Keycap Kevin: I just wanted to win a keyboard, now I'm programming an interactive fiction game

When in 2022 the Lego-compatible Pixel keyboard goes live on Kickstarter, I know I want to try it out. As I knew in advance that I wouldn't be using the keyboard for long, I bought it with the intention of gaming it on Digitec Galaxus. At the time, I still didn't know how I was going to do it.

When the keyboard finally arrived, I still had no idea how to proceed. I've already organised several prize draws here on Digitec Galaxus, but I find that clicking on the "enter" button after reading an article isn't enough. What's more, I don't really feel like writing an article on the keyboard. The keyboard owes most of its character to the building bricks. So I want to do something creative.

First idea: stop motion

For me, Lego goes hand in hand with volume animation, or stop motion in English. The cinematic technique involves creating an illusion of movement by taking individual photos of immobile objects and then putting them one after the other. There are many examples of short films or movies of this type on Youtube. I create a storyboard and find out how to proceed. But I have to face facts: it's too much work. What's more, I'd need help, so it wouldn't just be my working time that would be involved.

Second idea: interactive fiction

As I already have a storyboard, I don't want to waste it. In my burst of motivation, I've already bought a Lego set. I want to make the most of it. Later, my eldest son will be able to have it. That's when I came up with the idea of telling the story in pictures on a timeline. I look for a solution in my tool of choice, Flourish, but can't find anything.

Thankfully, Typeform has corresponding capabilities. It allows me to create interactive fiction, images included; just what I need. Unfortunately, I can't integrate it into our website. It's a shame!

But I'm convinced by the idea of telling my story interactively in the form of a game. It would bring my idea to life perfectly: to win the keyboard, you have to complete the game. At the end, I'll hide a message that you'll have to enter as a solution. So I went in search of a suitable programme. In doing so, I come across Ren'Py. It's an interactive fiction programming engine. I can work with text, images and sound; perfect. The engine is based on the Python programming language, which would be easy to learn. Even better!

On YouTube, I can also find a few tutorials. Visual Novel Design convinces me when he reveals the secret of programming:

So all I have to do is copy and paste. As I can see from my first few attempts, it's still a bit more complex, especially as I still have to take photos and rework them in Photoshop. I gave up stop motion film because it was too much effort. And now, for the first time, I'm programming a game; all by myself. Well done! I'll tell you the rest in a future article.