And Then Jack Woke Up is a narrative-driven first-person game that takes the player through an ordinary day in the life of Jack. However, something is strange about Jack's life. His furniture is changing, he is receiving strange messages on his answering machine...
... and what's with all these post-its?
One of our main goals with And Then Jack Woke Up was to keep a consistent immersion throughout the game, being a walking simulator. The design choices that nudged out of that immersion slightly were only when we wanted to invoke suspicion. To keep this fine line, we narrowed down the path options to prevent the player from straying off the path without a clear purpose as to why.
Before Iteration
Problem:
Players strayed off due to having too many options, as they entered the office level, causing a break of immersion.
Solution:
Narrow down the options and guide the player to more focused areas.
After Iteration
First iteration:
To introduce the player to our interaction system we designed it so that they needed to find a pair of keys before leaving the first level, Jack's Apartment.
Before Iteration
Solution:
There are several solutions to every problem, this one we solved by designed a portal system at the elevator that looped the player back to the apartment with the hint to not go to work without the keys(briefcase).
Problem:
Doing this resulted in that the players missed out on the objective, not finding the key, and felt stuck and out of immersion not knowing where to go or what to do.
After Iteration
Further iterations:
To iterate further on this I'd add subtle changes to the apartment, a book here, a picture there, rewarding any player who feels like exploring it once again and invoking even stronger feelings of suspicion.
During this project, we as a team worked close to each other on most aspects of the game creating a strong team foundation. We emphasized on good communication and collaboration. We also made sure that everyone got heard and that everyone's ideas and opinions were respected.
Working on And Then Jack Woke Up has made me more curious as to what and how we can invoke strong emotions. As a designer, it is my strong belief that for good entertainment you need to feel invested in the experience.
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