Game Design

Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate is an apocalyptic survival game, with mild horror themes, created in an interactive narrative format using the Twine game engine. In Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate we will play as Emily, a young woman who lives with chronic illness and disability. Through the course of the game we will take Emily through various events and scenarios, navigating the challenges of life as a disabled person while also trying to survive the unfolding apocalypse.

Doomsday Doesn’t Discriminate is targeted at a youth demographic aged 13 to 17 years, and is aimed at gamers of all skill levels. This demographic has been selected due to the high numbers of young people who play games on a regular basis, with the Digital Australia Report 2018 showing that 76% of Australians aged 17 and under play video games (Brand et al. 2017). Research carried out by the Entertainment Software Association also shows that 70% of parents believe that gaming can have a positive influence on their children (The Entertainment Software Association, 2018), this positive association has the potential to positively influence reach towards out chosen demographic.

With gaming being an important tool in education and training, with studies showing that those who regularly play action video games develop the ability to learn new tasks quickly and more efficiently, this means that people who play action video games have essentially learned to learn (Green and Bavelier, 2015, p. 105). Emerging research is also showing that games have the potential to influence, and enhance, empathy related function in the adolescent brain (Kral et al. 2018, p.13-14). This ability to influence empathy in young people is another key reason for selecting this demographic as Doomsday Doesn’t Discriminate will be dealing with the subject of disability and challenging pervasive perceptions of disability.

Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate is intended to challenge the idea that those living with disability are lesser than their able bodied counterparts. There is a pervasive attitude in our society that people with disabilities are weaker, less capable, and in survival situations ultimately a burden or problem to be dealt with. This can be seen across all forms of media, with disabled characters in film and television often being killed off in gruesome spectacle, or sacrificed in some manner, including self-sacrifice, to ensure the survival of the able bodied group. Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate plans to challenge this outlook by featuring Emily, our protagonist, and exploring the ways that those with disabilities can adapt and overcome even the most challenging of situations. Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate also plans to challenge some well-established media tropes relating to disability representation. These tropes include neuro-divergence being treated like a bizarre quirk to be laughed at, and the trope of those with disability being morally bankrupt or evil, and more prone to cruelty or callous decision making.

In Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate our protagonist, Emily, is a young woman who is on the Autism Spectrum and who also lives with the disabling chronic illness Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Navigating daily life can be a challenge for her but when the apocalypse strikes she's left having to navigate her disability and a world that feels like its falling to pieces. The major tasks the player will undertake are to make decisions on how Emily will navigate the world and how she will face each challenge that presents itself to her. The game will take place over a single day, with the ultimate goal for the player to make it home to safety. This will prove challenging however as after what seems like a normal morning the world starts crashing down, and the player has to navigate this new and unpredictable world in order to ensure Emily makes it to the relative safety of her home.

In Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate the goal is to navigate obstacles and challenges on our players journey home in an apocalyptic environment. This navigation is driven through player choice, with the player being presented with obstacles and a series of options to try overcome them. The choice of options here will be limited, with some presenting an alternative path towards the end goal, and others resulting in short events where the player will learn a little more about the protagonist and her story. A small example of this has been demonstrated below in the flow chart, or digital paper-prototype.

As shown above choice the player makes can lead to different interactions and experiences. On one path the player may opt to try cross a damaged bridge over a deep gully, ultimately leading to the player character falling and crashing to the ground some distance below, or they may attempt to skirt the gully and find a new path towards their end goal. Both options provide an opportunity for the player to gain insight into the protagonist and her life.

These limited options also serve as a mechanic to gain some understanding of what it is like to be a person like our protagonist. Life with Autism and disabling chronic illness can be rigid, sensory needs with Autism often being rigid and limiting choices that can be made in all areas of life. Likewise life with a disabling chronic illness can restrict options in many areas of life due to things like symptom flare ups and lack of accessibility in public spaces. By employing a relatively restrictive choice mechanic we are not just reducing the chances of the story creeping out of control and deviating from the main plot into something that makes little sense, but we are also providing a way for the player to gain some understanding of what life can be like for people like our protagonist.

