OVERVIEW

At the Edge of Everything was created over the course of 11 days with a small team. We wanted to create a short two-player TTRPG that focused on memory and an emergent melancholic affect that arises naturally from the gameplay and not explicitly in rules, setting, or narrative.

We initially planned to have a much more direct interaction with memory, prototyping a number of gameplay mechanics that simulated progressive memory loss, but quickly discovered that this approach was a bit heavy handed and actually detracted from the affective experience. Then, we had the idea to use watercolor as a storytelling medium for the process of recalling memory and letting it fade.

Over the next two days, we rapidly prototyped and playtested a number of versions of the game, ending up with a short 1-1.5 hour game where players create two characters collaboratively by painting memories on the same canvas and then sharing them from various perspectives ("I," "you," "we"), and then emulating the 'fading' of these memories by washing the paint away with excess water.

After our successful playtests, we set about creating a rulebook and more structured version of the game that could be played without one of the designers facilitating. Writing the rulebook and designing the mechanics was my primary responsibility in this project. 

Writing this rulebook posed a number of interesting challenges for me. The rulebook had to effectively communicate the rules and mechanics of this game, but also facilitate and enhance the affective space that At the Edge of Everything inhabits. I ended up creating a "guide" system, where the more experienced player (or a random player if both players are new) reads portions of the rulebook aloud throughout the game, creating an approximation of a facilitator for the game while not intruding on the intimate play space created between the two players throughout the game. Additionally, I incorporated aspects of repeated actions and passages in the rules to enhance the ritual aspect of the game, and deliberately planned out moments of quiet and moments of noise throughout the game -- most of the game is played silently, so the moments when the players do talk were all the more important. 

I also was very specific in my writing style, making sure to use language and phrasing that enhanced the calm, quiet environment and also encouraged a no-judgement play experience, making sure less experienced painters, storytellers or improvisers would still be comfortable opening up and creating collaboratively in this game. On top of this, I included a number of elements and emergent mechanics that we discovered in our playtests into the rules, such as modifying the mandatory final washing step to be a optional one, asking the players if they are ready to let go or feel like they need to hold on. Additionally, in our playtests, we noticed that some players felt a need to express boundaries or concerns before playing, or felt nervous about their ability to dynamically generate characters, so I added an appendix with character creation aids, safety tools, and a few other extended options for playing this game.

At the Edge of Everything has proved an extremely potent affective storytelling tool. In all of our playtests, we have seen players, both those familiar with and new to TTRPGs and improvised storytelling, create beautiful, intimate, and melancholic stories, and have had near universally positive feedback to this project. We are really excited about the affective power of watercolor painting and the play with memory that we have built into this game, and are excited to explore it further. We hope to continue development into a v2.0, refining the play experience and creating a short run of professionally printed versions that we will distribute locally.

The current v1.0 of At the Edge of Everything lives as a single physical copy in the Weston Game Lab at the University of Chicago (pictured below) and in a digital edition, available here.