This page is intended for those who have played through my interactive fiction game The Warbler's Nest. If you haven't, I urge you to do so before reading further; it's a short game whose impact would be significantly weakened if you read the spoilers in this article first.

I'd also like to note up-front that the game has three endings (two of which have multiple paths leading to them). If you have found only one or two, perhaps you'd like to try to achieve all of them before reading the rest of this. (All the endings are available from the same in-game location, though it's possible to perform actions, once you arrive there, that lock you out of certain endings.)

Inspiration

In the spring of 2010, while playing a certain videogame of recent vintage, I recognized a revelation partway through its narrative as a riff on the old European folktales about changelings. Even though it appeared in only a couple of cutscenes, seeing the concept play out in this game context got me thinking about this particular legend, and realizing what a dreadful notion it is, especially from modern hindsight. It's tempting to think of a time when people believed in elves and fairies as charming and innocent, but it chills me to imagine how many people -- babies and adults both -- must have suffered because of this darkest facet of that superstition.

From there, somehow, I had a flash of a dramatic scene: a parent, alone and distraught, trying to determine if their "strange" baby -- developmentally disabled, colicky, or merely funny-looking -- was actually a cruel fake, planted by wicked goblins who had made off with their "normal" baby. What in the world would be going through their head?

Somehow, it seemed like a really effective core for a short IF game. And somehow again, I actually wrote the damn thing.

Research

I found D.L. Ashliman's comprehensive list of British changeling legends especially useful. While the legend changes in each version, many intrguing motifs emerge. Several appear in my game, such as the wise traveling tailor who sees through the fairies' mischief, and the methods the stories provide for telling a changeling creature from a true human child -- very often involving doing strange things with eggshells.

The idea to use a cuckoo chick as foreshadowing bubbled up fairly early on, dovetailing nicely with the eggshell motif. Learning that reed-dwelling warblers were a frequent victim of cuckoos' brood parasitism -- and finding the startling photo reference you see here -- led to the player-character's residence among the reeds, rather than a generic hut in the woods. This led in turn to the simple but (I hope) believable backstory I fleshed out for her. Wikipedia's article on reed beds links to another beautiful photograph that helped me imagine and describe the area around the protganist's home, from the curving river to the dark forest in the distance.

And, yes, it all made for a nicely evocative title, as well.

Fear

Right around the time I got started making the game, this installment of the (excellent) webcomic Oglaf appeared. I was immediately gripped by fear that this would set off an internet-wide craze for telling changeling stories, and that my own game was doomed to be seen as a cynical ploy to ride a meme's coattails. Fortunately, this doesn't seem to have happened.

Addendum: After the competition

Ninth (and a half) place!

I write these words a couple of weeks after the 2010 competition has drawn to a close. I was thrilled to discover that The Warbler's Nest tied for ninth place, achieving my private goal of reaching the top ten this year.

And what a year! Not only do all nine point five entries above mine fully deserve their placing, but most every game in the 2010 comp has something to recommend it. Notably absent among the entries are the usual broken, jokey, or outright trollish junk that often clogs up the lower third of the IFComp rankings. This year, even the more ill-conceived games are at least traverseable, and still manage to convey a sense of heartfelt writing.

2010 has been an exciting and growthful year for the art of interactive fiction, and its IFComp complemented the mood quite well. I feel privileged to have played a part in it, and extend my warmest gratitude to everyone who played, reviewed, and judged The Warbler's Nest during the competition.

The post-comp release(s)

The first post-comp release of The Warbler's Nest is Release 16, published on November 28, 2010. It addresses a lot of bugs and stylistic errors that came to my attention through all the player feedback I started to receive as soon as the comp began. The result is a much tighter and more polished work, and I sincerely thank all those who helped this process by sharing their play transcripts and critiques with me.

I continue to invite criticism and bug reports, and intend to quietly publish updates to the game as needed. The game's homepage will always note and link to its most recent version. (I don't intend to keep older versions kicking around.)

I was originally going to dive into great detail here about what I learned over the course of the competition, but in the interest if getting this "final" release cut and printed, let's keep it short. I plan on formatting these thoughts into a short series of essays instead; look for them on my game blog.

And that's all I have to say about The Warbler's Nest. I hope you enjoyed playing it as much as I enjoyed writing it. With luck, my next inspiration to create a work of interactive fiction will take less than 11 years to arrive.

Jason McIntosh, November 2010