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My Contributions to Voltage Vendors
Lead Game Designer
  • Managed and led team of 6 other designers

  • Ran weekly meetings, set the agenda, created meeting notes

  • Created and maintained Design Documents

  • Managed and ran 90% of Playtesting sessions

  • Created feedback templates and instructions for playtesting sessions

  • Liaised and worked with other team leads to ensure a consistent vision and good collaboration between teams

  • Created a pen and paper prototype

    • This allowed us to rapidly test and iterate on the initial mechanics​

  • Designed the battery minigame

    • This was designed to be a relatively easy minigame in keeping with the overall chill and relaxing vibe

    • Focus was more on contributing to the atmosphere rather than being an accurate simulation of how phones or batteries work

    • Early playtests showed that simply charging a battery was too simple, so I added an overcharging feature that causes batteries to explode. Doing this created a more dynamic experience with the player having to make sure they stop charging at the right time. Due to the infinitely spawning battery fish however, the player could always get more batteries and a battery exploding was never a punishing experience in keeping with the overall relaxing vibe of the game

  • Designed the Tutorial and Progression System

    • The instructions on how to play the game are communicated through D.A.V.E, on screen text, and in world text​

    • D.A.V.E is a mentor like figure designed to provide instructions to the player via dialogue. I'll talk more about him under my Narrative contributions

    • I designed the progression system to provide one new puzzle at a time. That is to say the first phone the player fixed only have one component that was broken, then the next had two broken components and so on. This ensured that the player wasn't overwhelmed and could get feedback that they had fixed each component correctly. Subsequent testing proved that this was designed effectively as none of the testers struggled with how to fix a component after the first time

    • On Screen text and In World text were added as the most effective way to prompt the player on what they had to do or what each of the tools were. While they did hurt immersion, playtesting proved that it was the best option because of their simplicity

Lead Narrative Designer
  • Managed and led team of 2 other writers

  • Ran weekly meetings, set the agenda, created meeting notes

  • Created and maintained a game script which covered story beats, dialogue, puzzles, and other events

  • Liaised and worked with other team leads, especially the Art lead, to ensure consistent game and character themes

  • Created the central themes of the game (breaking free of expectations, ideas, and judgements that other people force onto you)

  • Conducted quality control, editing all dialogue and other writing to ensure a consistent voice throughout the game

  • Designed the central themes of the game

    • These were about breaking free of the expectations, ideas, and judgements that other people forced onto you. This was intended to be told through an epic storyline in which Hazel helps C.A.R.A to see herself as an individual, they fall in love, and then smuggle themselves to Earth. A place C.A.R.A had always dreamed of with all of its trees and grass and natural beauty, a striking contrast from the space station that she was created and forced to work in, with its sharp edges and stale artificiality. A lot of this was unfortunately cut in the final game.​

  • Designed all story beats

    • Michael and Letty - designed to be a cute and heart warming experience to set the scene for the next beat. C.A.R.A owns nothing and is herself property that has been designed to make money. So Letty giving that gift was a sign that she respected C.A.R.A as an individual.

    • Shredder #1 - designed to be a gut wrenching and sad moment. It is a harsh reminder that C.A.R.A is expected not to have emotional attachments because she is just a machine made to work for Voltage Vendors. 

    • Susan - a prejudiced customer to reinforce the idea that robots aren't very well liked or respected in this universe.  

    • Hazel - She is C.A.R.A's love interest. She actually cares about and respects robots, enough that she is the only character to actually tip C.A.R.A. She also gifts her a picture of earth after seeing her look longingly at the Earth.

    • Shredder #2 - The final scene of the game has C.A.R.A approach the Shredder for a second time. This time though, she refuses to back down and chooses to keep the picture and instead shreds the plaque itself. This is the final beat of the story and is intended to end things on a high note with C.A.R.A taking her first steps to independence and freedom.​

  • Wrote all dialogue for D.A.V.E

    • D.A.V.E was a complex character that played many roles. He was a guide for the player, a foil for C.A.R.A, and a unique character with his own identity. While initially envisioned as a way to give the player instructions, I also wanted to write him in a way that portrayed him as an individual rather than just a set of instructions. To this end I gave him a snarky personality and interspersed his instructions with lines that showcased his personality or provided info on the wider world. 

    • At the same time D.A.V.E was designed to have an opposing personality to C.A.R.A so that her personality would stand out more. While C.A.R.A was dissatisfied with existing solely to work for Voltage Vendors, D.A.V.E took pride in his position at the company. While C.A.R.A dreamed of going to earth to live a better life, D.A.V.E looked down on her, smug and full of himself because in his mind he was already living the good life.  â€‹

  • Wrote all dialogue for Susan

    • Susan was written as a character to show the general attitude towards Robots. Which was that they were unreliable and inferior to humans in skill and other areas. One thing I had to be careful of was to not make this overly negative so as to unnecessarily hurt the chill vibes of the game. To this end Susan was written as slightly reluctant to be served by a robot rather than outright hostile.​

  • Wrote the Shredder Plaque

    • The Shredder Plaque was intended to itself serve as an emotional blow in addition to providing context for the scene itself. Its first line reiterates the general perception in this universe, that robots do not have meaning or lives beyond what they were expressly created to do, it is also linked to the CEO's message of the day, "If you aren't working, you aren't living". The plaque was also written in a stiff and mechanical tone to further show that divide between the perception of robots and humans, for example it uses the term "emotional artefacts" instead of "personal property". ​

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