Arlecchina
Visual novel - theater

Official overview

You Play an Actress

You play as a harlequin who has always dreamed of becoming an actress. And today is your lucky day: you are auditioning to join the troupe of a famous director—whose name, quite frankly, doesn’t matter!

Driven by Ambition

But you are not the only one. Other candidates are competing for the role, and you must all perform Scapin to stand out. Each contestant has been assigned a mask, and you would love to collect them all… but you’re no thief.

…A Killer Instead!

No—you’re a murderer. Your plan is simple: eliminate each competitor, take their mask from their corpse, and impersonate them when it’s their turn to perform Scapin. Six very different candidates to imitate, each with their own quirks to master!

Production

Technical details

Year and production time

  • 2025 - 4 days

Team size

  • 4 people

Tools and platforms

  • PC Windows
  • Ren'Py
  • Scapin the Schemer by Molière

My role in this project

  • Script Writer
  • Programmer

This game was created during a class Game Jam based on the theme “literary collage,” in my third year of Game Design studies at Brassart Toulouse.

Challenges

  • Creating a game in 4 days around the theme of literary collage
  • Integrating multiple writing styles directly into gameplay
  • Giving text a central role in the player’s experience
  • Quickly learning and using Ren’Py, a visual novel engine

My Contribution

  • Researched and analyzed various writing styles to integrate them into the game
  • Wrote the tutorial and multiple endings
  • Designed the game’s narrative structure
  • Implemented tutorial dialogue sequences in Ren’Py

Design Intentions

  • Adapting a literary work (Scapin the Schemer by Molière) into an interactive format
  • Drawing inspiration from Commedia dell’arte to create character archetypes and distinct speech styles
  • Exaggerating these styles to build a system of recognition and identity impersonation
  • Turning dialogue choices into the core gameplay mechanic