Shanghai
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Project Description
Piggy's BBQ is an interactive fiction project that immerses players in a surreal dining experience combining elements of psychological horror, mystery, and branching narrative. The project explores how interactive systems can shape a player's perception of causality, trust, and personal responsibility through rules, consequences, and incomplete information.
Rather than presenting a fixed narrative, the experience creates a dynamic relationship between player decisions and system responses. Players must navigate an unfamiliar environment where information is fragmented, characters provide conflicting perspectives, and every choice influences their understanding of the world.
The project investigates a central question:
When a system responds to a player's actions, how do players determine whether an outcome was caused by their own choices, the rules of the system, or the interpretation they construct themselves?
This exploration became an early foundation for my broader research interest in interactive narrative systems — particularly how emerging generative technologies may further blur the boundary between authored content and dynamically created experiences.
Traditional interactive narratives rely on predefined branches written by an author. In Piggy's BBQ, I experimented with creating a system where meaning emerges from the interaction between designed structures and player interpretation.
The project examines:
• How rules influence player behavior and decision-making
• How uncertainty can create emotional engagement
• How players construct narratives from incomplete information
• How systems can create the feeling of consequence, even when outcomes are shaped by underlying structures
These questions later developed into my research interest in generative storytelling systems, where narratives are no longer entirely authored beforehand but emerge through interactions between humans and computational systems.
Players' sanity levels fluctuate based on their choices throughout the experience. Rather than functioning only as a traditional game mechanic, the sanity system acts as a narrative device that changes how players understand events and access different possibilities.
The system creates a relationship between internal state and external narrative: the player's perception of reality gradually shifts depending on previous decisions.
The main storyline contains multiple branches, ensuring that each playthrough develops differently based on player choices.
Instead of offering simple "correct" or "incorrect" paths, the branching structure encourages players to reconsider their previous decisions and question whether different outcomes were caused by their actions or by the hidden logic of the system.
Players navigate a series of mysterious rules governing the restaurant. However, these rules contain varying degrees of truth, deception, and ambiguity.
The experience asks players to interpret information, recognize patterns, and decide which instructions to trust.
This mechanic explores how interactive systems communicate authority and how users develop trust in environments where the underlying logic is not fully visible.
The unsettling atmosphere of Piggy's BBQ — including its strange decorations, unusual customers, and distorted dining experience — creates a world that gradually reveals itself through exploration.
Rather than explaining the story directly, the project uses environmental details and player discovery to construct meaning.
Players begin outside Piggy's BBQ and make their first decision: whether to enter or leave the restaurant.
Their initial choices establish their starting sanity level and influence later interactions.
Players encounter a series of unusual situations, including:
• Choosing whether to dine alone or with another character
• Ordering specific items such as the "Good Good Milk Tea"
• Responding to unexplained events such as mysterious smoke and disappearing dishes
• Interpreting conversations with staff and visitors
Each decision affects future narrative possibilities.
The game offers multiple exploration paths, including investigating the kitchen, encountering the chef, and uncovering hidden secrets.
The experience changes depending on previous choices, sanity level, and interactions with different characters.
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When the player's sanity reaches a critical point, the narrative enters a loop and returns the player to the beginning of the experience.
However, depending on the system state, players may or may not retain awareness of previous events.
This mechanic explores the relationship between memory, repetition, and narrative understanding — questioning whether knowledge gained from previous experiences changes the meaning of future choices.
The story concludes with different endings based on the player's decisions and psychological state.
Possible outcomes include:
• Discovering the hidden truth behind Piggy's BBQ
• Losing one's understanding of reality
• Accepting the logic of the restaurant and becoming part of its system
Rather than defining one correct ending, the project allows players to construct their own interpretation of the experience.
Piggy's BBQ represents an early investigation into how interactive systems generate meaning through participation.
The project established several ideas that continue into my current research:
• Narrative is not only written; it is experienced through interaction.
• Players create personal interpretations from system-generated responses.
• Designed systems can influence feelings of agency, ownership, and responsibility.
These observations informed my later exploration of generative AI systems, where the system itself begins contributing narrative elements, expanding the question from:
"How do players interpret a designed world?"
to:
"How do humans understand ownership and authorship when a world is partially created by an intelligent system?"
Interactive Fiction Design
Narrative System Design
Branching Story Structure
Choice-Based Interaction
Character Design
Worldbuilding
