Game design blog
3- Wish
Screen recording of the whole game
1. Game Pitch
Wish is an 2D adventure game prototype made by Adobe XD.
Project topic: Impulse.
The choices made by the players will affect the game story's direction.
In the game, the players take on the roles of either Lenore or Sylvia, players can start the game as either of these characters. The first chapter of the game focuses on the player deciding if Sylvia wants to leave District 77 and change her current state. The second and third chapters deal with the player's choices regarding Sylvia's wish. The ending of the story determines whether or not she gets her wish.
2. Finding ideas
The team wanted to create a game world full of oppression, so that the characters have enough motivation to complete the goal, and this goal must be impulsive and unrealistic, with a certain romanticism.
We used Brave New World, Detroit Become Human and other works as background and story references, and Japanese text adventure games as gameplay references. Finally, the team members worked together to complete the game prototype.
3. Working process
After determining the theme of the game we want to make and the general plot direction, the writing of dialogues and the drawing of characters begin. After receiving the characters' temperament and settings, I created the character image, and then showed the completed picture to other team members for comments, so as to ensure that the characters would not deviate from the plot and worldview structure. It's the same process when I draw the background and look for background references. Several meetings were held within the gameplay section to discuss the rules of the minigame and how the game could be integrated into the story.
4. Game World
The story background, the plot and dialogue scripts were created by group member Li Ruibing.
- Escape District 77 is the beginning of the game, where Sylvia and Lenore meet. It is a coincidence that Sylvia and Lenore become friends and have several conversations. In the course of the conversation, Sylvia offered to go to 298X to watch the galaxy explode. In spite of Tuma's oppressive regime, they were unable to leave District 77 and were met only with death.
- Another Happy Landing in Chapter two tells of Sylvia's lack of preparation and their accidental landing on the planet Tuma. A kind man helped them. In the end, they successfully boarded the plane to Peach Garden, and Sylvia is one step closer to her wish.
- The final chapter of the story, Wish Fulfillment, tells of Sylvia and Lenore's arrival at the peach Garden, Here, they make a new friend and learn about this absurd world through conversations. Finally, they reach Galaxy 298X, but just when Sylvia should be feeling her happiest, she is surrounded by more sadness.
5. Characters
As the concept artist in the group, I created the appearance of all characters and creature in the game. Each character's backstory was written by team member Li Ruibing.
Characters will have different facial expressions in different situations. With dialogue and background music that enhances the atmosphere, text adventure games can give players room to imagine while providing a sense of substitution.
(1) Race
In Wish, it's a cosmic regime that rules under the regime of Tuma, so Tuma is also at the top of the whole universe. In order to keep the regime stable, Tuma created the two races of Droids and Servers, the two largest races in the universe. Droids are programmed to live. They don't need food. As far as we know, Droids don't have a will. Servers, unlike Droids, are a race created in test tubes with the Tuma gene. Servers was created to serve the Tuma regime, as the name suggests, initially through genetic experiments to achieve loyalty stability, and then on a large scale. If found guilty of some transgression, they will be executed. Services can serve Tuma directly, so they have the same appearance as Tuma, only the skin colour is different, and some details are different.
Virat is the original inhabitants of planet G, with a rich history and inheritance. After Tuma occupied the G planet, Virat was kept in captivity. Virat worked for Tuma after generations of brainwashing and screening. However, due to historical factors left over, Virat was divided into two factions. One was Tuma, who promoted Virat's historical process and accelerated its development, spurning the backwardness of the past. The other school of thought reminisces about history, protects heritage, and thinks heritage is very significant.
Nutry was an original inhabitant of the planet Wasa, which was blown up by Tuma 370 years ago. The initial decision was to blow up the planet and all living things on it. However, in the process, Tuma found that Nutry was particularly suitable for food. As a result, Tuma kept the entire Nutry population. Nutry were then raised in captivity on the artificial planet Peach Garden, where they served as premium food.
(2) Main Character
There are four characters and one creature in Wish's story. They are one of the key elements that make up the whole game.
- Sylvia
Sylvia is a female Virater from Planet G. Influenced by her mother, she is interested in Virat's past. Her personality is romantic and innocent. Sylvia is 15 years old, making her a minor at Virat. Sylvia was impulsive and didn't like to plan, and that made what she was about to go through a little difficult. She was also ostracised by her peers because of her mother. Wish's story also began when Sylvia had an idea.
- Lenore
Lenore was one of the 37th generations of Servers created by Tuma and assigned to the planet PFS. Lenore is no different from other Servers. Character is written in the genetic code as obedience and loyalty. At the same time, the genetic code carries a wide range of knowledge, so she is not interested in most things. To others, Lenore is cold and has frequent mood swings.
- Ezra
Ezra is a retired Server who lives on the planet Tuma and runs a clothing shop. Tuma originally created the servant with a life expectancy of 499 years, and Ezra is now 498 years old. Therefore, in the last stage of his life, Ezra's character is not as conventional, rigid, and prudent as it was in the past. Instead, he becomes less concerned about everything and acts more for the happiness of the moment. So when Ezra sees Lenore in a clothing store, he realises something interesting is about to happen.
- Dove
Dove is a character who appears in Wish Fulfillment. Having grown up in Peach Garden since he was a child, he has a simple and kind personality. Because of Nutry's history and current situation, Dove is dissatisfied. Nevertheless, he is content with the material living conditions that he currently has. He is in a state where he wants to change but is hesitant to actually try to do so. Against this backdrop, he was eager to learn about other species. When he discovered that Sylvia and Lenore had arrived at Peach Garden, he took the initiative to try to make friends with them after a few days of observation.
