Capping for Friends

Bitmap Game Project

Goals of this Project

The story I would like people to experience in my Bitmap game is one about protecting others. I would like to put players in a environment in which they will need to think of their own safety in relation to the safety of others. In this game law enforcement is rounding up people who are suspected of committing crimes. Just like in the real world people around the world are arrested for "crimes" that can range from anti-government speech, to sexuality, to illegal sassembly.

As the player is trying to navigate their way through society safely, I want to all incentivize them to consider trying protect their neighbors who are being accused of these crimes. I believe this will be a great experiment to have people challenge their belief of right and wrong and how much of self sacrifice is necessary to help others who have been wronged.

Design Process

Before starting this project I had a idea of the artstyle I wanted to go off. I wanted a style that was simple, only using a few colors, and felt moody. The background color of every scene would be black, while the characters, UI, and enviroment would be white. This gives the characters a contrast against the endless dark background.

The most important step for this game was laying out the entire narrative on a flowchart. Through the game the player will be allowed to make many decisions. These decisions will lead to several different endings. In order, to properly code this complex narrative, I need to have a clear picture of how the storyline can unfold.

This is the final flowchart I settled one. Three main paths that lead to a climax in which 5 different endings can occur. The differnt endings that can occur are; The player getting arrested, their roommate getting arrested at gunpoint, the officer leaving the apartment, the roommate trying to flee the apartment.

Reflection

Programming this game was challenging because of how complex I decided to make the story. Every scene of the game can lead to 3 different outcomes. This quickly lead to large portions of code needing to be written to account for the different paths.I tried my best to keep a clear structure to the code by using classes. However, lots of code optimization will be needed to improve this game.

Ultimately I was very happy with this game. The visuals, sound effects, the mood, and tone of the dialog is exactly what I imaged. People that have played the game have said the situation feels oppressive and they are rushing to make a decision, even though the game does not have a time mechanic. I hope that more people play the game and feel challenged to reflect on themselve because of the scenario in the game.