Inspiration
I like interactive story games and narrative games, so I wanted to make one. I also kept seeing the same kind of story in the news, so I thought the theme fit perfectly with current events. The theme was Visibility, so I wanted to make a game about being seen and blamed no matter what you do.
What it does
You play as "Jane Doe" at different ages, just trying to get home. Each level starts in her room, where you pick an outfit (revealing, “comfortable”, or covered up) and grab a few things for your bag. Then you make the trip home: walking from work to the bus stop as an adult, or taking the last train after school as a teenager.
Along the way, you run into people who won’t leave you alone, and every answer has a timer. Not answering counts as an answer too. Some items help, and some don’t, but the outfit you pick never changes whether something happens to you. It only changes how people talk about it after.
Every ending is a news report on the TV in her room, and the anchors always find a way to blame her.
How we built it
I built it in Unity with assets made in Blender and animations from Mixamo. The dialogue system, the timed choices, the outfit picker, the train seat minigame, and the news endings are all custom (from previous games I worked on or projects). I also put together the menu art, the cursors, and the sound design from free assets.
Tools / Resources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uRTMx1DGFpCdh0Xk0OZWmz6CXER_Hz8XbpM4NPEWxDY/edit?usp=sharing
Challenges we ran into
Making 3D assets is hard, and I had to leave out a lot for the sake of time. I originally planned four levels (adult, teen, child, and elderly (and an additional male character)) and had to cut it down to two. And I caught a cold over the weekend, which was perfect. :D
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I really like how it turned out. I’m proud that the dialogue I tried to make sound like how people talk (it is still a bit awkward though but eh...), and that the endings hit the way I wanted them to. I’m also proud of the little details: the outfit reactions, the news anchors, the deer on the menu, and getting a full story with a real ending done in 24 hours (on no coffee, too).
What we learned
I learned a lot about writing branching, timed dialogue and making choices feel like they matter even when the outcome doesn’t. I also learned how to set up Mixamo animations in Unity, some of the movement is still a bit awkward, but it's okay.
What's next for But, What Were They Wearing
I'm gonna make more games :)
