DEVELOPERS of the award-winning Filipino narrative video game “Until Then” urged creative writers to expand the boundaries of storytelling through video games.
In a seminar hosted by the UST Makatha Circle titled “Walking Through: Cybertext & Interactive Gaming in the Philippine Scene,” game developers Mickole Nulud and Mariel Tuble, discussed the process of writing for video games and visual novels.
“[T]here are stories that only games can tell. You can tell the story in a different medium, but it changes it. It fundamentally changes it,” Tuble told the Varsitarian.
Both speakers delved into ways that game developers can utilize player agency and interactivity as a tool for creating stories.
“When you read a book, it doesn’t know that it’s been read. You can read it again and nothing will change. But a game can, they’re interactive. There are many things you can do with choices, and the illusion of choice,” Nulud said.
Tuble, head writer for “Until Then” and a creative writing graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, pointed out how the length of video games also allows greater room for lore writing and world-building.
She also emphasized the importance of collaboration when writing for video games, especially in balancing gameplay and storytelling.
“You have to remember that the team is telling the story with you, you’re not the only storyteller,” Tuble said. “If there’s information that’s important to the player, but you’re not sure how to divulge it without just giving it to them in dialogue, you have to be creative with it.”
“Just remember, people who play games, they’re not really paying to read, they’re paying to play,” she added.
Nulud, who is the founder, director, and president of Filipino indie game studio Polychroma Games, which developed “Until Then,” discussed the different ways a story can be told through the recontextualization of game mechanics.
“Your game mechanics have to work around the story; they have to be related,” Nulud said. “Mechanics are very unique to video games. We’re not using words, we’re using game mechanics to deconstruct something.”
“Until Then” won Game of the Year and the Community Choice Award at the 2025 Indie Games Group Philippine Awards last March 19.
It also bagged Best Narrative/Story, Best Art Design, and Best Music/Score during the 2024 Godot Game Awards.
“Walking Through: Cybertext & Interactive Gaming in the Philippine Scene” served as the final episode in the “Makathaklatan: An Author Lecture Series” for this academic year.
Makatha is the organization of students under the Department of Creative Writing.