According to Ralph Koster “Fun is just another word for learning” (Koster 2013, p.46), and he believes that play and learning are linked on a fundamental level. Learning through play is an important part of human development, its how children learn appropriate social skills and learn how to move through the world around them, and it is such a vital part of the human experience that our brains release a neurotransmitter chemical known as dopamine in response to playful learning. Dopamine acts on the reward centers of the brain and is responsible for the feeling of fun we experience when playing a game, and also is responsible for keeping us engaged with games as dopamine is also released during play and encourages reward seeking behaviour (Neuroscientifically Challenged, 2015)

When considering fun in games Lazzaro has identified four key to fun (Lazzaro 2004), these are:

· Easy Fun

· Hard Fun

· People Fun

· Serious Fun

Each of these keys, or elements of fun can be used by game designers to create emotion in our players, thereby enhancing engagement and creating a more enjoyable overall gaming experience. In Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate we use Easy, People, and Serious fun to create emotion in our players. Through the use of choice as a mechanic in the game, allowing the player to dictate some of the direction the story will take, we will be using the element of Easy Fun to create a sense of curiosity in our players. When faced with a choice to cross a bridge or find an alternate route home, our player may decide to take the second option and instead of taking the more direct route towards the goal instead see where other options take them.

The second element of fun that we will be using in the game is People Fun, in order to do this we will be including short sequences where the player will have the option to briefly interact with others in the game. These interactions could include things like helping an NPC out of a tricky situation, or even freeing a trapped animal. One situation we will be including in the game is early on when our character encounters an older person who needs help getting out of a building with a damaged door. There will be an element of risk and reward here, as Emily won't know the motivation of the NPC and if she will be able to safely free them from the building, but by including the choice here we are providing our players with an opportunity to experience empathy and compassion. The third element of fun that Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate features is that of Serious Fun. The main goal of the game to challenge perceptions about disability, with the desired goal of having the player think a little more about their own attitudes towards disability. In order to do this we will be featuring short sequences where Emily has to stop on her journey home and deal with an immediate issue that her disabilities have caused, in this way we will explore both her Autism and her physical disability. The game will feature short events where Emily may become stressed and anxious due to her routine being disrupted and has to engage in stimming to help center and calm herself before she is able to continue her journey. The game will also feature other events where Emily injures herself as a result of her physical disability and then has to manage those injuries before she can continue to make her way home. At times this will tie into the previous element of fun, as by engaging with NPCs Emily may perform an action that results in physical injury – for example pulling hard on a stuck door and dislocating her thumb. By featuring these events in the game the player will have an opportunity to experience a small glimpse into the real life of people like our protagonist, and will hopefully come away from the experience with changed perceptions of disability.

Emily is your average 16 year old, she goes to school, hangs out with her friends, and shares selfies on social media, but Emily isn't like other girls her age. Emily is Autistic and lives with an illness that makes her joints very weak and leaves her struggling with daily pain. She wakes up one dreary Monday morning expecting to go off to school like usual, sitting in class all day before heading home to chat with her friends online. But this isn't your average Monday and when a massive storm suddenly strikes, bringing with it catastrophic damage and unseen creatures that lurk in shadows, Emily learns that Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate.

Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate is a narrative driven game, where the players choices influence the directions the plot takes. At its core Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate focuses on the story of Emily, our young Autistic protagonist who lives with a disabling chronic illness, and her responses to an apocalyptic event that seems to be ending the world as she knows it. Choose her actions and responses to in game events and interactions with other characters, and try survive the unknown on your way home.

Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate is a narrative driven game, and due to this narrative focus our game will have a 7 point narrative structure, starting with a hook to get the player interested in the game, progressing through plot points and pinch points, and then onward to a final resolution. The following list will briefly explain each narrative point of our game story from initiation to resolution. Hook – This is our opening sequence where we will learn a little about Emily, her life, and her struggles. The game starts early in the morning, with Emily waking and getting ready for her school day. Some early choices here will include what clothing Emily will wear and if she has completed her homework or not, these choices serve the purpose of allowing the player to begin feeling connected to Emily and invested in her story. The first signs of trouble with the impending disaster will be noted here too, Emily will take note of a news report talking about abnormal weather, and on her walk to school she will observe dark clouds on the horizon.

