Interactive Narratives in State of Presence and the Choose Wisely Festival
ENGLISH | SVENSKA | 日本語
Your choices have an impact. This is a fact of life, but it's not very common to see in the media we consume. This is because in order to have an influence on a story, there must be an element of interactability. We've seen this concept arise with the popular Choose Your Own Adventure books, but in modern day, you're more likely to find branching narratives in the video games you play.
An aerial view of a river system in Iceland taken by Björn Austmar Þórsson. With the water’s stark color, you can see the numerous places where it branches off and reconnects.
The storyline of a choice-based game can look much like a river system in reverse. The mouth is where the narrative starts, then with every decision, the river splits off. There may be points where the story reconnects, but that doesn’t change that the path you took to reach an end has multiple possibilities and no route is guaranteed to finish at the same conclusion.
The event cover for the Choose Wisely Festival, provided by Studio Ephua with artwork from NumiRen.
The Choose Wisely Festival is an event hosted by Studio Ephua that's designed to highlight this writing structure and celebrate the works that have ventured into it. This festival takes place on Steam, the largest online distributor for PC games, from December 8th to December 15th, 2025. The event page will feature a "curated selection of discounted classics, up and coming demos, and broadcasts," all of which revolve around choice-based games with branching narratives.
Harmony Frontiers announced State of Presence’s participation in the Choose Wisely Festival with this image, which uses visual assets for the event provided by Studio Ephua and artwork of the game’s protagonist from drawnbymabel.
Our own State of Presence, a point-and-click visual novel that toys with the concept of existence and physicality, is a title set to appear in said event. There are two aspects of this game that affect where the narrative deviates: dialogue choices selected during the main storyline and actions taken during the point-and-click segments. With both, even the most minor of decisions can also influence what occurs down the line, whether it's changing how the main character's behavior leans or what interactions you'll have access to in the future. Ultimately, it is how the player controls Kacper that determines what narrative experience they're going to have.
This sort of story structure also has an effect on the development process. With gameplay that has reconnecting routes, you have to account for the variation in player knowledge based on which scenes they have and haven’t seen. Regardless of how far players get with characters in their conversations and side storylines, how that character is presented in the main storyline must still feel applicable to the player’s playthrough experience. Not only this, but the developers must also be aware of all potential gameplay choices so that even the most avid players won’t run into gameplay issues if they decide to repeat the same action every opportunity they get.
There are, of course, plenty of other little details that come into play, but oftentimes, they only cross your mind when you encounter them. To delve further into what it’s like being involved with such a narrative-heavy project, the State of Presence developers were asked questions about their personal experiences with working on the game. The following are the responses received from members of the team.
Please introduce yourself and tell us what you contribute to the project!
Mx. RuK: Hello! I’m Mx. RuK, but people call me by all sorts of names. I’m a Project Leader for State of Presence and I also do all of the narrative design, scene direction, and assistant sprite work for the game. Just about everything for this title has passed through me at one point or another, and I can only hope that with my contributions, I’ve been able to combine everyone’s efforts into one cohesive production!
Hanako: Hello! I'm Hanako and I am one of the Project Leaders and Co-editors of State of Presence!
Keeper Scripts: Hey I'm Keeper Scripts, or just Keep. I'm the scriptwriter for the project. I turn the scene notes into the written scripts for the main story, conversations, character arcs, and other interactions. Writing has always been a passion and hobby of mine and I'm really glad that the State of Presence team has given me an opportunity to work on a project like this.
Stardust Daydreamer: Hi! I'm Stardust Daydreamer. I’ve helped with script editing and developing the characters for State of Presence, and I'm also Suzette's VA!
What do you hope to convey with your work for State of Presence?
Mx. RuK: The story elements of the game don’t necessarily have one big overarching message, but subtle interactions and realizations that lead the characters to grow and develop over time. I want players to reflect on moments like these and either be able to see themselves or better understand the people around them. After all, art imitates life, and there’s so much of our lives included in this world we’ve all created.
Hanako: I want to explore the process of healing from grief, but not in the usual way it's portrayed. Often in media, grief can be treated as a basic character arc. A tragedy happens, a character is sad, and then after a period of time, they're okay. I feel that in real life, the process is a lot more nuanced and a lot messier. I want to explore how grief doesn't follow strict stages, but comes in waves, hitting hard months, or years after the event, even if it feels like it's behind you. I also want to show the slow, difficult, and, frankly, beautiful journey of figuring out who you are when the people and bonds you once defined yourself by are gone.
Keeper Scripts: Before I joined State of Presence, a lot of work was put into making the characters distinct and unique. I hope to represent each of them and their experiences respectfully and in a way that makes them memorable for the players. There's a lot going into this and a lot of unique moments to see, so I hope to keep people interested enough to playthrough a few times and see the different routes and relationships that exist in the game. No two runs will be the same with the gifting, conversation, and character arc mechanics.
Stardust Daydreamer: This is a hard question to answer... I guess with Suzette, since I voice her, I want to convey not only the struggles she faces and the ways that her ADHD, and ADHD in general, can be genuinely disabling, but I also want to show her positivity and optimism and love for the world and the people around her. I want to convey both the difficulties and the good things.
