End of the line

Abstract

Visuals, text, and interactive problem solving come together in games to produce a unique aesthetic affect. My Final Year Project “End of the Line” is an experimental effort to create an expressive piece of game design, writing and drawing to explore the possibilities of creating a narrative driven card game that combines elements of walking simulators, interactive fiction, and strategic card games. The game adopts a low-poly black and white 3D aesthetic inspired by pencil sketches. It tells the story of a dystopian Earth that has been visited by an alien who has accelerated the end of the world by causing a new Ice Age. The alien tells humanity that it will reverse these circumstances if and only if someone can beat them at a card game called Loyalties. The card game centres on winning over cards from your opponent, while preventing your own from being taken. This combination of narrative and mechanics creates the potential to evoke themes of escapism and the struggle for control over one’s destiny, which can be felt more viscerally because of the interactive nature of the medium. This report aims to explain and document the thought processes and production workflows developed to realize this project.