Unfolding Tale
Lead Designer
Custom C++ Engine
What It Is
Unfolding Tale is an experiential motion game that invites players to traverse a surreal environment. Starting out as a fish in the dark, the player navigates through an aquatic mountain cave. Eventually, the fish breaks free of its mountain, swimming through the sky until it transforms into a bird. As a bird, the player then moves freely through an open environment, weaving their way through wind currents and floating rocks to reach the sun. Through flowing motion, origami-collage visuals, and a mysterious soundtrack, the player is invited to experience the character's journey of ascension, transformation, and homecoming.
The Design - Early Development
During our early team design discussions, we knew we wanted to aim for a game with a nice poetic experience. We thought about various philosophical topics about life and wound up with the concept of transformation. I created 2 rapid prototypes once we had decided on the theme.
The first one was about changing forms depending on the player's current location with respect to terrain:
The second prototype had the player play as an egg. They were able to use the mouse to point in a direction they want the egg to roll in. The goal was to get the egg back to its nest and hatch.
We decided to go with the first prototype because the egg concept had too much physics getting in the way of the experience.
The first one was about changing forms depending on the player's current location with respect to terrain:
- If they went into the water, they would transform into a fish
- If they were on land, they transformed into an armadillo
- If they entered the sky, they were transformed in a bird
The second prototype had the player play as an egg. They were able to use the mouse to point in a direction they want the egg to roll in. The goal was to get the egg back to its nest and hatch.
We decided to go with the first prototype because the egg concept had too much physics getting in the way of the experience.
The Design - Game versus Poetic
During production of the game, we were struggling to figure out how much 'game' to inject into the experience. We had many discussions on the definition of what a game is and what a poetic experience is. I presented the team with a scale to give them an idea of what my definitions were:
Mario represented a very mechanical experience while Proteus was more of a digital wonderment experience. I asked the team where they saw our game lie within this spectrum. The results were mixed. I aimed at Limbo while another teammate aimed at Proteus. Other teammates didn't even know where to put our game on the spectrum.
We came to a compromise where we deliberately designed the game to be very easy and not require much skill from the player. This allowed us to really focus on how the game felt to the player in terms of environment and controls, without making it a slow ride where nothing really happens.
The most mechanical thing we had, in terms of game design, in the game were the boosts. There are bodies of floating water loitered around the level to give players a huge push in a specific direction, allowing them to make huge leaps through the sky. I placed these bodies of water in spaces to help break up the potentially boring activity of swimming at a constant speed in a constant direction.
We came to a compromise where we deliberately designed the game to be very easy and not require much skill from the player. This allowed us to really focus on how the game felt to the player in terms of environment and controls, without making it a slow ride where nothing really happens.
The most mechanical thing we had, in terms of game design, in the game were the boosts. There are bodies of floating water loitered around the level to give players a huge push in a specific direction, allowing them to make huge leaps through the sky. I placed these bodies of water in spaces to help break up the potentially boring activity of swimming at a constant speed in a constant direction.
What I Did |
The Team
|
