Extraterrestrial Extradition
Player Experience Goals:
My goals for the player is to have a sense of wonderment about alien societies and the possibilities of alien life. I don’t know if I can pull that off though :^) As long as they start thinking about aliens as something beyond blue-skinned humans (or worse… ST:ToS Klingons… gawd, what were they thinking?), I’ll be happy. I’d also like the player to have curiosity about the world and a desire to learn about it. The story will hopefully help them along in this regard, but I want the design to also instill this.
How will I evaluate my success? If the player actually plays the game, that’s a success because they are interested. If they finish, then I held their interest that long. And if they take the time to investigate the entire world, or at least parts of it, beyond the needs of the story/end-goal, then it would be a rousing success.
Definition of the Atlas:
I hope to make a nice alien galactic standard language and then write the Atlas in this language. I actually thought of this before I heard of the Codex Seraphinianus, but I shall cite it as a successful conveyance of information despite a language gap. However I hope to make a language that can be deciphered easily, especially given the in-game guidance. But I don’t want the Atlas to be completely useless until then.
I’d present the Atlas as a welcome packet to the space station. Seeing as it is targeted to someone who doesn’t know the language and is new to the station, this fits my target audience nicely :^). So it will have to be very graphic and iconic with simple use of their language in order to convey the information. And including maps makes sense as well.
Table of Contents:
I’ll admit this will grow as I figure more stuff out, but this will definitely be there. The order may change as well, as I can’t figure out if the station maps should be in an appendix or be one of the first things presented to the player.
i. Official welcome
ii. Explanation of what the station is and the governing body
I. Conveyance of the laws and behavior the player should respect on the station
II. Explanation of the Trial Process (and an overview of the jail for those found guilty and the choice of returning home or staying if found innocent)
III. A description of the player’s room and how to customize it
IV. Explanation of how to use the base facilities (bathroom, elevator, food, etc)
V. Explanation of the language teacher and how to find it and how to use it (see Appendix C for a visual dictionary of the written language)
Appendix A: Maps of the Station (and description of the symbology used to describe the districts/areas)
Appendix B: Space Maps (maps of the Solar system and other systems (inc. ours))
Appendix C: Visual dictionary of the written language
Appendix D: Overview of the Species (and maybe their planets) on the station
Asset List:
In-depth maps of the station
A map of the station’s solar system and its relation to Earth
Profiles of the different aliens that are present on the station
A picture of each of the alien species home planets
Possibly a profile of said worlds (physically as well as the cultures of the planet)
A study of the different architecture of the different species (at least as represented on the station)
A study of the technology of the station, specifically with things the player will interact with
A description of the alien U.N.-ish assembly, their codes/laws/etc – how they function
And a set of ‘miss manners’-type behavior standards
A in-depth review of the trial process and why the things are the way they are
A walkthrough of the “quick-path��? to the end-game
Figuring out what obstacles and puzzles to have
Figuring out a simple written language as well as non-visual version
Figuring out how to teach said language in-game
There is much more than that, that’s all I can think of for right now.