Prisoner's Cinema is a game about living with insomnia.
It was created by a team of four student developers in approximately 12 weeks, from concept to playable prototype.
I was the project's game designer and writer.
(Please note that the build represents a vertical slice of a potential gameplay experience, and is not intended to be viewed as a finished, shippable product. Captured here are the exploratory first steps of a much larger experience.)
It was created by a team of four student developers in approximately 12 weeks, from concept to playable prototype.
I was the project's game designer and writer.
(Please note that the build represents a vertical slice of a potential gameplay experience, and is not intended to be viewed as a finished, shippable product. Captured here are the exploratory first steps of a much larger experience.)
Design Process Materials
High-Level Design Document (Explore It)
I created this document during our narrow pre-production window, and has served as a touchstone for communication throughout the design process. Although many of the features and systems defined within were excised for reasons of scope, the structural spine of the game as seen here remains intact.
Sample pages:
I created this document during our narrow pre-production window, and has served as a touchstone for communication throughout the design process. Although many of the features and systems defined within were excised for reasons of scope, the structural spine of the game as seen here remains intact.
Sample pages:
Introductory Scene "Beat Sheet"
For each playable chunk of narrative content, or "quest" in our game, I construct a document which details each beat of action as the player will experience them, and which also breaks each beat down into its developmental components. We use these documents as a team to ensure that we have a shared understanding of the scene we're building, as well as which team member is responsible for discrete pieces of the experience.
For each playable chunk of narrative content, or "quest" in our game, I construct a document which details each beat of action as the player will experience them, and which also breaks each beat down into its developmental components. We use these documents as a team to ensure that we have a shared understanding of the scene we're building, as well as which team member is responsible for discrete pieces of the experience.
Introductory Scene Branching Dialogue Script
For the composition of our game's branching dialogue, I utilized Twine, the non-linear storytelling tool, as it allows us to prototype at any stage of the writing process. As I was the only writer on the project, and because our schedule was stringent, the ability to swiftly conduct team script reviews and for me to iterate based on feedback was critical. Our programmer also created a custom parser so that he could import my Twine files directly into Unity, which further expedited content creation.
This scene introduces players to our central characters, and to the fact that they're playing as a character suffering from insomnia.
For the composition of our game's branching dialogue, I utilized Twine, the non-linear storytelling tool, as it allows us to prototype at any stage of the writing process. As I was the only writer on the project, and because our schedule was stringent, the ability to swiftly conduct team script reviews and for me to iterate based on feedback was critical. Our programmer also created a custom parser so that he could import my Twine files directly into Unity, which further expedited content creation.
This scene introduces players to our central characters, and to the fact that they're playing as a character suffering from insomnia.
| introductory_dream_sequence_v.6.tws |
