Personal Assistant Dash Thomasin Holly Table of Contents Introduction 1 Design History 1 Vision Statement 2 Logline 2 Synopsis 2 Game

Description 2 Formal Elements 2 Objectives 2 Gameplay Description 2 Tutorial 2 Character Selection 3 Conflict/Argument 3 Challenge/Procedures 3 Outcomes 3 Dramatic Elements 3 Game World 3

Characters 4 PCs 4 NPCs 4 Story 4 Implementation 4 Reflection 5 Dissoi Logoi 5 Composition 5

Introduction Design History This game design document is an assignment for my English 460: Advanced Writing class taught by Grace Hagood-Downs in the spring of 2013 at the University of South Carolina. This game is a derivative of other "Dash" games (Diner Dash, etc.) Vision Statement Logline Personal Assistant Dash is a task-oriented, interaction game that gives players insight about their interaction(s) with others - why people may act a certain way and how your interactions with others effects them.

Synopsis My vision statement is to create a game that people will enjoy playing and will want to continue playing, but also to create a game that has a specific purpose. This specific purpose is to get people (the players) to not only put themselves in other peoples' shoes to see why they act or react the way that they do to certain things, but also to see how the way that they treat others effects that other person. Personal Assistant Dash will function to accomplish the above goals by first giving players a "behind-the-scenes" so to speak look into other character's daily lives and then force the player to interact with them as they go to run errands as a personal assistant. By showing players what has happened to the people they're interacting with I hope to allow people to see that people may not be generally rude or miserable, but they may just be having a bad day. After seeing what has happened to the people they are interacting with, the player will have the choice to take this knowledge into account when deciding how to respond or not. Ideally, I'd like them to apply this to their real life and therefore be more patient and understanding and give people the benefit of the doubt. The game is marketed to pre-teens and anyone above that age. The game will be marketed to these age groups because not only is the game simple enough to be played and enjoyed by people of all ages, but also because the earlier a person can

gain the sense of empathy that this game is trying to teach the better. This is a first person role playing game.

Game Description

Objectives

Be understanding of characters situations.

Finishing the task and earning points towards a promotion

positions Being assigned more difficult tasks and gaining higher and higher until you become the boss

Gameplay Description

The story of the game is that you are a personal assistant and have to go out and run errands and complete tasks in order to "win" the game. The game is based on understanding that maybe someone really isnt rude, but perhaps something has happened in their life at the moment that causes them to be in a dark place and therefore treat you poorly. In the beginning of each round the player will see the daily stories of

the characters he/she will encounter later in the round. Seeing the stories of the characters will allow the player to gain some perspective on these people, and will later allow him/her to decide how they will interact with and react to that character. Based on the interactions with the character the players difficulty of achievement the objective will change and the player may even win bonus prizes. If the player has a poor performance rate, fails to achieve rounds, etc they will end up getting fired and will have to find a new company to be a personal assistant at. The goal of the main character (the player) is to climb from being the personal assistant to being the boss (showing that being good to other people will benefit you).

The artistic style of the game will be childlike - the character and landscape designs will be similar to designs of cartoon shows for children, but 3D. The characters will be digitally animated and crisp and colorful but will retain cartoon-like characteristics (i.e. exaggerated features, like Tangled, see attached pictures)

The landscape design is a cartoonish world of an imaginary city based off of an NYC, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, etc. The game is very similar to the karma based system that says that being good to others will help you in life, which differs from the common belief that you need to use and abuse people to climb in the corporate world and become successful.

The game is an RPG. When you start the game you will design your character to look like you, or perhaps any other appearance you would like your character to take on. The game is on the PC, so actual play will be controlled by using the mouse to click in the direction you would like your character to move, certain keys on the keyboard will have actions for the character to perform or open up tools, menu bars, etc.

Tutorial The game will be like The McDonald's Game where pop-ups and visual tips will pop-up whenever there is something new that the player needs to learn, but generally all of the tutorial pop-ups will be in the beginning of the game (for character design).

Character Selection The character selection starts by selecting male or female. After you select your gender you choose the appearance such as hair color, eye color, skin color, etc. The player will get to choose their gender, race, etc, and they will be treated the same each time they play regardless of these things so that they dont think those are the determining factors of why they're being treated poorly (unless the player only plays the game once and makes this assumption).

During the game you will earn the money to buy clothes, haircuts, etc. so the selection of the characters appearance will be very basic. This is not only just an extra incentive to play the game but will also be another incentive to treat people will, and is part of the process of being assigned more difficult tasks and acquiring higher positions (you're being "paid" more so you have more money for luxuries).

Conflict/Argument The conflict in this game is performing and completing a task in a given round. The time of the round depends. A round could be from a lunch break to a month, as the game progresses with difficulty or situations the round will change. Each round will have a number of tasks the player must complete, and if these tasks are not completed the player will

lose points, which will ultimately result in being terminated as an employee. Because the goal of the game is for the player to acquire an appreciation and understanding for the other characters situations; (by this I mean when encountering a difficult character - rude, nasty, depressed, etc.) they must find a way to understand this character and make them happy. If they don't do this, completing the tasks will be virtually impossible. Because this game is trying to teach empathy, it can and should be used by different age groups in order to instill this value as early on in life as possible.