What’s your favorite part about being on the team?
Mx. RuK: I love seeing and hearing the team’s reactions to progress. There’s nothing like sitting in a meeting and fawning over a beautiful art piece together or being able to tell someone what an amazing job they’ve done. I seriously appreciate everyone that’s stuck around through our game’s development. I don’t know if State of Presence would have the same spark without them!
Hanako: I'm really fond of how we handle the editing process, thanks to the culture of casual, yet constructive feedback that we've developed amongst ourselves. Writing for games can be tricky; things need to sound natural, while fitting a character's unique voice, while also delivering crucial lore information. Instead of being all serious all the time, we joke around with each other a lot, which creates an atmosphere where there’s zero fear of sounding silly or being wrong. That camaraderie is why we work together so well. We're constantly polishing the dialogue together, catching awkward phrasing and out of character moments and reworking them to be even stronger, and creating a richer and deeper story.
Keeper Scripts: I really like working with Ruka, Hanako, and Star. I only directly deal with the scripts, but since we're normally working on things at the same time in voice chat, I like getting a look at other elements and trying to lend my two cents. They all have more experience with game dev than me, so I like getting a peak at the other elements that go into the game and helps me learn more about game design.
Stardust Daydreamer: I like working with the other people here on different parts of the project. It's nice to be able to talk to others about what you're passionate about, and I like that I'm able to help out.
What do you personally like about the game so far?
Mx. RuK: The characters… I cannot stop thinking about the characters. Even when I’m not writing, I think about them as people and what they’ve been through and how those experiences impact them now. I’ve done my best to make them feel as real as possible, and through Keeper’s script, it’s like they’re truly brought to life.
Hanako: What excites me about this project is the way it blends the supernatural with modernity in such a way that makes you honestly forget. That feeling of forgetting, where the paranormal becomes normal, is what sets the stage and opens the path for the players and for us, the developers, to explore Kacper's journey. I love that the game setting is low-key, slice of life, and saturated in nostalgia; it's incredibly satisfying to work in a setting that's woven into my own childhood, making the environment feel authentic and lived-in.
Keeper Scripts: Izaak and Suzette are the two characters I enjoy writing the most, so I really like getting to write their scenes especially. They're very fun characters and it makes for some more dynamic events. I also like the way that the supernatural elements blend with everyday reality that you'll see in the game. It's fun to think about and implement how these characters engage with their worlds.
Stardust Daydreamer: I like several of the characters that are in the game; I have an obvious bias towards Suzette, but Kacper, Sakuya, and Mikhail are all really interesting too!
What do you think players will enjoy the most?
Mx. RuK: I don’t know! We’ve really jam-packed this game with as much content as possible so that it could be a chill experience without lacking things to do. I’m biased in that I find the story and characters the most interesting, but with the game’s mechanics, you could also say there’s elements of time management and exploration in a way. Everyone’s going to experience State of Presence differently based on their gameplay priorities and I think that’s part of the appeal, too!
Hanako: I think players will enjoy the rich variety of characters that Kacper will meet and bond with. The rest of the cast is not just here for scenery, they are the heart of our game. There are plenty of conversations, both serious and silly, between our characters for players to explore; the lighthearted banter provides a reprieve in between moments of deep emotional weight and vulnerability. Every interaction lets the player discover and understand each character even more, making the bonds they form much more meaningful.
Keeper Scripts: I think they'll enjoy the character depth. If a character has a sprite, they have a lot of personality and experiences to learn about. You can choose to get really close with a certain character, and potentially still not see every possible interaction, or you can spread your time with a lot of characters and still be left wanting to learn more. It's there, just potentially something for another run.
Stardust Daydreamer: I hope that people enjoy all the little conversations and character arcs we're including in the game! While there's plenty of conflict that Kacper has to deal with, his housemates are all dealing with their own problems too, and I'm excited to see where each character's story ends up!
Any final words for our audience?
Mx. RuK: If you haven’t yet, please check out State of Presence’s Steam page and consider adding it to your wishlist! The demo may not be out yet, but if any of this sounds interesting to you, you can keep an eye on the game through their platform. We post updates on our socials and the project’s Ko-fi page every so often as well! Thank you for reading. We look forward to sharing our game with you!
Hanako: I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who has followed along with us on our journey and supported our dreams so far. We can't wait for you to step into this world, meet our cast of characters, and experience the emotional rollercoaster that is State of Presence. Thank you again for believing in us. We'll see you soon when Kacper's own journey begins!
Keeper Scripts: I never know what to say for questions like this, but I'd say keep an eye on the Steam page and the Harmony Frontiers website. A lot's happening and you're sure to want to be the first to know as things get announced. I hope you enjoy State of Presence!
Stardust Daydreamer: Nope!
And just like the game itself, everyone's differences eventually reconnect as a whole. Objectives and interpretations may vary, but ultimately, we are here to shape, to feel, to love. The State of Presence developers are honing in on the psychological elements of that, where connection and immersion are focal points of the interactive narrative experience, but at the Choose Wisely Festival, the opportunities to make an impact are endless.
Written by Mx. RuK
Edited by Hanako and Keeper ScriptsSpecial thanks to Anita for organizing the event!