Courage
Courage is a 2D mobile interactive visual novel created for the Android platform.
It follows Valerie and her journey to accept herself for who she is.
Project Overview
2018 (3 months) ・ Team Size: 3 ・ Unity3D 2018 ・ Microsoft Visual Studios ・ Unity C#
Courage is a game about, as the name implies, courage. The courage to be yourself in a world that increasingly becomes broader with the internet, to let yourself be loved as who you are and not who you are portraying yourself as.
The internet and social media has caused people to be increasingly more conscious of the 'self' they portray to others, sometimes to the detriment of self, and this project was meant to target that.
As an interactive visual novel, the game itself has a variety of small minigames that mimic real life experiences/situations.
Roles
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Producer
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Technical Lead
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Gameplay Programmer
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Gameplay Designer
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UI/UX Designer
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Artist
Producer
As producer, my tasks were
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To plan the schedule and keep the team on it
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Perform quality checks on all aspects of the game
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Prioritize tasks for the team
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Cut tasks/features if needed
I tried to work with what my designers have given me as best as I could, allowing them the creative freedom to pursue what they wanted as long as it made sense and could be completed in time.
If there were any features that could not created in time, I had to prioritize and cut content that was least likely to affect the game.
Together with the team, we delivered a game that is different from traditional visual novels.
Technical Lead
Unity3D 2018 ・ Microsoft Visual Studios ・ Unity C#
As Technical Lead, my responsibilities included
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Creating system architecture
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Establishing a pipeline that would allow fast iteration
What I did was create a pipeline that allowed team members to swiftly test their mini games and cutscene sequences by simply reordering the game chapter flow. This reduced testing time by allowing developers to easily test their own sequences without the need of going through the whole game.
I also provided support for the team when they encountered any technical difficulties they could not solve, as well as providing features if requested and were feasible.
Some of the features implemented are
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Vibration
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Accelerometer input
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Tap / Tap-and-drag input
These features were incorporated into the game in a way that enhanced the feel and immersion of playing it.
Gameplay Designer / Programmer
Unity3D 2018 ・ Unity UI ・ Unity C#
Since the game was a interactive visual novel where the gameplay was meant to portray some part of the story and hold emotional significance, the design was very important. Some of my responsibilities include
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Coming up with mini games that would accurately portray the story
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Designing the game so that it would have various stages of difficulty
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Teaching the player how to play each mini game
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Creating engagement for the player
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Developing and programming each mini game
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Play testing and iteration of design
It was very tough to design mini games that would fit different scenarios in the protagonist's life. Of the 13 total mini games, I was in charge of 8, though there are in reality only 4 as some are repeated. The games are
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Washing face
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GameStory segment
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Emoji chat
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Putting on makeup
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Camera sequence (more of an interaction moment)
It was challenging to design these games as they were meant to hold emotional significance and impact; and each game went through multiple iterations from design to programming. Each mini game was improved upon by working closely with team mates and play testers, so that we could deliver what we wanted.
UI / UX Designer
Unity3D 2018 ・ Unity UI ・ Adobe Illustrator CS6
Part of my responsibilities was to design UI/UX for the mini games itself and the overall game menus. It was very challenging as each game had to portray an aspect of Valerie's life yet also accurately convey what she was doing at that time.
The games that I was in charge of was
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Washing face
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GameStory segment
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Emoji chat
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Putting on makeup
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Camera sequence (more of an interaction moment)
Each segment went through many iterations that was playtested and reworked based on feedback.
I was also in charge of the overall UX feel. This included points such as
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Diary backgrounds getting brighter as the game progressed
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The chapter selection menu's background gets brighter based on progress
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Game goes from a monochrome palette to happy colors
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Finding points in the game that felt disconnected and fixing them
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Lack of feedback when player touches screen
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Created touch indicator that spawns on player tap position
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Design of game menus
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Back button
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Skip
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Main menu
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Loading screen
