Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

The whole game is like one giant flashback, and the players understand it. 

With some doubt in his heart, Dong Zhen continued his adventure. His next hop took him to the night before River married Johnny. 

The two young lovers were in formal attire, chatting beneath the lighthouse with the beautiful moon watching over them. 

It was here that the lighthouse was given its name – Anya. 

Johnny and River made their way into the lighthouse, and ended up on the very top. The glass windows hid their features, but the gentle moonlight cast their shadows towards the audience. 

Here, Johnny taught her how to dance. 

The soft and soothing melody of a piano filled the air, and the two danced slowly, deep into the night. 

Dong Zhen had to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye. This damn game, reminding him how single he was. Romance is so beautiful, I hate it, but I need more. 

While the graphics of the game were not outstanding in the market, the combination of music and atmosphere still helped paint a wonderful picture of love that warms the heart. 

For now, the lingering doubts Dong Zhen had about this game were put aside. And he immersed himself in the mood, casually reminiscing with the chat about past relationships. 

Time progressed in the scene, and the next morning, Johnny and River stood before Anya, and were officially pronounced man and wife. 

Another memory hop, the two doctors found themselves staring at a strange scene. Along the way towards their wedding venue, River stopped by the road and knelt beside a small white rabbit that had become roadkill. 

Her eyes were sad, and her behavior was odd as ever. But Johnny eventually persuaded her to move on and continue on their journey to the lighthouse. 

“Huh, is this the source? Is this why River kept making those origami rabbits? But it doesn’t feel right, feels like this is such a minor thing. Chat, what do you think?”

It was still too confusing. So Dong Zhen carried on. 

At the wedding, everyone was happy. But the chat noticed something off, Johnny’s mother kept calling him by a different name. 

Nicholas, Johnny’s best friend, also pointed this out and expressed his doubts. 

Johnny gave a casual answer: That “Joey” was his grandfather’s nickname and his mother used it to honor the memory of his passing. 

“Joey, huh… There must be something important connected to that name!” Dong Zhen stood from his chair and went offscreen, the sound of rustling was heard and he came back wearing a fancy detective hat and fake monocle prop. It was something he prepared when playing through mystery games in the past. 

The memory hops continued. 

And the two doctors ended up in a period of time where Johnny and River were still just dating. 

The scene took place in a tranquil forest-like area. There were people riding horses around and there was a large stable in a corner.

River, Johnny and even the two doctors had a fun time riding the horses around the tracks. 

This was apparently a form of therapy for River’s condition, recommended by a psychiatrist they had visited not long ago. 

Now, players would finally have the name for the condition of River. 

“Asperger’s Syndrome, so my wild guesses weren’t that wild. But I don’t actually know what it’s about, I only know the name and that it’s a bit like autism? Chat, am I right? Let’s look it up right now.”

The majority of chat was also confused, some having never heard of its existence till now. Dong Zhen searched it up for everyone to see. 

“Symptoms include difficulty in interpersonal communication, stubborn obsession in a single topic of interest, difficulty with facial expressions and craving repetition or routine.”

“Well damn, that’s exactly what we’ve been seeing. This explains a lot of her behavior.” 

But it still didn’t answer the most important questions, such as the meaning behind her behaviors. Dong Zhen could now understand what she was doing, but not why she was doing it. 

Dong Zhen was now fully invested in the mystery, he wanted to know more about Johnny and River. He needed to know the meaning behind the origami rabbits, and their connection to the moon. Why did she give up her treatment to have the house by the lighthouse?

He checked his clock, it’s been almost two hours since he started. Wow, time was flying by. 

He briefly thought back to the massive backlog of requested games for his stream, and contemplated stopping this game and moving on to the next. 

But he didn’t want to. He was in the zone, immersed in the storyline. He glanced at his chat and realized they were in a deep discussion about River’s condition and many were sharing personal stories about family members or friends afflicted by similar conditions. The vibes were good, there was no reason to stop now. 

As the story progressed, the memory hops eventually brought the two doctors into Johnny’s teen years. 

This should be around the time where Johnny and River first met. 

Dong Zhen also noticed the platypus doll with her, the same one that was with her near the end of her life. 

So it seems River brought this doll along for a large portion of her life. It should carry great importance to her. And it was also the conversation starter between Johnny and River. 

With the help of Nicholas, Johnny was pushed over to River. Who was sitting on the school stairs, reading a book. 

Despite his nervousness, he still managed to strike up a conversation with her. 

[ Hello ]

[ Eh… Hello? ]

[ Can you hear me? ]

[ Yes ]

[ Then why didn’t you–… never mind ]

[ Um, that’s a cool platypus you got there. What’re you reading? ]

[ A book ]

[ About platypus? ]

[ No ]

[ Oh… I, er, I think that’s great ]

Johnny looked embarrassed and Dr Neil was cradling his face in his palms from cringing too much. Dr Eva just looked on with interest. 

Judging by this interaction, and how far away she was sitting compared to the rest of the children, it seems River was always a bit of a loner, unused to interacting with others. 

One could even say this awkwardness was inhumane, radiating from the screen and affecting Dong Zhen and his chat. Countless amounts of “RIP” were spammed at this moment. 

Although the atmosphere was cold, the people understood that she was not doing this on purpose. She was not maliciously or cruelly creating this situation, it was simply due to her condition. 

[ Lighthouses ]

River, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up, interrupting Johnny who was stumbling over his words. 

[ There are exactly sixteen second-order Fresnel lens lighthouses in the country left ]

[ Nine of them are coastal. And one of them was modified from a historic kerosene lamp lighthouse ]

Johnny took a moment to gather his bearings. 

[ Oh, is that what you’re reading about? ]

River did not answer. 

[ Um, say… you wanna go catch a movie together sometime? ]

[ I don’t know ]

[ That’s okay, I’ll give you time to consider it ]

[ I can’t ]

[ Why? ]

[ There’s no date or time ]

[ …Oh, um, how about this Saturday at eight? ]

There was another stretch of silence, and Dr Neil even suspected if the machine had some error or was frozen. 

[ Yes ]

This entire interaction made Dong Zhen happy because of how wholesome it was, but also made him feel some discomfort in his heart. 

If it hadn’t been for the knowledge gained from the earlier portions of the game, Dong Zhen would not have understood what was happening. 

He would have been making fun of the whole thing, not knowing how much River and Johnny had to struggle just to have some basic communication. 

Normal people who didn’t have such knowledge would probably never understand. And Dong Zhen knew that he could only imagine how frustrating it was to have thoughts but be unable to accurately express them in words or actions.