Challenge/Procedures The main character will work through the conflict of finishing tasks and working with difficult people by being understanding. When the player engages with the characters there will be a conversation and the player has several options to pick from. If the player makes "good" choices that demonstrate that they are being understanding with the character it'll then make that other character feel better and be more cooperative, enabling the player to complete the task and earn points much more easily.

Outcomes There are two outcomes in the game. The win scenario is that the player keeps performing the tasks successfully by

understanding people and earning points, and is then given more difficult tasks and higher positions until they complete the ultimate goal which is to become the boss. The lose situation is that the player is not understanding of the characters they interact with, and they do not complete tasks and lose points and gets fired from the job.

Game World The game world will differ from reality because you will be able to see the past of the characters to see why they are being difficult, and this will allow you to understand their situation and perhaps make them happy (and complete the objective). In reality you are only able to see the world from your own eyes and only know what you experience. The rest of what you know about other people is what you hear from them or others, but in this game world you will be able to see exactly what happened to them and understand what and why they feel/act like they do. The location of the game will be a city, and the city will be fictionally designed. There will be regions to this city - the colorful fresh market style, the poor crime area, the corporate area, and other locations typical to the city. Your tasks will go from being done in the poorer areas to being done in the better areas.

Characters

PCs The PCs are designed the way you want under character selection (will get to pick gender and appearance, see above). The player will have a three dimensional view of their PC. You will not hear the voice of the character(s), instead there will just be pop-up bubbles of text.

NPCs The game will be filled with many NPCs. Your boss will be a non-interactive NPC and will have a desk and will simply order you to do the task(s) for the round. The appearance for the boss will be randomly arranged from the available character appearance selections.

There will be shop NPCs that you can go to get clothes, haircuts, actions, or items. Those NPCs will all generally have the same gist of greeting, Welcome to blah blah, would you like to look at our blah blah. The player will answer yes or no you an can then go into their menu to look at the options.

After you exit, the NPCs will tell you Thank you, come again.

There will be a large amount of NPCs that are difficult to deal with but that you must interact with and please in order to successfully complete tasks and do well in the game. Much like your boss, these NPCs will have random arrangements to their appearances. The player will see what happened to this NPC to make them act the way that they do, and they will then have a forced interaction with them in which they will not be easy to deal with. The player will then have the choice to select different responses in order to make the NPC happy and cooperative, or, unhappy and uncooperative. Story Gameplay will begin by having the player create their own character. Every time you play you will get to choose your gendar, and all aspects of your outward appearance (hair color, eye color, skin color, clothes). You will have the option to make a new character with different characteristics each time you play, and this is done in order to make it clear that the player is not being treating because of aesthetics. Next, the player will be shown in the boss's office being given a set of tasks.

Then, the player will be shown videos featuring the people that they will have to interact with in order to accomplish these tasks. These videos will show the characters facing hardships and having bad things happen to them. This is done to show the player why the characters act a certain way and to inspire empathy for other people on them (my main goal in creating this game). Next, the character will make their way to the different places they need to go to complete the tasks. In these places they will interact with the characters that they have seen in these videos in order to complete the required tasks. The characters will treat the player poorly, and the player can choose to employ empathy based on the situations they were shown or to treat the characters poorly despite the things they were shown. If the player chooses the first option, the characters will respond well and will make completing the tasks (and, therefore, earning points) much easier. If the player still chooses to respond negatively the character will be difficult and will make completing the tasks almost impossible, most likely causing the the player to lose points and hypothetically be fired. After completing, or failing to complete, the tasks the player will be returned to the office where the box will be determine whether the player will be fired, stay in the same position, or be promoted based on their task completion.

Reflection

Dissoi Logoi I cant think of any alternate interpretations of the game. Additionally, Because the player will get to choose their gender, race, etc, and they will be treated the same each time regardless of these things I dont think the game could be interpreted as having any underlying messages about how people are treated based on their race or gender (unless the player only plays the game once and makes this assumption). The game could also fail to convey a message if the player is heartless and has no conscience and simply doesn't care if other people are having a bad day. Additionally, if the player simply does not grasp the message of the game the game will not have been successful.

Composition Game design differs from other forms of composition because it is, at least in my opinion, much more complex and involved and time consuming. There are many more elements the designer must take into consideration and use well and purposefully in order to successful convey a message in comparison with traditional composition (writing a paper).

Additionally, creating a video game requires much more skill, and, specifically, technological skill, than does writing a paper on the computer. As long as you can read and write and open up a word processing application you can write a paper, but the knowledge required to make a (successful) video game is much more extensive. Video games also offer an advantage, however, because they are more interactive for the receiver of the message and this allows the creator of the game to literally (virtually) place the audience in someone else's shoes and give them a different viewpoint. As you have the assignment designed, I do not think video game design is too complex for a Composition class, though I do feel like actually doing the coding and HTML would be, just for time and difficulty concerns. I do, however, think it definitely kind of nulls our game designs useless that we can't/won't be producing them, but I think it's still a useful exercise for people to learn about this medium. Perhaps they'll take this information and someday produce their game and/or become a video game designer.