DE NOVO
A narrative driven game inspired by London 50s crime
Collaborators: Emily Baik, Lori Sengbusch
Tools Used: Twine, Google Docs, Adobe Photoshop
Roles : Project Manager, UX Design, Character Design
Time : Jun - Aug, 2019
Challenge
Designing a non linear story game that has a very specific stylistic choice for the IFCompetition
Design Goals
Moral Compass: try to challenge players’ moral compass in regards to capital punishment by given them the power to choose someone’s fate
Unbiased: leave room for players to form their own opinions without any intentional persuasion from the gameplay with dual perspectives
Stylized: create a game that emulates a film noir experience similar to old detective movies
Power of Choice
The original concept of De Novo is to create a game that follows the same scenario as Papers Please. Essentially, players are given a limited amount of information in order to decide who will be spared from execution. It was really important for us to capture a game where the players have the freedom to choose who gets to live or die. We wanted to create a game that had choice.
Narrative Flow Chart
Each convict has a story and it was important to convey that to the player, whether or not they found it genuine. The point was to get them to think whose life was more important than the other and for what reason.
Two Sides of Every Story
Capital punishment is already a controversial topic that many people have already formed their opinions on. We iterated several times on how to create a narrative where it did not emphasize on a specific perspective. It was very important to have different perspectives of capital punishment expressed to the player. Using two characters with different opinions on capital punishment allowed us to explore that concept. This left room for the player to decide which character they side with along with their own opinions.
For Capital Punishment
Against Capital Punishment
We created characters that fit on opposite sides of the scale. We hoped that both characters express their views openly to the player, as frustrating as one character may potentially be, it was important to have the character stand their ground.
During the first stages of iteration, the player did not have the chance to interact with the convict. However, based on our design goal we decided to create an opportunity for each character to express themselves, we thought adding an interview stage for players to learn more about the convicts. We thought of questions for the convicts to try prove their innocence or say their last words.
Ideation of the Interview Segment
Essentially, we created an interview segment for the player to ask one question to the convict chosen at the end of the game. This allows a similar theme in old detective movies where interrogation scenes were very common such as L.A. Noire.
Film Noir
De Novo’s tone was something that influenced the overall aesthetic of the game. As we were designing the game, the visuals were extremely vital, from the convicts to what was on a character’s desk. The desk is an important part to the game because the majority of the time players will be interacting with the case files.
Basic Case File Review Flowchart
1. Player selects a convict
2. Player selects a section of a convict's case file
3. Player reads a section
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4. After player finishes reading, chose another section
5. After player finishes reading all the sections, go back to convicts
6. After player reviews all convicts,
select a case to appeal
We decided to go for a sepia colour scheme instead of a traditional film noir black and white style, due to the association of the manila folders that are used to hold case files. The character assets were all drawn realistically to match the film noir style we wanted to achieve, this was really important for the mugshots for that classic look.
Convict Case files
Takeaways
De Novo was one of the first games that I submitted for a competition. It allowed me the opportunity to experience a competition based on public votes. Although, it did not win, I was able to get a lot of feedback that was negative and positive. The feedback was also a way to reassure all the issues I thought would arise for the players. Knowing that, we can make the changes we need to in order to create a better experience for the players.
When it came to the development stages, I learned to use Twine as a tool. It was also a great experience to take into consideration how the interface looks on different platforms even if it's just a browser.
