For my Games and Learning course, I worked with a team to create Emma’s Story, a choice-based Twine game about social media, filters, body image, and peer approval. As a longtime gamer, I enjoyed moving from playing games to examining how narrative, choices, visuals, and consequences work together to create an interactive experience.
Turning a social-media decision into a playable story
My original concept followed Emma as she decided whether to filter and post a selfie. Her choices explored the tension between authenticity and social approval, including how small online decisions can shape self-perception and influence what others consider normal.
The project was initially broader, but narrowing its focus to filter use and body image gave the story a clearer emotional and learning purpose. Instead of trying to address every form of harm that can occur online, we could examine how a familiar action becomes part of a larger cycle of comparison, validation, and changing expectations.
Designing the player’s relationship with Emma
Our team also considered how the player should relate to Emma. We chose to depict her visually because players were not meant to become Emma, but to understand and guide someone whose experiences might differ from their own.
This decision changed how I thought about perspective in game design. Showing Emma made her a person the player accompanies rather than an empty avatar. The player still influences what happens, but the story asks them to attend to Emma’s situation, emotions, and social environment rather than projecting themselves into her place.
Reading and choosing as game mechanics
We learned that reading can function as a game mechanic. In a choice-based story, the player is not simply reading information and then clicking a button. They are interpreting tone, noticing social cues, anticipating consequences, and deciding which details matter.
Meaningful choices should also reveal more than an individual character’s preferences. Emma’s decisions occur within wider social systems: platform norms, beauty standards, peer reactions, and the visible approval attached to likes and comments. The strongest choices therefore did not reduce the issue to whether Emma made a “good” or “bad” decision. They showed why each option might feel reasonable and what pressures shaped it.
What beta testing changed
During beta testing, we received feedback from players with different perspectives, including a therapist. The therapist encouraged us to show more of Emma’s internal dialogue so players could better understand the thoughts and emotions behind her choices.
That feedback exposed an important weakness in the earlier design: consequences alone could show what happened to Emma, but not necessarily how she interpreted what was happening. Adding internal dialogue made her choices more emotionally legible and helped the story avoid presenting body-image concerns as a simple cause-and- effect lesson.
Creating a thoughtful game requires more than designers and developers.
Contributions from people across fields can make an interactive experience more authentic, responsible, and emotionally meaningful. The therapist’s feedback did not merely polish the game. It changed what information players needed in order to understand Emma with greater care.
From player to designer
Moving from player to designer gave me a deeper appreciation for educational games and strengthened my interest in creating experiences that encourage empathy, reflection, and critical thinking. Games do not become educational simply because they contain a serious topic. Their learning potential comes from how perspective, choices, feedback, and consequences are designed to make players examine what they notice and why they decide.