Plot Point One – This is our first major event within the game that serves to propel the story forward. A huge storm hits the town while Emily is at school, depending on earlier choices made this storm may strike as Emily is being scolded for forgetting her homework, or praised on her hard work, this is done to give meaning to a previous player choice. Students and teachers will remain inside the school building while the storm rages, the power goes out and parts of the ceiling will come down, with water pouring into the classroom. This event throws Emily’s carefully planned daily routine into total chaos and leads us to our next narrative point. Pinch Point One – This is our first reaction sequence, where the player will react in some way to the events that are unfolding around our character. The storm begins to fade and the damage to the school, and town, starts to become apparent. This creates a lot of stress for Emily as she feels most comfortable in familiar sounds and with a regular routine, but this cataclysmic storm has turned her little world on its head and she struggles to deal with this which results in sensory overload and a small Autistic meltdown. The player will have a choice in how to deal with this event, either through actively stimming to calm Emily down or by shutting down and retreating into themselves for a short time, both responses are very common responses to stressful stimuli in Autism and these will allow the player to gain some insight into what life can be like for a person on the spectrum.

Middle Point – This is a key narrative point as it is where the story really starts to progress. Things become more active from this point, and the story is more about action rather than reaction. Emily, having calmed herself enough to think clearly decides she needs to get home as soon as she can. While most of the students and teachers have opted to remain at the school until help comes, Emily needs to get home to more familiar surrounds even if that means facing potential hazards outside of the now ruined school. This point will feature a point where the story will branch into two directions, depending on if Emily attempts to cross a damaged bridge or if she chooses to find an alternative route. While the narrative will differ depending on the direction the player chooses, the key narrative points will remain similar from here on.

Final Pinch Point – This is the point where our character, and players, start reacting to events with varying degrees of success.

As Emily continues on her journey home she becomes aware of increasing risks, the town is more damaged than she had expected and there are strange creatures lurking in the shadows. She has to navigate these hazards, while also dealing with the physical impact that they are having on her. Emily will face two sets of injury at this point in the game, each one arising from an encounter with a non-player character.

Final Plot Point – This is where the story starts to wind up and reach its conclusion. At this point our character will be feeling low and like they have made a terrible mistake and it is this feeling that leads us to our final conclusion. Emily has almost made it home but she finds herself overwhelmed by the situation she has found herself in. Tired, injured, and feeling increasingly on the verge of meltdown from stress and sensory overload, she feels like she made a mistake in leaving the school and trying to make her way home. With strange creatures stalking her in the shadows, and the path becoming increasingly difficult to traverse, Emily is left facing a difficult choice. Does she push forward and try make it home even though she may fail, or does she find somewhere to hide and hope things get better on their own. Conclusion – The ending of our story.

The previous choice made by Emily dictates how this conclusion unfolds, but either way she does make it to safety. If the player chooses to have Emily push forward she finds herself in a race against the shadowy creatures that have been stalking her steps since mid-game, she has to navigate physical barriers and also manage minor injuries on the run, until she finally reaches the safety of her home and the waiting arms of her mother. If the player chose to have Emily hide and wait things out she will need to find a space to hide, and once there will hear the shadow creatures outside trying to sniff her out. She will need to remain quiet, trying to manage her anxiety and sensory issues in order to remain undetected until help comes. In this ending Emily is discovered by her father, who chases the shadow creatures away allowing Emily to emerge from her hiding spot.

Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate has a target demographic of teens who will be of an age where they can view and appreciate some very mild horror themes, including monsters and threats lurking in the unknown. The language used within the game will be age appropriate, treating the audience as the young adults they are while refraining from any obscenity and foul language. In terms of visual the game will feature stylised 2d graphics with each in game sequence focusing on a single image reflecting the story elements of the scene. The art style will be reminiscent of that of comic and cartoon artist Rebecca Sugar of Adventure Time and Steven Universe fame.

Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate will be created using the Twine game engine. This engine allows us to center our focus on the game narrative in order to create an interactive story driven game. Twine lacks native support for many features more commonly associated with video games, and limits designers to using text, audio, and simpler 2d graphics without animated features. This simpler technology lends itself well to the game aesthetics, which we want to take a simpler almost cartoon feel, and will underpin our key mechanic of choice as a means to drive both gameplay and plot forward.

