Frozen Fires

Artist's Statement:
The character I created was based on a mix of personal experiences in life as well as a preference for ice heroes since I was more fond of frozen superheroes instead of the hot-headed heat-based superheroes. The personal experiences go in twine with my character's want/need motivation. Growing up, my father would work day in and day out as a sheriff of my hometown, and even though he worked so much, he still somehow found time to be with his kids and be there for us whenever he wasn't on duty. So this correlates to my superhero's want/need of wanting to protect the city of all its citizens but needing to be there for his son. I don't know who or how I would turn out to be if my father wasn't there for me and since he was a sheriff, his righteous sense of justice inspired me to want to do good for everyone and always be there for those in need.

Now as for the difference between my character's want and need, it's somewhat similar to wanting to protect something but the silver lining be a whole city or the person you care about the most. With my father, he protected my hometown but he also understood the importance of being there for his kids. Just like Flamora, my hometown would still be the same if my dad or my superhero didn't protect it. What makes a difference is the need for a father figure in a child's life. My father was like a hero to me, and someone I could rely on, only because he was there for his kids when we needed him.

Some ways I attempt to convey the dilemma of the wants and needs within the story involve choosing between either your son or saving citizens of the city of Flamora. The first choice of the story has you choose to take your son to school or stopping a crime in progress, either choice you make has subtle consequences in the story. The first choice is an omen of what's to come throughout the story and only increases in importance throughout the story as well. This goes back to highlight the difference of the want/need. I attempt to highlight the importance of being there for your son more than the city because even though you choose to save the city, it'll keep falling in danger no matter how many times you're there for it. 

Even though there are consequences with the choices you make, I also attempt to make sure the reader is up to date with important story events as well. I start with the branch and bottleneck method of storytelling and narrow the story down to a linear narrative so that no matter what choices you've made, no one is left out of the story and what's to come of the story as well. After the linear narrative is over, I then branch the story out again for act II and the eventual climax of the story. These branching paths go off on their own path and do not come back together until the ending of the story. 

Finally, I attempt to align the reader's interests with the character's motivation by telling a story about a topic we're all are passionate about. What I mean by that is everyone on the face of the Earth has at least one person or thing that they care about and will stop at nothing to make sure whatever they care about is protected and taken care of. It could range from a loved one, even an animal in that regard, or some material object that they care about as well. I chose a father/son dilemma because it hits close to home for me and hopefully, the reader will understand the situation of the story as protecting and being there for the thing they love the most.
All of this culminates into my story of “Frozen Fires” where you’re given many choices throughout the game starting with Act I as a tutorial of sorts, but also highlighting the fact of subtle consequences. Which then is given a breather with the linear narrative given to the reader between Act I and Act II. Act II having more choices and meaningful dilemmas, ultimately ending the story with an eventful climax giving the reader three options of what means more to them. Highlighting the question given at the beginning of the story of what it means to be a superhero.