Release: The Gears Of Time
A pre-preproduction package for an AARPG designed for PC gaming. The deliverable includes game design documentation, concept artbook, pitch deck, a trailer video / demo, and logistic documentation. Designed for the pre-production semester project at CMU ETC.
Overview
Time Frame: 14 Weeks
Date: January 2023 - May 2023
Team Size: 6
Team Members: Caitlyn Lenhoff, Hagan Miller, KaYi (Shirley) Ng, Xuan (Nelson) Nie, Yi-Hsiu (Danny) Huang, and Huijie Bao
Role: Narrative Design, Game Design, Producer
Platform: PC
Tools: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Unreal Engine, Photoshop, IbisPaintX
Keywords: AARPG, Preproduction, Steampunk, Mythic, Videogame, PC
Description:
Release: the Gears of Time, is a game designed for the preproduction project at CMU ETC. The goal is for the team to develop a preproduction package entirely of their own design. We chose a AAA size AARPG meant for playing on the PC.
In Release: the Gears of Time, you play as a young archeologist, of a steampunk society, who accidentally releases an evil deity from its imprisonment. Now you must work to reseal it before it destroys humanity.
The world is built using mythic influence to direct the creation of a steampunk society. Combat is a combination of steampunk tools and summoning elemental deities that supplements a player’s unique playstyle.
Duties/Personal Contributions
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Narrative Designer:
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Created and iterated upon the world building and lore.
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Wrote and iterated upon the main plot and designed questlines to move players along the story arc
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Designed relevant characters and places and their backstories.
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Wrote and voiced script for the trailer.
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Game designer:
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Designed world maps, quest arcs, weapon samples, and script samples
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- Producer:
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Wrote and compiled design documentation for the project
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Worked on schedules, budget logistics, and external correspondence alongside my co-producer
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Created weekly update slides to organize our iterations.
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World Building
World Building Development
One of my tasks as the narrative designer was to develop the world that our game would take place in. Together we started by coming up with potential high level world ideas based around the idea of a Steampunk society with Mythic influence, as this was the hook we were trying to make. After deciding on the high level of our top choices, I then went through and expanded upon the worlds and potential plotlines we could choose from. The world of Alower was born from one of these options, based on the plotline that we liked the most.
It was my role to expand upon the world, the lore, and the history of this universe in order to make the game feel more alive.
World Building
Lore Development
Storyline Development
As narrative designer, it was also my role to develop the plot. Based on the high level plots and world building we worked on during the beginning phases, I created plots for each of the alternative potential worlds. From there we decided on which plot and which world most interested us and what we thought our audiences would find the most entertaining.
I then expanded and refined the plot of our chosen storyline and iterated it based on feedback from the rest of the team, the faculty advisors, and playtesters.
I first designed the plot based on the five movement layout for an action story: Inciting incident, Complications, Crisis, Climax, and Resolution. Then for each iteration, I would expand that into a more detailed step by step document with the finer details.
To advance the plot and give the game designers an idea of how to implement the plot into the game mechanics, I also wrote the quest logs for the game to show how the quests could potentially be used to move the story along.
Five Movement layout
Steps Document
Quests
Character Development
Another duty of mine as narrative designer was to design the characters for the game. I needed to determine who the named characters would be, what their names were, what their stories were, and what kind of personality they would have.
I would discuss the different characters needed for the plot with the other team members and decide on their main points of interest. From there I wrote small descriptions of them, what their interactions with the player would be, and how I imagined their personalities to be. This information was then given to our artists to design the actual character. An example of Cyrus and Ciara, the main character's male and female versions, is shown as an example to the right.
Based on the designs developed by the artists, and their interactions in the iterations of the plot, the characters would be modified, deleted, or added to help improve the world building and plot progression.
Game Design
Outside the scope of narrative designer, I also took on some duties of a concept designer and gameplay designer. Early on in the process we had not wanted to focus too much on iterating the plot right away due to the need to solidify the gameplay and adjust the plot to fit, so I used my extra time to help out the other designers.
I worked on item design to help our concept artists determine what weapons were possible to design for the the player to use, as we wanted the player to have a multi-form weapon to enhance the Steampunk aesthetic in the playstyle.
I helped the level designers by discussing with them and designing a dungeon walkthrough document to help them visualize how a dungeon would best flow with the basic plot and world building we already had.
Lastly, I worked with our gameplay designer to brainstorm potential ways of making the mechanics of the game work, such as key shortcuts, and initial skill brainstorms.
Production
As one of the two producers for the team, I was mainly in charge of external correspondence. My main duty was to connect our team with outsiders that we needed to correspond with such as faculty, playtesters, and advisors.
I also had the duty of assisting my co-producer, Hagan Miller, in creating weekly update slides to keep everyone in sync at the beginning of each iteration.
On top of other necessities, it was necessary for our pre-production package to have at least an example of potential budget logistics. As producer, I was put in charge of developing a document to list our theoretical budget.
Finally, as a both the narrative designer and a producer, it made the most sense to give the task of writing a script for our trailer to me. I developed a form of written storyboards for the artists to follow, as well as a script for what should be said, and when.