- Medel
Medel lives on Planet G and is an odd-looking creature that looks like a combination of many creatures. Medel's blood has a distinctive taste and is an important part of the popular dish LF1 soup. Medel is a totem of the local indigenous Virat people; she lives in the dark, is gentle and friendly, rarely aggressive, and powerful, and its saliva contains highly toxic chemicals. However, when Tuma invades G, they discover that Medel can be blind for a while when exposed to bright light. This was the period when Medel was weakest and most likely to be killed.
6. Game Play
Mini-games are interspersed throughout the story. In order to make the game more engaging and improve the interactivity of the game, players need to succeed in the mini-games interspersed with the plot in order to advance the main plot.
The gameplay and game mechanics of the mini-games are jointly determined by the team, and the display of the game prototype is produced by team member Ruiwei Li.
Mini-Game
[Space Escape]
Control the aircraft using “↑”“↓”“←”“→”
Avoid obstacles, pass the route, and reach the endpoint to win the game. If you hit an obstacle, you have to start over.
Other visual elements:
The animation effect of unstable signal after colliding with obstacles, and the simple animation effect after the game is successful.
Our first game concept was very simple, initially we wanted to make a dodge game with simple controls. Considering that our team is not proficient in Unity and is not enough to complete the game prototype within the specified time, we choose to use Adobe XD instead. Adobe XD, as a software for UX display, can only present basic gameplay. But we managed to design the map to be a bit difficult to play, so as not to make the game process boring.
[Dark Crisis]
Control the spaceship using “↑”“↓”“←”“→”
The game starts after the player memorizes the route. Each action consumes one life, go through the darkness and reach the end to win the game. The map will appear on the screen several times during the game, in case the player can't remember the whole route.
Other visual elements:
The animation of the plane gliding in the universe after the player successfully escapes, the animation of the winning screen.
At first, we thought that players would not get any help at all during the game except that they could see the map at the beginning. But the first version of the game is too hard, It's unwise to frustrate players in a text adventure with minigames that are too difficult. So we jointly decided to help the player through making the map show up on the screen during the game.
7. Visual Experience
Wish is a game based in space and near-future sci-fi. In the worldview, the technological level of several planets is relatively high, but there are also many elements of human society in the game that can make players feel familiar. Considering that the galaxy controlled by tuma has a strict hierarchy, the overall feeling of the game is cold, with a strong sense of technology, giving people a sense of distance and oppression. But at the same time, due to the huge differences between the alien races and between the planets they live in, as well as the story is around the keyword "impulse", the tone of the game is also quite diverse and dynamic.
I created most of the art assets including illustrations and all the maps in mini-games using photoshop. Some 3D environment arts are free assets from unreal engine.
The first impression players will get of the game is lighthearted and novel. As the story progresses, the player will experience a series of emotional changes, from curiosity about the details behind the light-hearted plot, to shuddering at the information revealed by the plot.
The appearance of the alien city should be similar to the big cities in human society. There are large glass curtain wall buildings and sporadic vegetation in the city. Many activities of urban residents are assisted by drones.
There should be no color in the interior of the alien building, and it should be clean and lifeless. The overall tone is dominated by cool colors, and there should be more artificial light than natural light.
The interior of the spacecraft and the cargo compartment should be relatively closed and have a different style from the interior of the building, making it easier to distinguish between these two different scenes.
The outskirts of the city should be covered by vegetation, and the natural environment hasn’t been polluted by the activities of alien residents, so the atmosphere in the forest should be quiet and peaceful.
Dove's living room should not have a sense of technology, but it is full of life, warm and comfortable.
The most distant planet in the 298X galaxy is barren, desolate and uneven. It is similar to the moon, small in size and low in gravity, and has no atmosphere.
The backgrounds of both mini games are in the style of architectural blueprints, matching the serious and rigorous background of the game.
8. Audio Experience
The game background music in Wish only provides players with emotional value and serves the purpose of enhancing the game atmosphere.
The narrative part of the first chapter needs to have a sense of suspense, but not too heavy and dark, with just the right amount of vitality and futuristic feel.
Simha The Man | No Copyright Music https://youtu.be/-Esrvq9jZFI
The first mini-game needs to have a slightly tense background music, but at the same time it needs to be imposing, with clear drumbeats.
GOLET'S-slaves | No Copyright Music https://youtu.be/l8uhaQv_cY8
The narrative part of the third chapter requires lyrical background music, with a slightly sad melody, to highlight the conflict between Dove’s racial setting details and his personality, and use human voice to narrow the distance between the player and the character.
Red Echoes | No Copyright Music https://youtu.be/JxtbUj98bZc
The second mini-game also needs a tense background music, but meanwhile, the background music needs to feel uplifting and purposeful, as opposed to the game's feeling of being lost in the dark.
Living Pulse | No Copyright Music https://youtu.be/Awh2tCZ_yUo
In addition, the main interface of the game also needs to have background music and click-button sound effects. The background music needs to give people a sense of alienation. It is best to add string music and a little high-frequency sound effect to create a feeling of vacuum in the universe. The button click should be very faint, sounding like an electronically synthesized high-frequency sound.
9. Bonus Material
As a game that implements a buyout system, Wish does not have an in-game store, nor does it have a proxy currency system.
However, Wish will use bonus material, unlockables and achievements to encourage players to replay the game.
Complete each ending will get an achievement related to it. The achievement system will be supported by external systems such as Steam and Xbox.
10. Self-reflection
During the course of the project, what our team is good at is communication. Due to our frequent sessions, many problems that emerged during the process were finally resolved through cooperation. The final reflection is that the teams' understanding of the presentation method is biased, resulting in the design ideas and essential part of the game itself not being properly mentioned in the presentation.
