When Gameplay met Narrative - A Love Story on a Budget
summary
Two-person studio builds Pendulum Swing, a dialogue-heavy, non-combat RPG about prejudice and empathy, shipping three episodes during a 2.5+ year development cycle and finishing the full release in March 2020. Design choices: non-violent mechanics and episodic modular story let the team prioritize hundreds of unique NPCs, hand-written dialogue, and accessible UI while iterating from player telemetry—doubling the tutorial island and adding community-created characters and books. Outcome: episodic releases fund and guide development but increase live-stage polish pressure.
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chapters (15)
- 0:00Start
- 2:25Who are Valiant?
- 3:49Case study: Pendula Swing
- 6:30In Pendula Swing
- 6:59To deliver this idea, what do we need?
- 8:25Our choice
- 9:54No focus on violence
- 11:20Building systems in order of importance
- 12:35Design iteration based on core experience
- 14:08Start adding content
- 14:55Modular story structure
- 17:48Episodic releases
- 19:22Adjusting content
- 20:09Adding content in collaboration with players
- 21:27To summarize
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