The Devoids (2D)
School Project
Play as Jake, a young man who is about to be killed by his own friends due to him finding out a deep dark secret of theirs. Play as the flashback of Jake to find pieces of evidence, develop a logical argument, and convince your friends in the present not to kill you.
Role:
- Collaborated with programmer and 2D artist to implement features and assets
- Co-Wrote storyline
- Co-designed dialogue system
- Co-Wrote design documents
- Co-Wrote storyline
- Co-designed dialogue system
- Co-Wrote design documents
Design Process:
"The Devoids" was my final group project for my Narrative Design class. This project provides a unique dialogue system heavily influenced by "Monkey Island" while conveying an intriguing story that touches on real-world issues such as racism. The protagonist (Jake) is faced with a gut-wrenching situation when his life is being threatened by his own friends after he discovers a dark secret of theirs in front of them. You must play Jake's flashback to explore and discover ways to tell your friends they should not murder you.
Only through exploration and discovery does the character learn more about themselves, why they are the way they are, and why they are in the situation they are in. My partner and I co-designed and wrote the game. We wrote all the character's as well as descriptions of the items that the player finds. We tried to make this game bigger than just what the player is visually shown. The entirety of the game takes place in Jake's apartment. Yet, they learn about whats outside of that apartment and the world around them by finding things within their own apartment and talking to the other character's. Finally, my partner and I designed a logical dialogue system in which the evidence you find during your flashback must correlate with the dialogue options you choose when convincing your friends not to kill you.
Only through exploration and discovery does the character learn more about themselves, why they are the way they are, and why they are in the situation they are in. My partner and I co-designed and wrote the game. We wrote all the character's as well as descriptions of the items that the player finds. We tried to make this game bigger than just what the player is visually shown. The entirety of the game takes place in Jake's apartment. Yet, they learn about whats outside of that apartment and the world around them by finding things within their own apartment and talking to the other character's. Finally, my partner and I designed a logical dialogue system in which the evidence you find during your flashback must correlate with the dialogue options you choose when convincing your friends not to kill you.
How Dialogue System Works:
1st & 2nd Slide: Jake stumbles upon carpet that was gifted to him by his friends
3rd & 4th slide: Jake also finds an artifact that was gifted to him by his friends
5th & 6th Slide: If Jake goes to the same carpet after discovering the artifact (both of which were gifted by his friends), Jake discovers that the carpet glows with mystical powers -- Jake automatically notes this
7th Slide: When returning to the present, you are prompted with 3 vague choices to begin your argument to convince your friends
8th Slide: Player chooses the 1st option: "I knew you were devoids the whole time and never said a thing". Player is shown all pieces of evidence they collected in the flashback. The player must choose the most logical option based on the "vague" choice they clicked on prior. In this case, the player could choose "the carpet glows", which would be correct.
9th, 10th, 11th Slide: The devoids response to your answer
Jake then would need to correctly provide another piece of evidence to successfully complete the game.
3rd & 4th slide: Jake also finds an artifact that was gifted to him by his friends
5th & 6th Slide: If Jake goes to the same carpet after discovering the artifact (both of which were gifted by his friends), Jake discovers that the carpet glows with mystical powers -- Jake automatically notes this
7th Slide: When returning to the present, you are prompted with 3 vague choices to begin your argument to convince your friends
8th Slide: Player chooses the 1st option: "I knew you were devoids the whole time and never said a thing". Player is shown all pieces of evidence they collected in the flashback. The player must choose the most logical option based on the "vague" choice they clicked on prior. In this case, the player could choose "the carpet glows", which would be correct.
9th, 10th, 11th Slide: The devoids response to your answer
Jake then would need to correctly provide another piece of evidence to successfully complete the game.