This third writing is the last one related to the design process of the video game Migracciones, in its last part of the first iteration. Having said this, I will focus on two fundamental aspects: the postmortem and the parts to improve and, secondly, to investigate the iterativity in the design process.
Postmortem Document
The first version of Migracciones has a character, Raul, who in his objective of wanting to reach the USA, will avoid several problems, which the player will be able to see, read and empathize with him. It is important to point out at this point that an evaluation with a focus group has not been done, and such comments on the postmortem are personal and subjective comments.
As commented in the first part, the game consists of 3 pillars, each one of them with a strong narrative component: the aesthetics, the narrative and the mechanics. Regarding the aesthetics, it was observed that the decision about the color changes was a correct choice since it differentiated each one of the different migratory routes that exist. As for the music, even though it was all obtained from free libraries, it did have a positive impact on the player, according to the comments observed.
As for the storyline and the narrative structure, due to the fact that advice was obtained from experts in the field, its positive impact is seen both: in the coherence and in the possible interest that the player may have and continue with the story; however, it is necessary that there be continuity in the story, as well as an evolution of the character that can be observed, mainly because, for the moment, the character’s story is isolated by each of the boxes.
Finally, as far as the mechanics are concerned, it was observed that it has a simple structure based only on the handling of the dice, as shown in Fig. 1. This process, however, should be more complex and allow the player to have more interactivity, beyond just clicking to continue with the story. It is intended to develop either mini-games and a larger decision tree and relate it directly to the narrative of the characters.
Iterativity in the Development Process
As Schell (2008) comments, the rule of the loop is that the longer you examine and the better your design, the better game you will be. For this, Schell also proposes to see the game through 8 lenses that are made in the form of questions:
- Does this game feel right?
- Will the intended audience like this game enough?
- Is this a well-designed game?
- Is this game novel enough?
- Will this game sell?
- Is it technically possible to build this game?
- Does this game meet our social and community goals?
- Do the playtesters enjoy this game enough?
In response to these questions, I will focus on the first three, which will need to be improved in order to have a positive response. Having said that, although the game felt good, in the aesthetic part you can see a quality that can improve in the future, besides the mechanics felt simple. For the second part, it fulfilled what the audience wanted; however, it is necessary that the players spend more time in the game and have more empathy with the characters, so more interactivity with the game is needed. And in the third point, the game although is well designed, it is necessary to return to the concept to improve, but not change, some elementary aspects.
The development process followed was simple and covers from pre-production to publication, as shown in Fig. 2. However, as shown in the post-mortem part, the iteration will not be between implementation and testing, but from testing to conceptualization. An important point to clarify is that in the conceptualization part, the pillars by which the game was developed, will remain immovable; that is to say, there will not be changes in the aesthetics nor in the mechanics or narrative.
Finally, as a clarification, this second iteration will be given rise to the realization of the other characters, enriching the story, and improving the mechanics, also analyze an improvement in the aesthetic aspect, either in its dynamism and aesthetic part. That said, in the process of iteration is advisable to improve aspects and not change them.
You can download Migracciones in: https://leartoler.itch.io/migracciones
You can see the repo in: https://github.com/leartoler/migracciones
