DETAILS
Genre: Satire, Narrative
Format: Single Player
Platform: Web
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DESIGN TENETS
* Funny
* Hopeless
* ... "either dead or in jail"
The intention behind this was to make a game about what it feels like to be Black in the U.S. Being Black is at the root of my identity, for all the good and all the bad, and I wanted to make a game that speaks to the perpetuating perspective people hold about being Black, on both the inside and outside. The idiom goes "you'll end up either dead or in jail." I did not want to be sanctimonious or chastising, as I find no catharsis or need for such perspectives when expressing my thoughts; it was to be how I intend most my games to be: humorous.
I acknowledge humor can be dark and the subject matter may inevitably make some feel uncomfortable, but my concern was not to make everyone comfortable, it was to make a game that did not take itself too serious and, that I, and hopefully many others, would find funny.
The player is greeted with a start screen out of seemingly another game: "The Prince's Paradise." Adventure and action is promised to the player, just like the American Dream, but the player is forced to live out the story of a traveling prince shipwrecked onto the shore of another kingdom in which he is not granted access. The player is also not afforded the visual representation seen in other medieval-esque adventure RPGs, they are "just a number", i.e. the number of coins they currently have.
In order to enter the kingdom to speak with the king and be granted passage back to their homeland, the player must give the gate guard 100 coins who does not believe you to be royalty in any sense. The player must go around the dock and play various mini games in order to earn more coins to pay the guard. Yet, even with 100 coins, the guard will not believe you to have earned this by legal means, and your game is over before it even starts.
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GAMEPLAY HIGHLIGHTS
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GAMEPLAY HIGHLIGHT: FAKE START MENU
Design tenets: funny, hopeless, and... "either dead or in jail."
At its core, the game is a false promise. As felt by many Black people, the American Dream is just a lie that only manifests for some people. To illustrate this, the game starts off with a menu that is of a different game. The Help modal lists a series of actions that are unavailable within the game, what's more, aside from movement, the actual bindings described ("X", "C", "V",) are not used for anything at all, and any interactions within the game are instead mapped to either "L" or "Z." The About modal describes an action adventure RPG in a medieval world that the player will never get to play.
Next is the character selection. The player has three options of heroes, a Black hero who is already unlocked, a bald White hero who is unlocked at level 5, and a Blonde White hero who is unlocked at level 30. Of course, there are no levels to progress through in the first place, and the player is forced to choose the Black hero, and the satire begins.
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GAMEPLAY HIGHLIGHT: MINI GAMES
Design tenets: funny, hopeless, and... "either dead or in jail."
The way to earn coins is not explicitly mentioned, but it is the main objective of the game, as a toll is needed in order to enter the kingdom. One of the main ways to earn coins is through playing mini games. However, not every NPC has a mini game in which to offer the player, and thus this ambiguity forces the player to interact with them all in order to collect more information. Though mini games are intended to be what the player engages in the most, I wanted to utilize every aspect of the game to either further the themes and/or provide more context as to the objective. With that said, each NPC carries with some sort of hyperbolic stereotype or assumption about the player that gives them insight on the game or the player's identity, e.g. an NPC accidentally revealing that they are looking for Frosted Watermelon sellers (more on that in the next section), or that they know the player likes drinking and making music.
The "legitimate" mini games present within the game:
* Making a Hit Song (A three lane endless runner about picking inappropriate words)
* Collecting Materials for Shoes (A snake game)
* Testing Guns (A typing game about mindlessly killing others)
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GAMEPLAY HIGHLIGHT: THE CRAB KING AND THE NUMBERED NPCs
Design tenets: funny, hopeless, and... "either dead or in jail."
Of course, frustration or eagerness to complete the objective through the mini games will build a desire to circumvent them in the player: and I obliged. The other ways in which to earn coins in this game is by robbing others or by selling an item called "Frosted Watermelon" a double satire about two unfortunate stereotypes involving food and drugs.
Initially, all NPCs have a proper name except one: "172 (Crab King)", who is essentially also... "Just a Number." This NPC provides a special mini game in which you simply gamble: you attempt to catch deadly crabs that may kill you. If you survive, the Crab King gives you Pieces of Frosted Watermelon in lieu of coins, in which trigger the presence of other NPCs; other "numbers". Like you, these NPCs are named only by the amount of coins they have, and will seek to purchase the Frosted Watermelon off you (or kill you if you have too many coins, but of course this is not alluded to).
Additionally, the mini game in which provides you coins for "testing guns," also provides the player with guns each time they play. However, the only option this unlocks is the choice to kill and rob *only* numbered NPCs (including the Crab King, in which you will take their title), instead of selling them anything.
All of this is an extended metaphor to the "Crabs in the Barrel" mentality, and to illustrate how people similar to the player coexist in this highly satirical world.
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ENGINEERING HIGHLIGHTS
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ENGINEERING HIGHLIGHT: SCRIPTABLE EVENTS
This is specific to Unity, but the highlight here is in utilizing Unity's Scriptable Objects as a way to trigger events in the game, providing contextual information to various moments and interactions in the game. The benefit of using Scriptable Objects instead of strictly raw C# events is that these events can be accessed across the editor, as well as the game, with all those references being maintained by a single project asset.
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ENGINEERING HIGHLIGHT: SCRIPTABLE NUMERIC DATA
This is specific to Unity, but the highlight here is in utilizing Unity's Scriptable Objects as a way to store runtime game data.
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