Ishmael

Ishmael is a title featured at IndieCade 2017.

About Ishmael
Ishmael is a multimedia-enhanced hypertext game about perpetual cycles of displacement and violence, as seen through the lens of a child. The game tells the story of a young Palestinian boy and the experience that sets him on the seemingly inescapable path towards bloodshed.

Ishmael sets itself apart from other Twine games with its extensive crafting of multimedia elements to create a more holistic and immersive interactive experience than is typically encountered in hypertext games. Art and photos are used throughout the game, as background pieces, and (towards the end) as key elements of the interactive storytelling itself. The game also makes extensive use of diegetic ambient sound, which is introduced at a significant juncture halfway through the story. Finally, the game employs a number of interactive javascript components that are not typical of hypertext fiction, and draws on some conventions and expectations from parser-based interactive fiction. In these ways Ishmael attempts to push at the boundaries that define the distinctions between ""hypertext story,"" ""interactive fiction,"" and ""videogame."

Screenshots
Coverage of Ishmael on the IndieCade wiki!