Escape Odyssey

Inspiration

From the topic of this year's 501 course, we expanded and reflected upon the pollution of the natural marine environment by nuclear effluents and its impact on marine life. We aim to convey a story through our game and hope that this game will inspire thoughts about the protection of the natural environment among humans.

What it does

This is a 2D platform game with a creative puzzle system where gamers decides the destiny of the protagonist and help it to survive. The standout feature of our game is a gameplay experience that seamlessly blends narrative and interaction. The plot is a crucial component of the story, and the well-crafted interactions provide players with a deeper immersion and understanding of the narrative. Each interaction point consists of several modules, with each module encapsulating a segment of the story. The order of storytelling is critical! If the narrative sequence is incorrect, the entire story could veer off in an entirely different direction. And it is we, the players, who determine the course of this narrative through our choices.

How we built it

We used Unity 2D and Visual Studio. The main programming language we used is C#.

Challenges we ran into

We had to create a project that heavily exceeded the scope of a 1-day hackathon and we ended up pulling all-nighters and severely cutting our expectations and game content.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Developing a game in just 24 hours presented a significant challenge. We dedicated nearly half of that time to brainstorming themes and content for our product. Ultimately, we combined a meaningful theme with a gameplay style that narrated our story through a distinct and stylized art style. We were proud that we had a thoughtful story that hopefully resonates with the players and we carried out the entire system of the game better than we thought.

What we learned

We learned the full industrial development cycle of building a game from ideation to scripting, storyboarding, and finally to the implementation of the game.

What's next for Escape Odyssey

The story in its current form is brief and offers limited interactions. Our team was eager to infuse more dramatic conflict to ensure the story's ending leaves a lasting impression on players. Given more time, we are confident we would continue to refine the script, making the story more comprehensive, engaging, and thought-provoking.