Documentation 6 - In the Cross Road
I thought the design process would be done at the beginning of this week, however, I feel myself starting to redesign the game at the end of this week. After writing six scripts in the form of a flow chart for six scenarios that I think is typical enough to represent postpartum life, I found myself lost in the direction of my next move.
According to the previous plan, I should move to the following things below:
Making sure all the scripts are well-edited and containing all the information.
Connecting the flow charts together to get the flow chart of the game.
Adding options for a happy ending.
Adding events and interactives in the flow chart.
Designing the monetary based on the options.
Although the direction is clear enough to move on, I found the game itself is not satisfying enough to develop. Here are some problems exist:
How can I connect the scripts naturally without losing the player's interest?
It’s not obvious enough for players to get the information they want. Now they are hiding in the lines.
Timing.
What am I going to tell new dads that things they could do and lines they could tell to help without pushing them too much?
Besides, I came up with several modifications that I should work on in this design I have right now:
Players could unlock new abilities/increase the variable limit at each end of the month. It could allow them to feel easier later in the game. They would also be refreshed so that they would not drop below the limit of the variables. This also indicates the idea that parenting would get easier along with your experience, and when things are getting hard they could leave it to the time.
Update of each month could be a summary that players would understand what they did well and what they did not. It also could help with catching up with the story.
Customization and collections to personalize the experience. Rewards besides the happy ending help with the satisfaction and feedback in the game. It is also true that in real parenting life, the rewards from life and baby are the things that motivate us moving on. These rewards are not tangible enough unless you are grateful.
Then I adjusted my direction of next move:
Add interactives in the story. It won't necessarily be a game, but something different from talking and messaging in the game.
Am I still doing the time loop as the structure that players would experience once to the bad ending to unlock the options to the happy ending? Or am I better do it by leveling up players in the game? The new idea could be more positive.
What is the art style? I am trying to make it like “bury me, my love.” However, it seems time consuming. What is my developing platform? Twine or Unity? It can be decided by the contents of the game, and it could also decide what content I should keep and what I should cross away.
The main ideas I want to convey. I am sure to educate the scientific community about the postpartum depression, but I also want to communicate the idea to help expecting parents better prepare in mind. I will return to the interview result and organize the main concept I want to use and redo the structure of the game.
Now, I’m in the cross road of the design direction. I could continue to finish what I have done and follow the schedule I made at the beginning. However, I decided to push the schedule a week behind so that I could stop for some time to find out the best way that would work out for the game structure design. Instead of ending up with something I am not satisfied, I would rather find out the right direction and go straight for it. Hopefully I would have a clear plan for the next step by the end of this week, and finish the XD prototype by the end the next week.