Psychic Detective-More

Psychic Detective

Starting the Project

I started the project in the summer of 2019 by myself because I wanted to get a head start on making something ambitious but possible to finish by the end of my senior year.
I began with 3 concepts but over time I ended up just keeping one and working on that for the whole summer break.
At the beginning, I typed out the systems/mechanics that I need to make and researched them while implementing them in the engine.
I took on the features/mechanics that were tougher to make first and then went for the supposed easier ones later.
The video below is the results of all the systems/mechanics/features put together in the prototype I made.
A few of the systems and mechanics interact with each other and can influence how they work, the system document will go into it with some details.
In my final month of summer, I began writing documents for the narrative (pdf link) and systems (pdf link) to help my team understand what I was aiming for the year on the project.

First Half of Production

I went into the fall semester looking for people interested in helping me improve the existing parts of the game while also having the team build out the remaining parts of the game.
The team was a size of 6 and we had early frequent meetings to discuss some changes on the system design.
I had one of our designer focus on systems and we spoke very often on how to improve the game's system while also including some of the narrative bits that make sense to the systems.
Throughout the first part of our production, I was working on levels and creating content that would build the world and create the experience that the players will have in the final version.
The video below is the results of the first half production and project only completed 2 of its levels with the 3rd being halfway done.
There were a few issues that slowed the production of the game dramatically: (1) was the constant conversation about changing the system but not enough content creation and (2) was that the professors wanted none of our work instead wanted a simple level similar to the prototype shown above.
The pictures below are the layouts of all the planned levels we would make by the end of the first half of production.
For the city layout, it was originally bigger but with the team feeling less confident on it, we scaled it back so the other level designer at the time redrew the map for us.

Second Half of Production

During the winter break, I took a break to reevaluate the game at that point and figure out plans for going forward with the game that we had so far.
When the team returned for the second half of the production, 2 of the teammates left because they had newfound passion for different projects.
We did gain a designer and an audio designer in replacement.
From there, I had to ditch the old plans because there was no way to make all of the content needed to achieve what was previously planned without more hands on deck.
The game removed a huge chunk of systems and mechanics to make it more straightforward but more narrative heavy of a game.
The newly joined designer was planning to add a few feature (a portal system) to make the game better and try something he hadn't done before.
I ended up tossing the story out and letting the narrative designer take on all dialogues because I needed to help fix all technical issues from the removing of systems and I had to focus more on the levels since I was making a new tutorial level which was the train station.
Our production was moving slow but the pandemic hit and we went a lot slower and everyone ended up out of loop.
The final version of the game (shown at the very top) is what we submitted and the results of what came of the remote working.

Development Background

The challenge for me for this project was tackling a new genre that I haven't done before in the school and for this project, it was mainly focused towards RPGs.
I took the genre a step further by creating more immersive sim style dialogues and/or mechanics.
The team had no producer so it was between me and a programmer to balance between the producer work.
The art was created by me and the another designer, we had no artists because they were encouraged to focus on their past projects and improving those.
When working on the branching parts of the game, I kept tabs on what players can do and cause in the levels and I scripted them out in the levels.
There were some holes or inconsistencies in the narrative at the first half of production but I didn't let it dictate how to approach making the content.
The game shifted from a Narrative RPG to just a Narrative Puzzle game.
As a team, we had a lot of issues on coordination for the most part of the project but also had a few communication issues towards the end.

Challenges

Going remote since there was a pandemic going on in the world.
Having no artists in the team.
No progress in the content creation side of the game production.
Starting out on the project on my own at the very beginning.
Trying to keep the team in track on the vision of the game and not just shooting down ideas that may not work for the game.

Lessons Learned

With the remote work, communication seems to be the number one key to success, we didn't talk until the final 2 weeks and we barely made it in time for completion.
With no artists, it was up to me and another designer to create art content needed to make the game look decent.
With content creation being pumped out very slowly, there should be a reevaluation on what is preventing that slowdown which in this case was the constant conversation on systems rather than work on implementation.
No one is a superhero in the case of making game projects and it is best to have other support you on the places that you are weak at.
Not all vision of the game can be perfect, it is best to adapt to the situations and not hurt the team by leaving unresolved problems on the project.