sounds of Love 10// Style Over Substance 12 // Life Moves Forward, And You With It 14 // Overcoming Our Fear to Create
The ideas presented by the writers in this magazine belong to them individually and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of everyone who contributed. © Level Story Magazine, 2020
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Creator Letter
It is Okay to Feel Conflicted About a Story When trying to gather my thoughts on Florence, I admittedly had a hard time. My ideas were outlined and formulated, but there was one problem - many of my ideas conflicted with each other. It took me a few days to compromise with myself and realize that having conflicted feelings about a story is not bad. In today’s age of consumption for content creation, it is very easy to listen to a creator say one thing and then point this out to them when they later say something contradictory. I get it. The urge to run to the comments section on YouTube and point out these idiosyncrasies is something I’ve learned to calm within myself. But it has also placed a fear of the same thing happening to me. It is lovely, in a way, that I went through this during the Florence issue, as it is a game that focuses on a woman who has been held back most of her life from creating and doing what she loves. My fears were keeping me from actually writing about the game. This game is primarily focused on a love
story. It isn’t some grand narrative or trying to be the next best phone game around. Sometimes stories can just be simple. It doesn’t escape criticism though, and while I definitely find things to critique, I mostly find Florence to be lovely and heartwarming. This issue is the first of Level Story’s Mini Magazines - “Mini-Mag” for short. Sometimes there are games that I want to talk about but either don’t have strong feelings toward, don’t have much to talk about, or are simply short games that don’t require a full issue. These mini-mags will be released in between regular issues of the magazine and won’t have any extra content that exists in a typical issue of Level Story. Florence is a short and sweet game and I am glad to be able to talk about it in this first mini-mag. If you are someone who hasn’t played the game yet, please do so. It doesn’t cost much and is roughly around thirty minutes long. This game is worth your time.
Danielle Carpenter Creator & Publisher
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Story Overview Florence Yeoh is 25 years old living on her own in the city. Her day to day routine is very monotonous - scrolling through social media on her commute, working at a job she does not enjoy, having the same conversations over and over with her stringent mother, and ending the day with dinner and television. One day she finds an old box of crafts she made when she was seven years old. Seeing this brings back fond memories of her creativity. She recalls her strict mother and the friends she lost as she grew older. All of this causes her to sit and reflect. One day while walking through the city and listening to music, her phone dies. When she removes her headphones, she hears beautiful music that makes her feel so light that she could practically fly. The music turns out to be coming from a cello, played by a man on the street. Clearly attracted to him, Florence returns home and fondly thinks of the cellist. Later on another day, she sees him on the street while riding her bike. The sight of him makes her crash. He goes over to her to make sure she is okay. His name is Krish and they exchange phone numbers. The two go on their first few dates and slowly but surely it grows easier to converse with one another. Krish tells Florence that he dreams of becoming a famous cellist. Florence begins to wonder what her dreams are. She looks at her old crafts from when she was seven and realizes that art makes her happy. After visiting Krish’s apartment, Florence finds an application to the Academy of Music and encourages Krish to follow through with it. She begins to doodle Krish, returning to her old hobby. She and Krish enjoy their time together - skateboarding, visiting art galleries, meeting Krish’s family, and seeing a band perform. Florence hangs pictures from their adventures on her cubicle wall. Then, one day while grocery shopping, the two have their first fight. They leave the store angry. Eventually, they talk it
out and forgive one another. Later that night, they cook a meal together. Six months go by and they decide to take their relationship to the next step. Krish moves in with Florence. She makes room for him, putting some of her things away in a storage box. Krish auditions at the Academy of Music and gives Florence a present - paint. The two are very happy. Life is good. Florence wakes and eats breakfast with Krish. Now on her commute, Florence texts Krish instead of looking on social media. Work feels much more manageable. At home, they cook dinner together. He practices the cello and she paints him. They fall asleep in each other’s arms. After a year, the once bliss now has become routine. Krish is struggling with his music career. Work is miserable. Florence’s mom is still giving her a hard time. They no longer cook together but eat take out in front of the TV. Krish has become bitter about his music while Florence’s paint gets covered up by paperwork and junk. The two later have a heated argument, saying things without even thinking and talking over one another. Something has changed and they no longer feel as if they fit together like they once did. They continue to drift apart and eventually break up. Krish puts his stuff in boxes and moves out. Florence throws away her board with the photos of their adventures. Now that Krish is out of her life, there is an empty space that she can’t quite fill. Then, she finds the paint Krish bought her and she begins to create art. Life continues and Florence paints often. She joins a sketch club, reconnects with her mother, and begins selling her artwork online. Soon, she is able to quit her job to pursue a career in art. While packing up her desk, she finds a photo of her and Krish and looks at it fondly. She later has an art show and many people show a genuine interest in her work. Florence is happy.
