Type :
Indie game
Selected @ ReVolution #Students
VR - Stealth - 1 Player
Date night is a simulation where you play as an old lady trying to skip from her nursing home to go on a date.
But your little particularity is that you're in a wheelchair. Which makes moving around a little more complicated.
Furthermore, the nurse doesn't want you to go out, so she'll try to catch you if she notices you.
I pitched the idea & was the only game designer on the project.
You can download the game on Itch.io : https://shouil.itch.io/date-night
My work in details
* Narration - Universe of the game, environmental narration & characters
* Level Design - Floor plan, integration, AI behavior
* Game Design - Wheelchair controller
* Accessibility race - Making a VR game for seated people
* Improvement axis
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Date Night was made by a team of 5 people :
* 1 Game Designer : Myself
* 1 Game Artist : Anna Messerschmitt
* 1 Ergonomist : Arthur Bertaud
* 2 Programmers : Ilan Ouamrouche and Raphaël Horion
As the controls were a big challenge in ergonomy, I shared most of this work with Arthur. He's been a tremendous help and along with Ilan, we managed to get something that felt immersive. Yet, the challenge of overcoming motion sickness was not entirely successful and some players did get dizzy.
Narration
One of the attractive points of Date Night was the possibility of choosing someone to date and meet them at the end.
I thus benchmarked Tinder to find 65+ yo profiles and made character sheets for 3 persons.
Our game artist, Anna, then made 3 illustrations corresponding to these profiles.
We also worked together on the level art.
We decided on props that she modeled, which I then dispatched in the environment to create small visual stories.
Level Design
The game is separated in 2 spaces, with an evolution in the mecanics available. I made the floorplan of both of them on Miro and integrated them in Unity.
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In the first room, the player wakes up next to its bed and can play around in its room. Why not take a shower, put on make-up, or watch TV ?
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They also learn how to move in the corridors.
Then they reach the medical and playroom where they have to attract the attention of the social helper by throwing or breaking things, to reach the door behind their back.
I also really like when my hierarchy is clean and organised.
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This helped us target areas to apply special behaviours, and made it easier for me to integrate some gameplay elements.
Game Design
Along with Illan and Arthur, and with external help, we designed a wheelchair controller that was not only faithful to a real wheelchair, mimicking the hand movements, but also fun and fonctionnal.
We tried to balance the speed and acceleration/deceleration at best, but in 3 months, it wasn't enough to fully avoid motion sickness.
Accessibility Race
To teach people how to move around in the game, I imagined a small wheelchair obstacle course . The players had to complete the course before playing.
Improvement axis
Due to my very little experience in design at the time + a lack of management, I made simple mistakes and did not defend design decisions enough to make the game a memorable experience.
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The game lacks an ending screen, which would have made the levels more satisfying to complete.
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We couldn't integrate most of the sounds, so the audio is a bit disappointing, although we had help from sound designers.
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And the motion sickness is still present.
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That being said, the game had a huge success during the Laval Virtual festival, thanks to its emerging gameplay that allowed a lot of players to experience their own fun wether they understood the goal of the level or not.