Here are some screenshots of the whiteboard that we planned out our storyboard on. (I’ll retype everything below for clarity.)
Under a cut because this post is huge.
Themes (IT’S ABOUT HIGHSCHOOL):
– Grade Inflation
– Downfalls of an over-competitive society
– oligarchy
– ego inflation (special snowflake syndrome (S^3) )
– College is Utopia/what everyone strives for.
Some development of the “homeworld”:
– No grading
– Standard housing for everyone (specifically this is a world only for school-aged citizens. Kind of like a boarding school.)
– Competitive Teamwork
– Rewards to motivate learning/thinking (but they are non-significant.)
– Teams rotate yearly (within the same age-group)
– At age 18 you would leave this world for another one to work/study more/HEY THIS IS ABOUT COLLEGE.
– Immigration law: good number of applicants, but there is always a graduating class. Applicants are filtered based on a trial-period or past “issues”.
Second image is a general outline of the flow of the game. Some missing details are the “mysterious key X” used to flow between the immigration room, resource management room, evaluation center, and living area of the administration. These are the ‘final levels’. We fleshed out the circumstances around why you are exploring this ruined world – it is to solidify the idea that you are no more special than anyone else on your homeworld (to preserve harmony). Throughout the ruined world we want to add hints that you are not the first explorer from your homeworld. To tie-up this story arc, we added an end-state where you meet the only remaining citizen of this ruined world (who is chilling in the living area of the admin.) At this point you must decide whether to return to your home world (and admit you are not special) or continue investigating (and continue to delude yourself.) There are a lot of DETAILS here but to avoid spoilers and making this longer than it already is, that’s all we’re going to say.