DOXA
DOXA early gameplay walk-through (work in progress) | Made in Unity
Early walk-through, setting the tone, learning to play and introduced to the goal.
For this game I did all game design, scripting (C#, Lua), AI, level design, systems design, balancing, UI, camera, writing, art direction and team leader.
This conversation system was designed to be a single system within a larger game system in such genre’s as RPG’s and action adventure titles and not a stand alone game in itself.
Game systems flow chart documents.
Gameplay System
The player stats and NPC ranks relating to the dialogue system. The gameplay system is designed to incorporate a dynamic social system between the player and NPC’s. How the player’s characters looks, speaks and what they say determines their value (cool) socially. At one stage I wanted to add the player characters emotions as a factor but that added more complexity, so maybe I’ll find a way to add that later. Dynamic is a key term in the design as the player character can talk to any NPC in the game world, have a unique interaction with that NPC and build their character from that interaction. The quest system works similar to that of the Sims franchise as quests comes from the player characters feelings and options rather than a tasks list seen in most open world games. Each NPC also has a build made up of their faction, cool level, sex and relationship to the player which results in certain dynamic responses and interactions in the conversation system.
Core Gameplay Loop
Core loop of the dialogue system. The design aims to add twitch style gameplay to conversation, making the player make decisions and telegraph what they want to say within a short time frame. The core loop went through many iterations, such as moving response buttons based on players emotions and a turn-based card game approach, but eventually landing on this for both challenge and simplicity for the player.
Game Progression
From start screen to end game. Having an end game and simple overall goal for the player to accomplish was very important for this project. Mapping out the progression from how the player starts the game and knowing what they need to do and how to do it to win, helps focuses the design and the player experience. This also serves as a great organizing tool and reference for the level design, story cut-scenes, and tutorial placement.
Early designs of the game before final iterations.
First Mock-up of Dialogue Tree Design
A tree where who you’re talking to along with your looks and dialogue choices all factor in.
City Level Design
I designed the level to lead the player to their final goal.
Customization UI Design
First design of the Customization.
Customization UI Redesign
A more streamlined approach that is closer to the final version I ended up with.