Embedded Files
Core Problem
The team was tasked with making a game that tackled a serious societal issue. We decided on the problem of unhealthy work culture.
Stonecrop Overload’s core theme is unhealthy work culture and the struggles of being overworked. This affected all aspects of the game’s design.
We aimed to solve the problem by creating an experience that demonstrates the effects of unhealthy work culture through this game and make players aware first-hand of the issue and its effects.
The player experience we were after was one of intensity, stress, inundation, and chaos.
However, with the ridiculous premise of aliens, we knew not to make the game’s tone too serious, so we aimed to bring awareness to these issues but with a more exaggerated and sometimes humorous tone.
Game Design
How we achieved the desired player experience:
Making a stressful job engaging:
Since players are doing tasks for most of the game, it was important to make them interesting and varied, both conceptually and mechanically. They were designed to each be unique and require different actions, but still be simple to learn and intuitive to use.
For example, the dart gun task involves the player shooting aliens disguised as workers. This requires timing, aiming skills, and even ammo management since players need to plan when to reload. This task is wildly different from the server computer task (which involves navigation and visual discernment) and the radio interceptor task (which involves mastery of its dial and audio discernment).
To overwhelm, but to be understood:
Even though part of the game’s goal is to overwhelm the player, it is still important for the game to be understandable. Emails provide a fantastic solution for explaining what new mechanics are introduced each day as well as providing most of the narrative and downtime in the game.
Since we expect some players to avoid reading emails and then be confused during gameplay, we placed sticky notes around the level to give further instructions on how to interact with the game’s mechanics. The tasks were also designed to be intuitive. For example, the radio interceptor has a big dial with red paint that is intuitively rotated.
The art of pacing - keeping things fresh:
Due to the stressful nature of the game, we didn’t want to burn players out right at the very beginning, so pacing was vital.
Gradually, new mechanics are introduced each day to keep the game fresh and engaging. Every new day brings new challenges and surprises. This ensures that pacing is consistent and that players don’t lose interest. It was also implemented as we didn’t want the game to be frustratingly confusing and impossible for new players.
Iteration
And the saviour is... emails:
We needed a way to provide the player with narrative, world building, and the game’s themes, but we also needed a way to explain mechanics. Providing players with some downtime was also another consideration.
The solution was emails that would progress the narrative, provide downtime, and explain new mechanics, killing three birds with one stone. We originally wanted to use notes and letters, but we realised the potential of using emails on the computer that was already in the game.
These emails went through multiple iterations as we tried to reduce the amount of text to not bore players.
Giving the player more choices:
We worried that just doing tasks for 5 days in the game would not be engaging enough as there would be little player autonomy.
The CryptoClicker minigame was then added to give players a choice as they can find time between tasks to earn money.
But to give money endogenous value and a purpose, we added the contract system. Contracts are bought to temporarily reduce the intensity of certain tasks. Now players must decide how they want to manage the challenges of each day by making vital decisions with money and contracts, leading to more player autonomy and engagement.
A graph was worth a thousand playtests:
When balancing the game, the intensity of suspicious events and the time at which they appeared were plotted on a graph to visualise and fine-tune the difficulty curves, which greatly improved the effectiveness and reliability of the balancing process.
An interest curve was overlaid on the graph to ensure that specific moments during a day would have peaks of “tension” followed by moments of “release”. This allows players to breathe between points of intensity, all the while ensuring that the day becomes progressively more challenging.
Playtesters didn't know a vital mechanic existed:
Adding money and contracts added a new challenge; players didn’t know they existed. Even with emails and sticky notes that bring attention to these important mechanics, some players still forgot about them.
These mechanics were not on the minds of players, as they were preoccupied with doing tasks. Our solution was to rearrange the front view to include the tablet so that players would notice it at the start of the day. This completed the idea that the front view was the “hub” view that players would often return to. Animations, sound effects, and UI pop-ups were also added to remind players of these mechanics.
Evaluation
Did we achieve the goals we set out for the game?
From the feedback and responses we received from players, I believe we achieved our goal of making a game that creates an experience of unhealthy work culture and being overworked, but that is engaging and memorable.
What I like:
The ridiculous premise and all the over-the-top mechanics (like the dart gun) make for a memorable game. I especially enjoy the final day, where the player has hallucinations of aliens in the room.
The gameplay is simple, yet it has lots of details and dynamics. The switchboard interacts with the server computer, radio interceptor, and task alerts; the router affects the computer; contracts affect all tasks. All of this makes for relatively simple yet multifaceted gameplay.
Overall, the game is well polished, and I am satisfied with our execution of the concept.
What I dislike:
It can feel like there’s a slight disconnect between a game that discusses unhealthy work culture but that is also fun and engaging to play. Since we were tasked with creating a game that deals with a serious societal issue, we tried to mitigate this by using the ridiculous premise as an exaggeration of the issue, indicating that the game is not too serious.
The main tasks don’t change during a playthrough. I would’ve liked to have designed ways that the tasks change after certain days to add more flavour and keep the gameplay feeling fresher.
What I would do differently if I were to start again:
During development, our team was required to follow a process according to the project outline. However, if I were to do it again, I would want to prototype a lot sooner and more frequently.
We spent a tonne of time with documentation and planning, and development on the first version only started significantly later, resulting in us needing to stick with initial ideas and not being able to try out other concepts.
How I feel about the end result:
The response to Stonecrop Overload was highly positive, especially from lecturers and playtesters, resulting in our team earning a distinction for the project. I’m really happy with the final outcome, as it’s a game that is engaging, and that allows players to experience the effects of its themes. Overall, I’m pleased with my work, design, and contributions to this project.
What I would add/change if development continued:
Tasks and aspects of tasks can change throughout the game to add more variety to gameplay and make each day less predictable. For example, maybe one day the server computer starts having RAM issues, and so using the computer too frequently will cause it to crash and restart, forcing the player to adapt to the new limitations of the job.
Other aspects of unhealthy work culture can be explored in another game, but maybe less about being overworked and unrealistic expectations and more about unhealthy team culture and dynamics, but within this same universe. Maybe these themes could even be experienced in a multiplayer game.
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