the spy/slaying fiction
Disruption and transgression in Queered Game Identities

ricardo quiza suarez

Project Description

Slaying Fiction, my thesis project, explores the translation of biographical narratives into digital games to build and express queer identities, drawing from games as case studies, queer theory and autoethnography methods. The Spy, my exhibited game prototype, exemplifies my research / making. A Visual Novel game, The Spy uses autoethnography to inspire its story settings and themes, building on aspects of my identity and past to (re)create a storytelling graphical adventure game. The game illustrates themes of transgression, disruption, oppression, and liberation in queered identities intertwined to processes of disclosure.

The narrative of The Spy follows two protagonists, The Child and The Spy, each exploring reality and fictional scenarios respectively. It builds a narrative interplay between biography, allegory, fact, and fiction, serving as a base for exploring queer theory concepts: Failure, personal narratives, negative emotions, rejection and temporality. These are key elements upon which game mechanics or logics are built and that the narrative enhances. They align with one of my project's goal: To convey the potential of games using allegorical / metaphorical personal storytelling as a narrative base.

While creating The Spy, I designed my own autoethnographic process. I wrote the same biographical data in three different styles. This retelling translates my story from facts into fiction, each fueling the game. Fiction employs metaphors, feelings, thoughts, songs and mythos to craft imaginative game sceneries, settings, objects, characters and interactions. It manifests in-game through: soliloquy, object oriented ontology, no-good endings, exploration / discovery, no-agency choices and environmental storytelling.