“Week 9: Mapping the Game Journey”
This week, we took a deep dive into the player’s experience, meticulously mapping out the game journey across three levels, each representing a day of packing. By outlining specific steps and interactions, we aimed to create an immersive and impactful progression through Bernie’s story.
Some New Art
The Artists focused on texturing quite a lot this week. A big focus was to get the environment feeling more lived in.
One of our artists was also focused on creating photos to place around the apartment.
Day 1: Introducing the Relationships
Living Room
The first day focuses on acquainting players with Bernie’s key relationships and their importance. The player is packing up the living room the first day.
- Players explore Bernie’s apartment, discovering items tied to Peggy, Sammy, and Sukhvinder, each representing a facet of the neighborhood.
Day 2: Exploring the Loss
Kitchen
The second day delves into how gentrification eroded Bernie’s relationships and the spaces they represented. The player is packing up the kitchen.
- Players learn of how the community garden, Sammy’s Corner and Sukhvinder have left the space of Lawrencefield.
Day 3: Understanding the Change
Bedroom
The final day highlights the forces behind the neighborhood’s transformation. The player is packing up the bedroom.
- Players uncover how capitalistic pressures led to the loss of culture and identity in Lawrencefield.
Notable Design Interactions
Few big ways we were communicating information was:
- Phone calls with uncle Bernie
- Flyers from Businesses
- Old and new letters between Bernie and other characters
- Object Interactions and packing
- Daily Newspaper
Goal for Playtest Day
From this point on, our focus shifted to being content complete by Playtest Day on Nov 9th. We prioritized integrating the full story to test whether our game design decisions effectively supported the narrative and delivered the intended transformational impact.