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Beauty in Simplicity
Written by Danielle Carpenter
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Florence is a short narrative mobile phone game about large adult problems and experiences. The game follows Florence, a 25-year-old living on her own and tired of her tedious day to day routine. Although the gameplay is oftentimes simplistic in execution (i.e. basic math problems, piecing a puzzle together), it is this simplicity that beautifully establishes character and is used to illustrate beats of the story. The game was developed for people who don’t play a lot of games, and creator Ken Wong says, “I was interested in making non-violent games. I think violent games are great, I grew up with them, but there are enough of those in the world. And I wanted to explore what kind of stories and what kind of dynamics we can get without resorting to violence.” 1 Made with non-gamers in mind and specifically interested in different methods of gameplay when compared to the majority of games, Florence takes a simple but effective approach to tell it’s story. While the game is about adult life and the trials and tribulations that come with that, the gameplay is far from what is associated with being an adult. The game requires the player to fit puzzle pieces together, color in objects, place shapes, and more. At its most complex, the player is required to solve simple math problems. These actions are mostly associated with early development learning, spanning from birth to early elementary school. Florence’s story deals heavily with loneliness, relationships, and feelings of insecurity, things which young children will not yet have experienced in the same capacity. The characters go to work, argue, compromise, and do adult activities. Yet this disconnect between adult story and childlike gameplay doesn’t feel disconnected by any means. In fact, it feels very appropriate for the medium. Florence presents difficult and very true to life experiences and problems and has the player experience them through easy and manageable ways. One
example of this is when Florence and Krish have their first conversation, the player has to place pieces of a puzzle together. The pieces start out smaller and it takes longer to put them together. As they get to know each other better, the pieces become larger and easier to place together, illustrating how well they are connecting. When Florence and Krish argue, the player has to do the same thing but instead the pieces are jagged and it is not as intuitive to fit them together. When the conflict grows more heated and the characters are saying things they may not mean, all the player has to do is drag the speech bubble in the designated area, requiring very little thought or work. After all, it is easy to say something hurtful or something we do not mean in the heat of battle. After the two have a big argument, the player is supposed to drag ripped up pieces of paper to form a picture. The problem is, the pieces are constantly drifting apart. No matter if the player puts the paper together, like Florence and Krish’s relationship, it will always be moving apart. These small gameplay details are not extraordinary by any stretch of the imagination, yet they do a lot to illustrate what is going on in the story. Though at first glance Florence may come off as lacking, especially for those who play games regularly, it contains a lot of depth in ways that aren’t always acknowledged in video games. Just because something is simple or small doesn’t automatically make it undeserving. Through its simplistic gameplay, Florence is able to illustrate real problems in quick and manageable ways. In some capacity, the game is putting life into a different perspective, and this can help all of us when tackling our own adult experiences and problems.
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The Sounds of Love On Florence’s Soundtrack
Written by Naomi “Bez” Norbez
Florence is a beautiful game. For me, one of the most beautiful parts of it is the music. Kevin Penkin, the composer, did an absolutely fantastic job on this, as did all the musicians and sound mixers involved. So I will therefore gush about the soundtrack. Hold on tight. Since Florence mainly communicates with pictures and symbols, the music does a lot of the talking, and it has a lot to say. This is discussed in an interview with WSHU Public Radio where Penkin states, “There were times where we would use melody as a catalyst, to have these characters speak to each other.” 2 And speak they do, all throughout the game. A simple tune serves as Florence’s (the character’s) theme. This tune is elaborated upon multiple times throughout the game, given depth and breath for each situation. For example, at the start we hear it in the background as she goes throughout her day. When going through her memories, we hear a version of Florence’s theme, and the notes go down the piano as we dive into her past. Later, when she and Krish are dating, her tune intertwines with Krish’s cello. And, most importantly, Florence’s theme is nearly always played by the piano. This instrument represents her throughout the game.
