HIGH SCHOOL STORY, BOOKS 1-3
Choices: Stories You Play
"Welcome to high school! Will you study hard, or hardly study? Don't get too busy... Homecoming is right around the corner!"
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High School Story is a visual novel published in Pixelberry Studios' Choices: Stories You Play, and the main project I've worked on throughout my game writing career. I worked as the book lead for all three books in the series, which meant that I was the one responsible for making sure the creative vision was realized, and the point of contact between the writing teams in other departments. All of this was in addition, of course, to writing and editing chapters along with the team.
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As the title suggests, the game takes place at a high school, and follows a year in the life of a sophomore as he or she participates in extracurriculars, fights off school rivals and bullies, and of course, finds love. Players are given the choice between three different after-school activities (cheerleading, band, or a seasonal sport), and five different romance options (two female, three male). Balancing so many different branches was a challenge, but we found clever ways to keep the story streamlined and on track while still making your choices matter.
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High School Story is also a sequel to an earlier game published by Pixelberry (also called High School Story, but it's a separate app as opposed to being part of Choices). A major part of creating this new story, especially in the beginning, was incorporating the backstory and characters from the original game into the new story in a way that would please fans, but not leave out people who were new to the series. We also had to cut out a few details from the original game to accommodate the genre shift from simulation to visual novel (most notably, the idea that the high school was founded by a teenager). But, above all, we made sure that this sequel kept the same wholesome, inclusive, escapist tone fans of the original story knew and loved. This is high school as you dreamed it would be.
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High School Story can be played for free in the app Choices: Stories You Play, available for iOS and Android.
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