La Libertad

La Libertad

Artist Statement

The central theme in La Libertad is simple: everyone has the power to enact change. The corpus from the archives is mostly comprised of letters and petitions written by Canadians in the 1970s who wanted to take action against injustices committed by the Chilean Junta. To recreate civilian participation in global politics in Twine, we used real letters and petitions taken from the archives. The use of these letters in the game allows the players to engage with real historical documents while playing the game.    After conducting archival research at UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections, we wanted to incorporate the research process itself into our game. We found that archives, like traditional narratives, can draw people into a story. What stood out most was the motivation of Canadians to mobilize against the injustices in Chile, which inspired us to emphasize themes of advocacy and activism. Structuring the game and translating these ideas into mechanics was a challenge, but through group discussions, we gradually shaped the narrative. Using Twine as our primary tool helped define the game’s direction and interactivity.

We placed players in the shoes of a 1970s activist advocating for Chile, allowing them to engage with the story while bringing in their modern perspectives. The branching structure of Twine lets players navigate different choices, showing how small actions contribute to larger movements. If a player disengages, the game guides them back, reinforcing the message that activism is accessible and impactful.   By grounding the game in historical activism, we aimed to create an authentic and emotionally engaging experience. Twine’s interactive format gives players agency, making them feel personally involved in the movement. Our design highlights how easy it is to take action, demonstrating that even small contributions matter. The game serves both as an educational tool and a call to action, encouraging players to reflect on activism’s role in shaping history.   When building our narrative game, it was important for us to think of the idea of the game design as architecture. We tried not to reduce our game to the telling of the story by designing the world through moving in space, using interactive elements, and utilizing familiar spaces (such as the UBC library) of our target audience. The archive that we studied in parallel guided us about the events that took place in the 1970s and was also the starting point of interactivity.    By incorporating elements of exploration, decision-making, and consequence-based progression, we wanted to emphasize the potential of games as educational and transformative tools. One of the challenges that we faced was to relate the meaning and message of our game to the interactivity and the large amount of history that has been chronicled in the archives. It was difficult for us to find the right mode for our game to make it effective in balancing fun and education.    Through our game, we hope players come away with a deeper understanding of historical activism and the role of collective action in achieving social change. By immersing them in decision-making scenarios, we aim to foster empathy and critical thinking about the complexities of social justice movements, encouraging them to consider how past struggles connect to contemporary issues.