- Project Name:
Project: Manager - Learn, Listen, Lead.
- My Role:
Game Designer
Programer
Content Writer
Date:
November 2020-December 2020
The Challenge
The assignment was to design an educational game using Construct 3. The game needed to teach a skill and the prototype needed to have one functional interaction to demonstrate it’s purpose. Project: Manager is fully functional prototype, with a single level, that teaches many skills such as listening, empathy and leadership.
The Constraints
I was given exactly one month to learn Construct 3, develop a concept for the game, design it’s UI, create it’s content, and make a fully playable prototype.
Game Concept
The idea was to create a game that could work as a tool to learn management skills and leadership. The prototype starts on day 12. The player is a relatively new "Project Manager for a company conducting research for a new mobile application. You can walk around the office talking to your team, check your email, and speak with your boss in her office.
You have a team of five that you manage. Your actions and decisions are assessed by two bars displayed in the top left corner. Your decisions have a direct effect on the morale of the team and the progress of the project. Disgruntled team members work slowly which slows down your speed of progress. Making poor decisions could cost your team time and efficiency, also slowing their progress.
Level 12
Your director informs you, that due to the new onboarding design, a study will need to be conducted to ensure that the update is understood and is well received by their users. To stay on schedule for the release, you need to assign this study to one of your researchers by the end of the day.
Meet the Team
Talking to Shawn
Meet Shawn
If you checked your morning emails, you’ll know that Shawn is leaving after today to surprise his wife with a trip to the Bahamas for their ten year anniversary.
If you assign him the study not only will he be irritated, but the study will also be delayed until his return. Depending on how you handle the conversation, he may even start applying for a position elsewhere.
Talking to Andy
Talking to Andy
Andy is your Team Lead, but by the looks of his work space he’s clearly overloaded. If you ignore his concerns about taking on more work, and assign him the study he’ll have a mental break down shortly after you leave. However, you could listen to his concern and work out a solution that could benefit multiple team members and increase productivity.
Andy Breaks Down
Break Room Chat with Cameron
At first glance she appears to be hiding in the break room, but Cameron is actually a go getter. She’s frustrated waiting for Andy to get her some much needed data for an assignment. You can assign her the study and be done with the level. Or you can listen to her and learn that she is gunning for a promotion, but doesn’t know how to prove herself. One option in the dialogue is to advise her to step up and help Andy with his workload. Seeing as how he’s already at the level she wants to be, Andy could mentor Cameron making everyone happy and increasing the offices efficiency.
Talking to Brianna
Demonstrating Empathy to Brianna
If you read your morning emails, you will know that Brianna has just experienced a death in the family and is coming in to just finish up a few small tasks. If you hand her the study she will remind you about her email. You can either choose to ignore her pain and callously walk away, leaving her in tears, OR you can demonstrate empathy and attempt to console her.
Talking to Sam the Intern
Sam the Intern
Sam is currently being mentored by Shawn, but while his mentor is on vacation he’s stuck twiddling his thumbs. You could assign him the study, but he is grossly unprepared and doing so will end in disaster. Though, you could set him up to talk to Andy, who could assign him a few jobs. Andy will thank you for the added help and Sam will be grateful to get some real research work to put in his portfolio.
Final thoughts
Completing the project from start to finish in just under four weeks was quite an undertaking. I had to develop the idea, write the scrips, create the spites and background, and learn the Construct 3 game engine with no previous experience with coding or development. Overall, I’m very happy with the end product, though as I learn coding I would like to go back and redo the dialogue system and possibly improve the graphics. Without knowing coding, I had to improvise and create a dialogue system using the same concept as a first person shooter. Each set of dialogue is identified as an enemy and the answer choices are identified as a different weapon choice. When the player “kills” the enemy, the weapon of choice determines what new “enemy” (dialogue) will spawn next.