WildCraft
Story Mode is a new branch in the game. The project is still in test mode and further improvement. This is a story-driven mode. Player's choices influence on the plot. The main goals is high retention and monetization with paid choices. Secondary goals: to diversify gameplay and increase DAU; to give more information about in-game animals, to encourage the purchase of skins, accessories and other content. The story contains 15 chapters. Each chapter should be between 3:30 and 5:00 minutes in length. The total length of the story should be 60+ minutes. A good practice in our team is to incorporate useful and/or interesting information about animals into the narrative.
The tools for working with the engine are created from scratch. Therefore, the functionality of the current versions of the API is extremely limited and we have to exercise virtuoso creativity to implement ideas.
Due to the policy of collecting user data on iOS and Android platforms, we do not have a reliable image of the target audience for Story Mode.
There is no ability to add level design elements, change maps, add or change animations. Only content that is already in the game is used to create stories.
My position as Narrative Game Designer involves a capacious amount of responsibility: creating characters, story plot, building scenes, writing dialogues, scripting animations, moving characters, changing skins, weather, creating game mechanics, programming it and more. Technical interaction with the game engine through the API. I collaborate with other Narrative Designers discussing mine and their ideas. I approve the final version of the story with the Team Lead / Producer. In case of bugs detected in the process of production, my role is to create a test case and, in collaboration with the assigned developer, to reproduce and find a solution of the problem. Since there are about fifty people working on the game, it's common for our CEO to act as the lead developer and review with the project team the results of the completed stage.
Design Process
In this project each narrative designer has a lot of autonomy, but we held weekly meetings to share experiences and solutions. Of course, under the supervision of our team lead.
Plot Writing:
Since my position combines Writer, Quest and Dialog Designer, etc., there wasn't much need for a detailed Game Design Document in our team. A Google Sheets with short descriptions is enough for Team Lead to understand the bigger picture.
Building Scenes
I could only use the content already existed in the game. Scene building and time progression were implemented by writing code in a spreadsheet and then parsing and transferring to xml file.
Create Game Mechanics
In Story Mode, the ability to make choices and work with variables was built in from the very beginning. Using shortcuts to move around the code, I was able to create looping functions. Even though it was a bug and the API code wasn't supposed to work that way, it became a feature and a regular practice in the team. With this implementation of functions I was able to create a turn-based combat system with five parameters and random increments in 10%. The first combat system is similar in its implementation to a battle in Mortal Combat. The prototype for the second combat system was a similar system in Heroes Might and Magic 3.
Constraint awakens creativity
Since the story-building toolkit is limited to what has already been created for the main part of the game, I had to abandon the initial ideas in favour of what could be implemented. Or find ways to play around with what is available. For example, I needed to implement the transformation of a character into other animals. This mechanic is exist in the main game, but had not been added to the story mode. I suggested several options for transformation through animal rotation with a sound effect to our Team Lead. They chose the most appropriate one. There were a large number of these situations for each chapter.
Post-Publishing
The work does not end with the publication of the Story. For a better understanding of the audience, their behavior, loyalty and other, I follow the top streamers / youtubers over my story. Together with the Team Lead we discuss metrics, what worked well and what needs to be improved. My story showed good retention rates. About 3% of users finished the story entirely. Monetization is at an average level. These are intermediate results with two measurements. The implementation of the Season Pass in the main part of the game had a strong impact on Story Mode's performance. This led to a decrease of active users in Story Mode. But a balance-changing feature is ready for publication. The next metrics measurements will show what effect this will have.
Dialogue Example
Vanga - zebra character. Main and {1} in text - main character with assigned by player name. Faya - raccoon with heal abilities. Snobbie - dear character. Quite snobby. Vanga: She's behind that tree. Main: We know you're there. Come on out. Vanga: Darling, don't be afraid. We need your help. Faya: You're bringing too much attention. What do you want? Vanga: I know your abilities. {1} is wounded. Help heal him. Main: Thank you. Main: But my mom needs help. She's sicker than I am. You need to come with us. Faya: Nah, nah. That's not what we agreed on. Go away. Snobbie: You know we're not leaving without you. Loud shouting Snobbie: If you don't want to attract attention, come with us. Faya: Okay. Be silent! I'm going.