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In fact, both she and Krish are given an instrument in the background. Penkin elaborates on this in the same interview, saying, “We only started talking about a couple of key things. Intimacy was one of them, and we also started talking about the representation of characters through instruments - mainly the two main characters - Florence, and Krish, the love interest of the game. So talking about how a piano and a cello can interact with each other was a big topic of early conversation.” 2 This is a huge part of the game - Florence as piano, and Krish as cello. When Krish plays cello in the park, it starts out with just his instrument playing. But as Florence is entranced by the music, her instrument, the piano, plays with him. And during the crash, the cello plays loud when Florence speaks to Krish, as if she is being overcome by his presence, and her crush. When they go on their date, the cello and piano start to hesitantly combine at first, but as Florence and Krish get to know each other, they come together, melody and harmony, just as the two lovers do as they get closer. But their closeness doesn’t always last. Sometimes the music uses sharp and flat notes to show that things are not right, that they are distorted. This happens several times in Florence - first during the Grocery chapter, where Krish and Florence get in a small argument. Then in the Erosion chapter, when they start becoming distant from each other. Finally, this occurs in the Flight chapter, with some deviations - major notes dominate the argument, but minor notes poke in from the background, highlighting the wrongness of it all. And then the breakup happens, and Krish moves out. I love that the game keeps its string instruments in the background of the music, instead of purely using Florence’s theme now that she’s alone. Even once you’ve let go of a person, your time with them doesn’t just go away. Florence may not have her boyfriend anymore, but that time with Krish is still a part of her now, part of her life experience, and the music reflects that. Finally, there’s something beautiful about the music being performed live. Penkin reminisces, “Hearing the live musicians play was so rewarding because it was really honest, and knowing that was about to replace a fairly standard synth cello, and knowing that people were going to listen to it and have a very profound reaction to it—that was a satisfying moment for me.” 2 The live music makes the game feel closer to reality, something more raw and human than an electronic synth. And I think that’s perfect for such a human story. These are just a few notes on Florence’s amazing soundtrack. Penkin makes the music speak for these characters, and throughout the game, the instruments sing the story to us.
NAOMI “BEZ” NORBEZ
is a interactive fiction developer and writer. You can find his work at https://norbez.itch.io/, and talk to them on Twitter @NaomiNorbez.
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Style Over Substance Written by Danielle Carpenter
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In her video essay about Rent, Lindsay Ellis discusses how the Broadway musical and subsequent film adaptation dresses itself up as defiant art but does very little in the way of actually defying anything to bring about the actual change it desires. In other words, the story looks pretty but does as little as possible. 3 While Rent is a whole topic in itself, I bring it up (and Ellis’s essay) because much in the same way that movie left me feeling empty after watching it, Florence contained a similar emptiness when I finished the game. Now the two stories contain no similarities by any stretch of the imagination, nor is Florence a bad or pretentious game. Rent is attempting to do something far larger than Florence and crashes far harder. But I think in a similar way to Rent, Florence presents itself as a narrative that holds much more complexity than it actually follows through with. It has a beautiful art style and mesmerizing music, but a flat narrative. The game looks pretty but does very little. It can be very easy to fall into the trap of dressing a story up but giving it no substance. The Disney live action remakes do this all the time when they attempt to critique the past of their company without actually doing anything meaningful or interesting. They trick the audience to believe otherwise with celebrity casting and nostalgia. While the Disney live action remakes are a more cynical example, they fit into this discussion. Florence is a game about love. Beneath the initial plot the game also seems to have themes about creativity and loneliness in the digital age. At its most basic, Florence begins the game unhappy, finds love, loses love, and reignites what makes her happy. The final shot is of Florence gazing out the window of her art studio, doing what she loves and everything is right with the world. Florence is “designed for an audience that doesn’t play games a lot and maybe feels some trepidation about playing games,” says the game’s creator, Ken Wong. 1 Phone games, more often than not, are designed as systems with quick and easy level design and continuous reward. Because of this, it is very easy to get sucked into a phone game because it doesn’t require a lot of thinking and the player doesn’t need to invest a lot of time with it (and subsequently ends up investing far more time than they ever anticipated). If given the choice to take out a book or play a phone game on the bus, most will choose the phone game. Florence is not like these games, at least not in the way of designing itself to keep the player coming back for more, only to be overloaded by ads. Rather, it exists alongside these games as short and painless. It doesn’t give the player the same shot of dopamine as Bejeweled, but it promises a short experience which appeals to our fast paced lifestyle. Thus in one regard, Florence is an attempt to heighten the mobile phone game experience from something more than a mindless way to pass the time. Wong says, “We don’t
