Historical Williamsburg Living Narrative

Thirteen years ago, Emily Short wrote about a project I was working on: a piece of interactive fiction set in Colonial Williamsburg on the eve of the American Revolution. That project went through a Kickstarter, a doctoral dissertation, and years of on-and-off development. It has had many lives.

Today, Historical Williamsburg Living Narrative is a complete game, and version 1.61 is now available on itch.io.

HWLN is a parser-based interactive fiction experience set on April 19, 1775, the day of Lexington and Concord. You arrive in Williamsburg at 5:30 in the evening as Nathaniel Blake, a merchant from Richmond. The town does not yet know what has happened in Massachusetts, but you can feel the tension. Governor Dunmore is watching the powder magazine. Patrick Henry is making plans. The taverns are full of talk.

What makes this game different from most interactive fiction is that it simulates a living world. There are 315 locations modeled on the actual layout of Colonial Williamsburg. Twenty-two characters move through the town on their own schedules, going about their business whether you are there to see them or not. Time passes. Night falls. Events unfold.

This is not a puzzle game. There is no maze to solve, no dragon to slay. The challenge is one of awareness. Can you be in the right place at the right time? Can you talk to the right people, read the local gazette, and piece together what is happening around you? Can you witness the key event and get your report to the right person before it is too late?

The new v1.61 release includes the full commerce and reputation system introduced in v1.60, with over 100 items, an encumbrance model, and a reputation score that tracks how the town perceives you. Steal from a shop and the constable may come looking for you. Behave honorably and doors open.

There is now a free demo. The demo gives you the full game experience from your arrival at 5:30 PM through midnight. That is six and a half hours of game time to explore the town, meet the characters, visit the taverns, and get a feel for what Williamsburg was like on that spring evening in 1775. If you want to see what happens next, the full game continues through three days of escalating crisis, from April 19 to April 22.

The full version is $4.99. The demo is free. Both are available at:

https://interactivefact.itch.io/hwln

I have been working on this project, in one form or another, since 2012. It started as a question about whether interactive fiction could be an effective tool for historical education. The answer, I believe, is yes. But more than that, it turned into something I care about as a piece of fiction in its own right. Williamsburg in April 1775 was a fascinating place, full of interesting people making difficult decisions. I wanted to put you there. I hope HWLN does that.

I welcome any feedback. If you try the demo or the full game, I would genuinely like to hear what you think.