Opera Video Game

If I were to turn Madam Butterfly into a video game, I would make it a platform game. A platform game is a game in which the player controls a character and makes it jump and climb between suspended platforms while avoiding obstacles. The character would be a butterfly to represent Cio-Cio-San, aka Madam Butterfly. The platforms would look like Maiko fans. Maiko fans are used in the famous fan dances that geisha are trained to perform and since Madam Butterfly is a geisha, this is fitting. The player would guide the butterfly as she flies between fans, avoiding obstacles and collecting boosts. The obstacles would be cartoons of people such as Bonze, Butterfly’s uncle who cursed her during the first act for rejecting her ancestral religion in favor of Christianity, and Kate, Pinkerton’s new wife whom he left Butterfly for. Bumping into these people would cause Butterfly to die and the game would be over. Boosts would be cartoons of people such as Butterfly’s son and Suzuki, Butterfly’s friend. The game, as the opera, would, unfortunately, have a dark ending. If the player makes it through all the levels of fans, avoiding obstacles and using boosts, they would find a dagger on the final fan which Butterfly would use to stab herself, as she does in the opera. I wish the opera had a happier ending so the game could too.