Design Approach

gAME dESIGN

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Design Document

Full Play Through

By youtuber L Squared LIVe

By youtuber iwanPLAYS

This game has received over 250+ downloads on itch.io with over 1500 views, and was an itch.io featured game for over a week. Thanks to content creators and itch.io SIGNED A has been publicly viewed by over 12,000 people.

A Psychological Horror Puzzle game with hard hitting reality.

While designing Signed A. I wanted to ensure the player walked anyway rethinking the entire game upon completion.

Signed A.

This game was designed to build up events, photographs, notes, and puzzles that seem to have little connection until the last 5-7 minutes of game play when everything comes crashing together in a big reveal. This is done intentionally to ensure the player walks away from the game rethinking every moment, puzzle, and decision to understand the complexities of the narrative. This game was also designed with simple mechanics so the players focus on the puzzles and solutions would allow immersion into the environment. The game moves away from jump scares and moves to terrorize the player through repetition, fear, and stress of the unknown. The repetition directly correlates to the narrative of drug addiction.

Game Design

lEVEL dESIGN

Here I explain the design process and approach for different levels I have designed using elements such as:

Lighting, Guiding Lines, Occlusion, Signifiers, Affordances, Shape Language, Environmental Emotions, Framing, and many more.

Level Designs

Dungeon Master

I have been playing D&D for about 3 years and have grown to love the game. In recent years however, I have found more enjoyment in running the game! I have been DM'ing D&D for a little over a year now and have run over 10 One-Shots or Short Campaigns (3 sessions at most), and am currently running a Sandbox Campaign in which I created and designed the maps, lore, narrative, etc. As I enjoy running pre-created modules, I have found more enjoyment in world building, managing the complexities of trade, economics, politics, wars, conflicts, and story building. I enjoy giving my players freedom of choice as I prefer them to drive the story as I sprinkle in DM fun here and there!

Providence Map

Map of the Providence the party is currently operating out of.

Edgewen

Controlled by Lord Henry Cilson. Warden Bailsid sends all trial by combats here by degree as it is easiest to get rid of the bodies. There is an Arena made here for Trail by combat. When people die they are loaded in carts and transported by the cart full to Edgewen to have the bodies offer to The Wastes so the desert does not spread further across the continent. Primarily a trades town. Overseers that work under Lord Henry primarily do business here. Town was created to keep eyes on The Waste.

Vaseen

Vaseen is a small town with a little over 150 people living here. This town primarily survives due to travelers stopping here on there way to Sidvon. For that reason, there is a good amount of wealth in this area, a few people do farm but generally the focus here is trade, taverns, Inns, and entertainment. There is a town slightly north (24 miles) of Vaseen that has been abandoned for about 50 years due to an orcish raid. After the raid was dealt with the survivors didn’t return home.

Providence Map

Map of the Providence the party is currently operating out of.

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Organization Tools

I primarily use Scrivener for story boarding and organization of people, places, thoughts, etc. I have found this software to be the greatest help when a player succeeds on a history check for example that references a NPC the players interacted with at the beginning of the Campaign. Additionally, I use Inkarnate to assist with map and world building. The price point and pre-created asset collection allows me to focus on the design and progression of the Campaign. I have all my players use dndbeyond.com as well. This creates a better experience for the players as they can not forget materials. Additionally, the ability as the DM to reference their character sheets at a moments notice does help me to tailor some encounters or puzzles to unique spells and abilities members of the Campaign have accessible.