At the beginning of the Trapped project, I thought I could finish all the development process on my own. But the narrative-heavy metafictional game needs detailed visual content. Though I can get a prototype using free pixel assets, to get impressive gameplay requires a pixel artist. I wish to find a coursemate who is capable and willing to do the job, but it still seemed impossible. Luckily Ziqi (Leefer) reach me and said she can do the pixel art and environment storytelling part.

Team Building

First, we talked a lot about the idea of this game. Trapped is a meta-game based on the Harvest Moon series’s mining mini-game. And the story is about the veteran miner finding the jewel he wants. Trapped have 2 meaning: the miner was trapped inside the mine; the character is trapped inside the game. Luckily Ziqi is a fan of mining game and shows me the former games she played. After several rounds of chatting about the prototype, a team of 2 is formed up.

Then the question is the job field. Metagame requires normal gameplay and discussion about the game itself. Though it has different ways to express it, with Ziqi’s help, we can use cut scenes instead of text only to show the thoughts. So in the end, I will handle the coding, writing and game design, and Ziqi will do the pixel art and environmental storytelling.

Cooperation needs the understanding of each other within the team. After talking about lifestyle and working routine, we decided to have a weekly meeting and daily talk about development progress.

Communication process

Efficient communication requires certain software. According to our daily work, Trello and WeChat are selected as tools. Trello can be used as a public space to store our progress, meeting record. In case of the time difference between me and Ziqi, Trello becomes even more important. Each of us can leave messages, thoughts, or even specific function demands. And once the user set Trello as the homepage, each difference can be noticed at once and discussed afterwards. WeChat can act as a video meeting room and social media.

https://trello.com/b/gxp1Zpeb/trapped-the-game

Each week we will discuss our process, thoughts and other things. And records are documented on the Trello page in Chinese and English language. And also there are documents in Excel to record pixel art requirement and references. There is 2 excel file about character design and cutscenes so far.

About project management in Trapped, we arrange task into weeks. My major is public management with a bachelor degree, so this part should be my job. Feedback for each week is recorded and improvement has been made. In the last term, the Collaborative Unit had taken some time so the development time is limited.

Outcomes and difficulties

Trapped’s development, for now, has reached a point. It looks like a Harvest Moon mining game and has basic mechanics now. And in the metafictional part of Trapped, we’re trying to convey messages using text and images. The first version of Trapped will shortly be submitted and assessed.

In the environmental storytelling part. We have tried different elements to tell the story inside the mine. Bloodstain and skeletons will tell each player that the mine is extremely dangerous. And weird scratch on the wall can show there are strange things that happened before. The scene of the first levels can be mild-looking, and gradually the atmosphere will become heavy.

The main difficulty we meet together is the time difference. Ziqi is in London now while I’m still in the southern part of China. We have 8 hour’s time difference which limited real-time communication. Normally we will leave a message to each other and check after waking up. Fortunately, we have Trello and other application to ensure communication. From the outcome’s point of view, we have overcome the time difference and other minor difficulties.