A Storied Life: Tabitha

A wholesome narrative puzzle game about the objects we leave behind and the stories they tell. Complete a loved one’s damaged memoirs by exploring their home and packing away their things.

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A screenshot from A Storied Life: Tabitha featuring a stylised artstyle that is reminiscent of watercolours. The screenshot shows the porch area of the game, drawn in an isometric style. The room has wooden floor and blue walls and features lots of items cramped into a small space such as a walking frame, coat hanger, worn floor mat and lots of items strewn about for the player to discover. There is a hand icon hovering over a walking stick and next to this is a lined paper pop up with text on that reads 'Walking Stick. The wood is worn at the apex of the handle, and the rubber ferrule is cracked. It looks too large for the box.'
A screenshot from A Storied Life: Tabitha featuring a stylised artstyle that is reminiscent of watercolours. The screenshot shows the item packing screen in-game, featuring a cardboard box on a wooden table. Inside the box is a grid that players must slot in items of varying shapes and sizes, like a puzzle. There is a hand icon hovering over a photograph and next to this is a lined paper pop up with text on it that reads 'Beloved Family Photo. A wallet-sized photograph of a large family. Everyone is smiling.'
A screenshot from A Storied Life: Tabitha featuring a stylised artstyle that is reminiscent of watercolours and handdrawn elements. The screenshot shows an open journal featuring a polaroid style picture of the dining room in-game, as well as some taped on labels of 'manuscript' and 'replay', indicating choices a player can make on this menu screen. On the right page there are many items that can be found in game lined up in rows in square boxes. Underneath this is a taped in label featuring some words relating to the items, reading 'enjoy', 'connoisseurs', 'my sommelier', and 'full-bodied'.

Overview

A Storied Life: Tabitha was first conceptualised on the back of a napkin at a local pub by Lab42’s studio director and narrative designer.

A carefully crafted multi-strand story that broached themes of purpose, memories and legacy. 

In the space of two months a prototype was made and presented by the studio to Secret Mode, who green-lit it.

Production took place over 14 months, where Lab42 worked together with its sister studios in India and Leamington Spa, across multiple disciplines, to bring the concept to life.

Project Details

Platforms: Steam (PC & Mac, plus Steam Deck compatibility), Nintendo Switch.

Genre: Cozy Narrative Puzzler

Partner: Secret Mode

Service: Full Development

Engine: Unity

A screenshot from A Storied Life: Tabitha depicting a stylised hand drawn illustrated style. The screenshot shows a dining room environment with wooden floors and green wallpapered walls. The room is drawn in an isometric style and features multiple pieces of furniture such as tables, chairs, dressers, and many smaller objects atop these items. There is a hand icon hovering over a framed picture on one of the walls and next to this is a lined paper pop up with text on that reads 'Family Portrait. A portrait of a large family with many children. The heavy frame is very ornate and free from dust.

The Challenge

Lab42 Games was tasked with:

  • Creating a poignant, immersive, narrative game for our long-term publishing partner Secret Mode that focuses on loss and remembrance.
  • Building an experience which delivers a unique way for players to interact with the story beats, while giving them agency to influence and replay the game, resulting in different outcomes.
  • Developing a human-centric art style which supports and uplifts the game’s concept, narrative, and themes while standing out in an increasingly crowded market.

Our Involvement

  • End-to-end development of a completely original title, from concept to completion.
  • Delivered innovative ‘packing’ puzzle mechanic, which ties directly to the narrative reveal.
  • Designed an interactive puzzle system that constantly evolves with each playthrough.
  • Developed completely original ‘cozy’ aesthetic and visual language.
  • Built a bespoke branding narrative system which delivers story based on player choices.
  • Full narrative written in-house, with support from external translators for additional SKUs.
  • Created replayable gameplay loop which varies with every playthrough.
  • Developed the game for simultaneous Steam and Switch release.
A screenshot from A Storied Life: Tabitha showcasing the memoir choice view, where players select various words related to the items they have kept to fill in an incomplete memoir. The artstyle feels handdrawn and has elements of watercolour and other traditional art materials like pencils.
A screenshot from A Storied Life: Tabitha featuring a stylised artstyle that is reminiscent of watercolours and handdrawn elements. It depicts a bedroom environment drawn in an isometric style, featuring a large bed that only has a fitted white sheet on it. Light streams into the room from the two windows either side of the wall behind the bed. There is a lit fireplace on the wall to the right with a green armchair in front of it, positioned to a slight angle. At the base of the bed is a red armchair with a teddy bear sat atop it. There is a hand icon hovering over this and next to it is a lined paper pop up with text on it that reads 'Well-Loved Teddy Bear. This bear is old and very firm. It has been painstakingly repaired many times.'

Impact

Our work on A Storied Life: Tabitha demonstrates our ability to:

  • Develop complex and engaging narrative focused projects, without sacrificing gameplay experience.
  • Find unique and niche ways to approach and implement popular genres, making them feel new and fresh. 
  • Create experiences that are both accessible and relatable, and stick with players.
  • Work closely with a publisher to understand market and create an original IP within a competitive genre.
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