"The Alien"
Visual Novel
Preface
*This project utilized AI assistance for specific tasks, primarily in the use of writing and coding. The purpose was to develop an interface concept which would support young people's mental health & anxiety.
Brief Overview
"The Alien" is a visual novel game concept in which the player goes through a progression of scenarios, each dealing with the process of being cast out from a friend group or being "Alienized" (hence the title).
As the player goes along, their feelings change; the higher you score, the better outcome received.
The 3 Stages of Development
The initial stages for this project were all over the place. Following the normal low-fidelity to high-fidelity stages of building, I had started off with building the concept out in a website. It wasn't much but it was something people could interact with and help me get a sense of how they would navigate.
I had originally planned to make the end iteration within Unreal Engine, but unfortunately due to misinformation I had to quickly shift directions at the end.
Stage #1
With the assistance of Claude, I was surprised how well not only how functional it was but the user interface design looked streamlined for a simple prototype.
The choices you made affected the "Current Metrics" stat while the narration of how the player felt as a result of a choice displayed. The Snapchat map tablet also updates and displays notifications as if it were a real phone.
Feedback
After testing with individuals within the young adult demographic, the feedback was helpful. Many of them liked making choices that made other people happy and felt it would fit well within an educational setting
Stage #2
The second iteration planned was intended to be within Roblox Studio. However, there was slight miscommunication with my project teammate. An attempt at using Roblox, Scratch, and Unreal Engine. With all three attempts being incomplete prototypes.
Roblox Studio
Hoping to utilize Roblox's ease of VR-integration.
Unreal Engine
VR-integrated software; had difficulty getting the phone to detect if someone was in VR versus desktop
SCRATCH
Partner created on their end; which they ended up finding people to test on for the deadline. *Led with this
The Shift
After discussing during our class session, I had to change directions. With the limited amount of time left, I decided to create a Visual Novel. While unfortunately straying away from a VR-based simulation, it was still in the "Game" category.
Engine
Ren'py was an engine used by popular titles like "Doki Doki Literature Club" which allowed people to create and develop their own visual novels.
With help from Claude coding and debugging, I was able to input the scenarios created earlier and add them in with their respective pathways. After I had the actual program working and running I added in SFX and background music for auditory effects. With the time crunch, I found assets from video game music and other stock on Youtube. Assets like the background, characters sprites, and icons were all from their respective websites.
Confronting the Friend Group
Secrecy within the Group Chat
Player Getting Therapy
Final Product
Final Thoughts
Overall throughout this prototyping process, I learned that you shouldn’t be limited to one idea. Learning to be flexible and use different softwares is a good skill to have and using the skills you do know and bettering yourself at it is also a great way to learn. Especially when it comes to team communication.
It taught me a lot about the game prototyping process. Switching from a small web-based iteration to Unreal Engine then to another platform using a completely different script,
I learned to be flexible and that there is no “one-size, fits-all” solution. Being able to change and adapt to different situations was the biggest thing for me.
