I was the designer and writer of That’s a Secret I’ll Never Tell, an interactive narrative that tells an original story set in the world of Gossip Girl.
This “episode” was an exercise in adapting non-interactive media for an interactive format done in 2018. As a fan of the Gossip Girl TV series, I was excited to explore what it would mean to have agency in that world of high-stakes social machinations. I wanted the player to feel cunning and capable, motivated by opportunities to seize status, while also being aware of the ever-present risk of disastrous consequences should they not play their cards right.
I was also inspired by the choice structure seen in games from the studio Telltale Games, where there are good reasons to pick any given response (rather than one obvious “right” or “better” option) and where your dialogue choices influence your relationships with characters and the story at large.
Sydney Rubin 