RECALCULATING
SHOWCASED AT
THINK SMALL TALK IS TOUGH?
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Imagine if your life depended on it.
Recalculating is a soft-thriller visual-novel intended to simulate an uncomfortable position familiar to many women: being in a rideshare vehicle.
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Navigate your thoughts and choices by launching a ball to select dialogue options that bounce around the screen.
In a game with multiple endings and plot twists, can you speak your mind when it really matters? After all, when anxietites heighten, things becomes harder to say... literally.
I was this project's narrative designer. Over the course of development, I worked with my team of 3 to develop and write using our branching dialogue structure.
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In order to simulate a realistic conversation with consequences that would influence the ending of the game, we sorted the outcome of each player choice into "confrontational" and "friendly". I wanted to represent how different people would respond to the driver.
MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT
(Click for larger image)
Aside from the structure of the narrative, other parts of my work included:
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Building the character sheet for my driver character
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Researching headline-worthy rideshare incidences over the last 5 years as reference material
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Implementing the visual representation of each dialogue choice in engine
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Running a closed beta and playtesting the game in public spaces to gather data on how often players choose different options
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Interviewing and speaking with individuals who have been in similar situations to gain a better understanding of what to represent in-game