My Old Kentucky Home: Post Mortem

My Old Kentucky Home (MOKH) is a Twine based work of interactive fiction written during the compo. It’s my first completed work in Twine, though I’ve attempted work in the medium before, and my second Ludum Dare entry ever. Previously I’ve worked in HTML and in card games. The games soundtrack is also performed by me.

This is meant to be read after you’ve played the game, so it does have spoilers/etc in the contents. If you care about things like that, then you shouldn’t continue reading until after you’ve played. The playthrough’s I’ve watched take about ten to fifteen minutes. You can play the game here.

MOKH is a story about a fifteen year old girl named Emily who lives in rural Eastern Kentucky. Two years ago a massive calamity took place that she refers to as the Happening. It’s a class-A, post-apocalyptic event – think zombie invasion, Rapture, I am Legend. Whatever has happened has left her alone, living out of a coal mine in the woods above her empty town, and she is running low on supplies. The basic premise of the story is a take on the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.

What Went Right

The music went over shockingly well. I wrote almost the entirety of a game inside a defunct soul studio, so I had a feeling I was going to be including some music into it. I researched the type of songs that I wanted to include, as well as remembering what songs were actually performed at the Eastern Kentucky funerals that seem to have been staples of my childhood. All of the songs were recorded in a single take, and they have a shaky quality in them because I’m terrified of performing. Thankfully that lends itself well to the character.

I also feel like I managed to capture a cultural memory of Eastern Kentucky. A large portion of my family is from, and continues to reside in, the area around Pikeville. I attended funerals where family slept in the funeral home the last night of visiting, have sang Amazing Grace at several funeral homes, and have seen the function of coal as a life blood to an area. Some of the strongest women I know are from Eastern Kentucky, and it is that spirit that I wrote Emily. When I read the story aloud, I hear the timber of their accent in Emily’s voice. I say a cultural memory because most of the included details are either from childhood visits or stories told by my mother.
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