Most of dialogue/emails and narrative text is written by me. However, there's some filler text, tutorial texts and such that were generated (which I did still go over and tweaked. We're talking tutorial stuff etc.I just wanted something there for now, so I can get a good idea of the flow). The story however and overall design and flow of it was all me. I'll probably go back to go over all texts at some point to sharpen them.
Yeah, it's pretty rough in parts, I know some of the minigames don't work 100% properly, but none should lock out game play. My thought behind them was to give something to do, to feel more like a toybox you play with to fulfil the fantasy of being a deep space research scientist. But I would have loved to figure out some really elaborate puzzles and minigames that would be hidden in the signals that would be really alien. I also considered having someform of back and forth with some of the alien civilizations as well, but then didn't really want to make a chatbot.
Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it!
Viewing post in Signal - A deep space signal analysis experience comments
Cool! The story definately scratches the mystery-itch well. Having a gripping story can be a giant hook for keeping people engaged. The fact the story is told this rather subtle way through e-mails is a funky trick, keeping the narration work low while forcing the imagination of people. And the way you build up mystery is great.
The mini-games do a great job at “distracting” from the story part - I even thought the auto-buttons weren’t really needed. In a way the monotony of the tasks kinda elevated every story fragment - That way it reminded me to “Papers Please”. In contrast to that game having established the connection and scanned the signal at least feels like an accomplishment, so it is more motivating.
Are you entertaining the idea of developing this into a full-fledged game? With some basic graphics this could turn into a hit. Maybe i’ll throw something together over the next weekend… I don’t have much time, but i like a challenge. :D