have words in the game. There’s no dialogue or narration. It plays out a bit like a comic without words, which I’m a fan of, but also like a silent movie or a music video, where you’re going to be reading a lot into body language and how these characters move throughout the world and looking through their possessions.” 1 Wong is interested in non-traditional forms of storytelling, and this is not a bad thing. Exploring ways in which we tell stories is very positive. Yes Florence is a beautiful game. It’s use of silence is clever, the art style is wonderfully minimalist, and the musical score is beautiful. These make up Florence as a whole, but I also think they can distract from the story’s flaws. Aesthetically, it draws us in, but these aesthetics can distract from what is really going on. For all of the nuance that seems to be happening within the gameplay, the design, and the musical score, the story is simply lacking. It fails to move beyond anything but a love story, and there is nothing wrong with that at first glance, but the game is clearly trying to do more and never follows through. It plants seeds throughout the story such as Florence’s poor relationship with her mother and her loneliness. But these seeds are planted and ignored, never allowed to grow or have any significant meaning in the context of the story. The final moments of the game give off a sense that everything is good now for Florence and that is it. Her relationship with her mother is mended, she is no longer sad and lonely, and she now has a successful career. She was once unhappy and now she is happy. It implies that growth leads to some magical place of happiness that doesn’t exist. The game longs to be a very human story but ends on a fairy tale note. Much like posts on social media, and mobile phone games, Florence feels like it ends on the shallow note in which it sought to critique. It looks pretty but doesn’t have much to say. As a love story, Florence is very simple and focused. The ending is not bad due to it being happy. I promise I’m not that cynical. Indeed the happy ending feels earned in the context of said love story. Florence falls in love and when that love ends, she learns to move on. But it is almost too simple. It fails to build on its own plot threads. Florence isn’t just moving on but quitting her job, having a stable enough art career to quit said job, and also mends her relationship with her mother. Everything good happens all at once, as if it is that simple. It is as if the problems were just that easy. All the while, pretty music plays over top the game and it is supposed to feel good. Though Florence is not a bad game, it seems to be trying to do more than it actually achieves. It wants to have its cake and eat it too. While it is stylistically beautiful, this style does a good job at covering up where the game’s story fell flat. Just as a phone game exists to make us feel as if we accomplished something without doing much at all, Florence can feel the same way. It is a beautiful game, but it doesn’t follow through on many of the things it is trying to say.
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Life Moves Forward, And You With It
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I
I remember reading somewhere that a breakup’s emotional pain is equivalent to the physical pain of breaking an arm. But an arm heals in two weeks. It took twice that long to get over my own breakup. It was during that time when I decided to seek out Florence, a game I’d heard of before, and had gained critical fame, but I felt no need to experience - until I needed it during those times. So I watched a no-commentary playthrough on YouTube. It was just as good as everyone had claimed, and a lot of it resonated with me - those early feelings of romance, the highs and lows of love, and the erosion that can happen in a relationship if we’re not careful in maintaining it. However, I think Florence has a fatal flaw within its story. It may not be a big deal to most, but I think it’s a pretty significant gap. And this is, we don’t see who decided that the breakup should occur. We don’t see who looked at this crumbling relationship, and said to the other person, “Maybe this isn’t working.” That’s a significant moment in a relationship, one that starts an avalanche of feelings. I wish Florence had told me who decided to release the landslide, and stop ignoring the obvious. It takes insight to even want to initiate a breakup - I wish I knew who saw that crisis. Even without this, the game is still extremely solid, and relatable. And maybe it’s just my feelings talking for my academic side. But I wish I knew the answer. Even with this, Florence brings a beautiful end to the main character’s relationship. And it shows something significant, something that we can bring away into our own lives, and be better for it. The best part of Florence is that it doesn’t end after Krish breaks up with our titular main character. Because after a breakup, life must go on - time stops for no one, after all, not even for grief. And I appreciate that the game was willing to show how life feels after it all falls apart.
