Weaving 13 Prototypes into 1 Game: Lessons from Edith Finch

What Remains of Edith Finch is a game with 13 different stories in it, each with its own unique characters, art style and gameplay mechanic. The goal was for each story to feel distinct, but for players to still feel like the stories were part of a cohesive whole, exploring different but related themes. This talk will discuss our approach to prototyping a wide variety of gameplay mechanics while simultaneously adjusting the game's narrative to reflect what it felt like to play the game, based on a mix of playtesting and guesswork, and how we kept changing the game as we discovered more about what were making while we made it.