Who is Phil?

Promtp 2: Describe how the tiles have been composed

At the start of the game, the avatar is surrounded with the walls that it cannot pass except for one brick that has a breach, which the players can assume that it might be an exit to the next room or at least try to approach to it to see if anything happens. This actually gives the player a hint about what they should do next to proceed to the game.

            But before that, when the players explore the second objects from the left, they immediately entered a room that displays the enlarged version of the avatar that is eating something. By doing this, it allows players to further understand what their avatar is-a lop, and the walls that surrounds the lop actually reveals that it is an imagined scene by our avatar.

            When the player enters the third room, they can fell that it is just the outside of the room that they were in because the walls on the left side are identical to the walls on the right side of the previous room. Then players can have a sense that the avatar is going outside to look for something. By interacting with the items, we gradually understand what the room is about and can infer that the big chunk of square is actually the avatar’s bed.

            Then we hit to the room where the wall tiles’ shape changed. The two areas surrounded by the thin walls that players cannot go through, which makes the players wonder what things are inside the area, and the animation on the left side also creates a sense of showering for me. Maybe I misunderstood it because the concrete walls in the bottom left also makes me wonder if it is a bed.

            Then the last room is also quite interesting because all tiles with animation looks the same and only a few have darker colors, which drives players to randomly explore them. It creates the randomness to the game and also to the players because they cannot guess what will happen when they find the “correct” item.

“Who is Phil?” is a great question I didn’t know I necessarily had before playing, but I instantly became quite curious. Luckily, for the player, a lot of elements of the game work to answer just that. One specific element is dialogue, which is portrayed either as Phil the rabbit's own monologue or better describing his actions. 

The game really wants us to understand Phil, and what better way than being him and acting as his curious self. The game provides many interactable sprites and items, which the player, just like Phil does, feels the need to discover and mess around. What engrains the idea that this is something Phil does though is the dialogue. Even in the first scene, Phil and the player are excited to find “fresh veggies”, letting out a “Woo!” as well as Phil’s favorite toy. There’s even a name tag with all of the demographic information about Phil, extending this biographical game to some facts instead of just characteristics. 

Dialogue is pretty limited in Bitsy, but the creator even utilizes effects like shaking text to illustrate Phil tearing up his owner’s clothes. He really is a rascal! There’s one thing missing from the player’s experience in the game as Phil, and that is interaction with his owner. Each scene showcases the care and love the owner has, but for a while, there is no direct interaction.That is until Phil curiously goes near the phone and his owner asks “Phil, doing ok?”. The player, wanting to respond or know more, goes to the phone and again hears “I am coming back, Phil”. Some pets are an afterthought, but with the multitude of toys and entertainment present in his environment and his energetic responses to them, we see the owner cares. The owner, wanting Phil to not worry until they get back, wraps it up nicely in a bow, showing that Phil is an important part of the showcased household and the owner’s family.

Prompt 4: Describe how text is used.