City Set Sail
The opening splash screen of the experience
An example of the UI of the experience
The basic view throughout the experience. Pictured here is a bird's eye view of the city
An example of the further information available for each location
An example of the experience warning the player that a story event has occurred
An example of the narrative's writing
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City Set Sail is an interactive narrative experience designed from the ground up to tell a story of Auckland in the 23rd century. It plunges the familiar urban environment into a flooded cyberpunk dystopia we never thought could happen here. Explore the familiar roads-turned canals, read about how the city evolved into what it is in the year 2253, and follow the lives of three separate people just trying to scrape out their own lives in Auckland, in spite of each other.
City Set Sail was created as a more interactive alternative to the standard visual novel formula, while still maintaining the deep worldbuilding and narrative progression of classic reading. It is meant to be explored, not rushed, and is intended to fully immerse the reader in the world that I created. It also aims to create an environment that people familiar with the location would think is impossible, but in actual fact is a harsh reality in cities and societies not too far from New Zealand. To this end, City Set Sail is also partially based on the true stories of a person currently living that life abroad, and their added influence on the project serves to drive home the idea that this is real.
City Set Sail was displayed in the Colab Studio of the Auckland University of Technology and was created during my third year of study.