Doomsday Doesn't Discriminate will be created in Twine and will require players to have an internet connected device capable of running an internet browser such as Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox. Suitable devices are PC or laptop, android or I.OS tablet, or a smartphone. The game will also be playable on a gaming console such as Xbox or PlayStation, providing that the player has a suitable web browser app installed to their console. 97% of Australian households with children under the age of 15 have access to the internet and with 91% of households accessing the internet on both PC and mobile phone (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018), reaching our target demographic shouldn't pose any problems. PC gaming is the dominant form of computer based gaming in Australia, with 82% of households using the PC for gaming purposes (Brand et al. 2017) and this trend holds true in other markets such as the USA where 41% of American gamers choose to play their games on PC (The Entertainment Software Association, 2018). This should ensure reasonable access for our game in other markets outside of Australia.

All text within the game, including menu text, subtitles, tutorials, and any button text, will be written in a sans-serif font, this is to ensure easy readability (DVG interactive, 2017). A sans-serif font featuring distinct contrast between the characters b,d,p,q, where each pair is a distinct shape rather than a mirror, is also important to further enhance readability for dyslexic gamers (British Dyslexia Association, n.d) for this reason the font Verdana has been selected as it has each of the features necessary for maximum readability.

As Twine lacks native screen reader support those with visual impairment will be unable to utilise a reader to enhance game playability, to help mitigate the difficulties this could post the decision to set the in game text to a larger default has been made. Text colour will be black on a light grey background to enhance contrast between the text and background and again enhance readability.

All art assets used in the game will be checked using a colour blindness simulator to ensure that colour and design choices made will have maximum readability for players with a variety of colour blindness conditions. Colours used within the game will also be selected with care to avoid triggering the chromostereopsis effect – the visual illusion of colour vibration (Clockwork Design Group, Kittle, 2016). This will help prevent visual disturbance that could trigger migraine in sensitive individuals, or sensory overload in players on the Autism spectrum.

Image: Colour chart demonstrating combinations of colours that exhibit the chromosteroppsis effect, combinations like these must be avoided when making colour choices due to the accessibility implications (Coultman-Smith, 2019).

Image: Comparison between colour blindness simulations of our Player Character concept, featuring left to right – dichromatic tritanopia colour blindness, monochromatic or total colour blindness, and anomalous trichromacy / protanomoly colour blindness (Coultman-Smith, 2019).

Image: Comparison between colour blindness simulations of our Monster Character concept, featuring left to right – anomalous trichromacy / protanomoly colour blindness, monochromatic or total colour blindness, and dichromatic protanopia colour blindness (Coultman-Smith, 2019).

As seen in the above concept comparisons the colours used for our Player Character, Emily, are readable across multiple forms of colour blindness and need little improvement. Her hair colour could be changed to increase the contrast between her hair and skin for players with monochromatic / total colour blindness, but the hue and saturation of the other colours used in the concept shouldn’t require alteration. However in the concept comparisons for our Monster character we can see that changes do need to be made to increase readability for colour blind players. The eyeball in particular needs work as it loses readability when viewed through a monochromatic and dichromatic protanopia colour blindness filter. Possible changes to increase readability would be to reduce the saturation of the red sclera on the eyeball to make it appear pink rather than red, thereby increasing contrast between the iris and sclera which should increase readability, or to change the overall colour scheme of the eye entirely.

The in game control scheme and menu navigation will be limited to mouse click interaction to ensure that the gameplay and menus have the same degree of accessibility (Game Accessibility Guidelines, n.d). Progression through the game will be dictated by a point and click system where the player will select a text based button from a list of two or more possible choices. All buttons, both in game and in menu, will feature text rather than the use of symbols, and will feature a distinct border to indicate that they are an interactive feature rather than static text.

Audio will be kept to a minimum within the game, featuring background music and some sound effects, these effects will have the option to be turned off within the game menus and any sound effects will be conveyed through the use of subtitles to enable Deaf players to encounter and experience the limited in game audio effects.. Any dialogue will be text based, reducing the need for additional subtitles which could create and overwhelming amount of textual information for those with visual impairment or dyslexia.