Who Can Tell The Truth?
A DIY mini-game: one accident, four perspectives, many truths.
Category
Duration
Belongs
Tools
Project Summary
Project Overview
I began by defining the narrative concept: retelling a traffic accident from multiple perspectives. To prototype this idea, I used Bitsy as a minimalist yet flexible platform that allowed me to quickly sketch, test, and refine the environment. I created a tiled street corner scene, placed interactive NPCs, and designed emoji-style animations next to each character to convey their emotions—such as pulsing for anxiety, shaking for anger, or glowing for calmness. These subtle animations gave life to otherwise static sprites and helped players read emotional cues more intuitively.
Each NPC was assigned distinct dialogue reflecting their motivations and perspectives, with the opening line “WHO CAN TELL THE TRUTH?? Don’t believe bias” setting the theme. During playtesting, I discovered that dialogue bubbles were often obscured, so I repositioned NPCs, adjusted camera alignment, and added simple instruction text to guide smoother interactions. Based on feedback, I reinforced the ending with a symbolic marker that directed players toward a closing message: “WHO CAN TELL THE TRUTH?”
This iterative process of sketching, building, testing, and refining not only ensured that the experience functioned technically but also highlighted how Bitsy’s minimal pixel art, text-based interactivity, and dynamic sprite animations can be orchestrated to deliver a persuasive message of empathy and perspective-taking.
"Using the Bitsy format to offer alternative perspectives on the same event is a great idea, and it mostly works quite well in this project. The use of dialogue is particularly accomplished, and it was good to see that you actually planned out and developed the work through some concept sketches and iterations. "
Dr. Liam Gibbons
Lecturer , Minimalist Interactives and Environments
Concept Development
Scene setting: Experience the same event from the perspective of different characters to help players understand the complexity and variety of events.
Game concept: An accident on a street corner
Core idea: Players experience the same event -- a minor traffic accident -- from the perspectives of multiple characters. By exploring the thoughts, emotions, and motivations of each character, you gradually uncover the truth of the entire event, while guiding players to understand how multiple perspectives shape people's perceptions of reality.
Interactive Perspectives
To promote understanding and empathy for the feelings of others by guiding players through a multi-faceted world view.
Players will experience the same event as different characters, such as a minor accident or conflict. Each character has their own unique perspective and motivation, and players explore the way each character thinks, ultimately understanding the complexity and multi-dimensional truth of the entire event.
Event Background
There was a minor accident on a busy street corner. A bicycle collided with a car. The witnesses and the people involved in the accident have different opinions and emotions about the matter. Players recreate events from the perspectives of four different characters as they piece together the complete story.
Characters Setting
Use Bitsy To Build The Environment
Sketch for the scene:
I used emoji animations next to each NPC to express their emotions, and they were all interactive.
Design for NPCs:
The NPCS needs to speak. Add the corresponding sentence in the dialog box.
The home page is set to the scene in the home, with a guide symbol to let the player enter the block. The goal is to make it reasonable for the avatar to appear in the specified location.
Beginning and ending, for the beginning: WHO CAN TELL THE TRUTH?? Don't believe bias
Player Test Development:
I liked the visuals of the Bitsy a lot! The expressions of the character’s emotions through emoji animations were very creative! I was not too sure of the ending of the game, I wonder if the top right sprite is interactable??
Based on feedback from testers that they would block dialogue with NPCS while playing because of the emojis emotion, I updated the details in cat's guided dialogue: Please stand on their left side to communicate. Adjust the position of each NPC to the right so that the avatar can smoothly appear on the left and talk to them.
Maybe you could end the game with a question to ask the audience/user -> reinforce your idea from the title!
I did not add a symbolic symbol to the ending place, but I added a symbol here. When avatar finishes the dialogue with the old neighbour below, it will notice this symbol and go up, so I added the ending link to the symbol, and the text after the jump is as follows: DON’T BELIEVE BIAS!!
The Final looks in Bitsy：