I relate most strongly to the longing that’s depicted after Krish leaves. Looking to your side to see nobody there, nothing but space - there’s a certain emptiness in that. After my breakup, I longed to fill that emptiness with someone, but I resisted the pull because I was wise enough to know it was temporary. Eventually, you do learn to let go and move forward with your life, something Florence shows excellently in its Let Go chapter. You must let go of the idea of your former relationship, and embrace your new singleness, in order to move forward. And you may find something valuable in the time you spent with your ex. That’s exactly what happens in the game. During the relationship, Krish exudes artistic passion for his cello, a passion that rubs off on Florence. She had already been thinking about her old love of art, and when Krish enters her life, she begins drawing again. It’s shown that she draws so much, that Krish even buys her a sketchbook and watercolors. Though eventually that passion fades away, after the breakup Florence is able to bring it back. She becomes a successful independent artist, and that’s the note the game ends on. Life goes on and the experiences you have in a relationship (and a breakup) can bring value to other aspects of your life. You can bloom even after such hurt. When everything looks over, joy can still come through. And I’m grateful that the game showed me that, when I needed it most.
NAOMI “BEZ” NORBEZ
is a interactive fiction developer and writer. You can find his work at https://norbez.itch.io/, and talk to them on Twitter @NaomiNorbez.
Written by Naomi “Bez” Norbez
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Overcoming Our Fear to Create Written by Danielle Carpenter
There is a scene in Chapter 2 of Florence when Florence comes across a box of old art projects she had created as a seven year old. She is reminded of her childhood and how happy she was when she was creating. Yet she also remembers the friends she had at that age and how they drifted apart as she grew older and her mother who insisted she focus on a more reliable career than the arts. She wishes that she could regain that creative spirit again. I’ve been there. We’ve all been there, right? As creatives, we all have lost our way some time or another when it comes to our passion. We all have looked back on times when it felt easy to create. We have all sat in front of a computer screen or a piece of paper and wanted to create something but nothing happens. All we can do is rack our brains to try to release what is trapped inside, but we somehow can’t access. It is there, so close that we can practically touch it, but it remains in the shadows. Creating things is hard, and Florence understands this. While the story’s primary focus is on the romance between Florence and Krish, interwoven is a story about Florence learning to create again. At the game’s start, it is clear that Florence is very unhappy with her life. Finding the box of old art projects ignites a spark inside of her and slowly throughout the game she addresses the things that have held her back. Creativity is not always easy. Florence examines many avenues in which creativity can be stifled and repressed. From a young age, her mother did not encourage what she loved. She would rather her daughter put more effort into what is viewed as a solid career. This is something that many creative people have experienced - the war between pursuing your passion and making enough money to live a comfortable life. It isn’t wrong that Florence’s mom wants her daughter to be successful, but in the process it can make someone feel demoralized. Many people, like Florence, experience their parents saying these things at a young age. This idea is internalized - that creativity is
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inherently not worth your time and leaves many people feeling unhappy, as Florence is at the start of the game. But it isn’t just direct experiences like these that can hurt our creativity. Many creative people will experience feelings of inadequacy. Florence loses her friends as she gets older and experiences loneliness everyday in her adult life. Social media doesn’t make things any easier. When we feel as if we are inadequate, or an impostor, it is difficult to move past these negative thoughts and truly make something that is true to ourselves. On top of this, it is easy to become bitter when your creative endeavors don’t go anywhere. Krish goes through this throughout the game. He begins wide eyed and optimistic, but after a year and his passion at a stand still, he is frustrated. This frustration carries over into his personal life with Florence. All of this builds up and can make us afraid to create anything. When Krish gives Florence paint, it gets buried beneath a bunch of stuff. She pushes him to pursue his dream, for fear of actually pursuing her own. Florence returns to her painting after experiencing heartbreak and begins to create more often. The game ends with her creative passion being her full time career. While I have critiqued this ending already in another piece, I think this sense of optimism can bring hope to all of us who struggle with creativity and pursuing creativity in a larger capacity than just sometimes on the weekends. I struggle with creativity all of the time and much of this is rooted in my fear of failure and fear of rejection. We all have something that holds us back. Florence paints a portrait of the obstacles that keep us from creating, and stands firm in the notion that these obstacles aren’t permanent. The game shows us where these obstacles can come from and depicts a positive portrayal of someone overcoming them. It reminds us that we too can move past the things that hold us back.
WWW.LEVELSTORY.NET 15 Image credit: Ileana Da Rin. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives - help stop the spread of COVID-19.
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