Game Description
Save the cat to save the world!
You are a time-travelling detective, going between timelines to prevent small deaths from turning into disastrous events. In this case, the life you need to save is your own cat’s. If your precious Garrett dies it will result in the end of the world–something you must prevent.
A mix between an adventure puzzle game and a room-escape game, Time Enigma calls upon your wits and eye for detail.
The present can only be altered by changing the past. Investigate both timelines and piece together what happened. Collect items from the present, take them with you to the past, and undo whatever event killed your cat.
General Responsibilities
This game started development during a 2-week game jam, where we worked on it with a team of 3; an artist, a programmer, and a designer. At the end of the two weeks we pitched the concept to the rest of the year. About a third of the projects were then greenlit while the rest were dropped. Time Enigma was one of the greenlit projects.
During the game jam phase I was responsible for research, concepting the general gameplay, and the pitch.
After this followed a short pre-production period to further develop the game and prepare for production. The team went from 3 people to 8. At the end of this phase was another selection round, which Time Enigma passed as well.
While I took on the role of producer during pre-production, I also aided the team by fleshing out the gameplay design. As the only person from the original team left to work on the game, I took on the role of vision holder and ensuring the design remained cohesive.
The last two months of development were production-focused. The team was increased to 13 people. After these eight weeks of development, the game was published on the Google Play Store.
My responsibilities as a producer were to protect scope but also protect the team during the first COVID lockdown. I also took on the role of QA lead.
In my lingering role as designer I worked on the narrative design and writing.
Game Jam - Pitch & Prototyping
We were given a list of constraints during the game jam that we had to base our game on. I led the idea generation and later the research direction within the original team.
Once we had decided on an idea, I researched how to translate the core idea (the flow of information) of our concept into gameplay. The conclusion was that there should be two states in each part of the game, each containing different information. This was the basis of the time travel mechanic.
The other part, focused more on the flow bit, was to be inspired by the butterfly effect. The problems the player would solve would be small and daily problems, but they could have disastrous consequences. This became the basis of a developing story with puzzles that could be solved in more than one way.
After two weeks of development we had to pitch the concept to the entire year. I prepared and presented this pitch.
Once the project was greenlit I prepared concept and design documentation to be shared with the new team members that would be joining us. This was to ensure a smooth transition into the pre-production phase.
Design
Gameplay
My involvement in design was mostly during the pre-production phase. Because I was the original designer, I helped flesh out the systems and design approach. This meant a lot of research into adventure, point-and-click, and room escape type games.
I was responsible for the core design of the time switching system and how to combine the two timelines.
Again, the core idea here was to present two different information states and combine the information from each to prevent a butterfly effect in the story. The information was translated into items that represented an event that had happened. By figuring out which item had been responsible for what change, the player could then solve the puzzle.
Essentially it became a Rube Goldberg machine that had to be investigated from the finishing line.
Narrative Design & Writing
During production I joined the design team as a narrative designer and writer. I solidified the context of the world and the puzzles. This meant writing a very basic backstory that the artists could use to model around but also the general flow of the problems the player would have to solve. Each department was taken into consideration, and involved in the process, of setting up the context for the world and puzzles. The result is a cohesive setting that aligns with gameplay.
I worked closely with the level designer on how to present puzzles and plot points, and how we could best combine these into the level design.
Afterwards I wrote all the lines to guide the player through the level and puzzles, as well as through the tutorial.
Production
During Pre-Production
-scope and roadmap
-risk assessment
-pipelines & documentation
During Production
My main tasks during the production phase were to run the daily agile procedures, protect scope, and uphold quality standards. I also reported development to lecturing staff, who took on the role of stakeholders.
Besides that I was also responsible for solving any (production) issues the team encountered. The biggest of these was COVID.
The production phase happened right at the first COVID lockdown in the Netherlands. The team had to adjust to working from home and this brought productivity issues with it. Our original estimates were no longer accurate. A pandemic had not been part of the risk assessment done previously, however, I could combine contingency plans for losing team members and problems with communication.
For instance, we drastically reduced the item interaction gameplay. Where the original plan had been to combine items in several ways to get to different endings, we instead went back to classic point-and-click mechanics; each item can be used for only one scenario. This helped reduce pressure on both the designers and the programmers. We also decided to cut an entire level, again to reduce pressure for everyone.
As for the communication issues, we included a weekly summary with presentation at the end of the week where everyone presented their work, right after the build review. This kept the team updated and allowed for a fun way to end the week. I also sent out webcams with microphones to team members who did not have these available.
As a result the team delivered a finished project with the expected quality standards without having to crunch, which is an achievement I am proud of.
Quality Assurance
At this time in our study we collectively did not have a lot of experience with QA and testing. As part of my production role I took up the task of researching how to set up QA for a small team, document the findings, and then present it to the team. This ensured that we all knew what was expected of us.
Afterwards I set up pipelines for testing and test plans. I took on the role of QA lead and made sure we had weekly build reviews and all bugs were properly documented and assigned.
All of this work is shown in the above document. I included both the research/background information and the specific plans for our team. It also included specific ways to report bugs and glossary terms. That way this became a conclusive reference document that the whole team used throughout production.
We used JIRA for the bug reports and assigning, which I set up and managed.
PROJECT INFORMATION
ROLES: Gameplay Designer | Producer
GENRE: Room Escape / Puzzle
ENGINE: Unity
TEAM SIZE: 3 – 13
DEVELOPMENT PERIOD: Dec 2019 – Jun 2020
PLATFORM: Mobile (Android)