1 Friend Online
Team Project
Introduction
One Friend Online is an action-adventure game where you role play as one of two friends who use an MMO to stay in touch as life pulls them apart.
Developed over 5 months
Team of 3
Responsibilities:
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Plotted out story for 3D adventure game with co-designer, using 3 act structure
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Wrote the script for levels 1, 2, and 4
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Created levels 1 and 3
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Developed UI, SFX
Goal
Our goal was to explore moral choices more complex than the oft used murder vs save NPC tope, so we decided a story that lets you explore problems in friendship would be the best fit. The player would be faced with questions such as “Should I trust my friend’s competence?” “Should I take them for their word? Would this do more harm than good?”
Choice 1
The player can either be greedy and take both bags of loot or save one for Robin.
Walkthrough
Level 1
1st enemy encounter
Introduction to diegetic mechanics
Take both bags
Narrative Design Process
Preproduction
We determined all the major beats and choices on sticky notes. We decided to write the story around a character arc, having the friend (Robin) go through a positive change arc while the player (Scott) faces choices that aid or hinder Robin's growth in this time of need, strengthening or breaking their friendship as a result.
Outline
We wrote out the beats in more detail, and shared them with our third team member and others for feedback.
Story Structure
We chose to have 4 levels to make the story neatly fit Hollywood-style 3 act structure. Since the player-protagonist drives the plot forward but the NPC Robin goes through a character arc, both viewpoints are needed to understand the story.
Good Choice 2
Narrative Choices
There are 5 friendship choices that add up to 5 of the 6 possible friendship points. The number of friendship points earned determines whether or not you stay friends.
I wanted to have the player face increasingly difficult friendship choices that illustrate the theme of being not just a well meaning but empathetic friend.
Bad Choice 2
Here the player can decide to trust Robin’s knowledge of the game without justification to doubt him.
Good Choice 5
Bad Choice 5
Here the player is told by Robin to deliver the coup de grâce on the final boss. The player can either accept Robin’s gesture or insist Robin should do it. Robin's offer can seem out of character to the player as Robin was previously very achievement-hungry. If the player fails to notice Robin's growth they could be inclined to refuse his gesture, making Robin kill the boss.
To avoid ludo narrative dissonance, we wanted to incentivize the player to cooperate with Robin, so we gave them feedback in the form of a level cleared screen which reveals their combat style. If the player doesn’t achieve enough guild combos at the end of each level, their combat style is revealed to be ‘Lone Wolf.’ If the player earns enough guild combos to be deemed making an effort to work with Robin, their combat style is revealed to be ‘Team Player.’
Writing
My co-writer and I planned on devising the writing evenly, but do to time constraints, I wrote the script for levels 1, 2, and 4. Then we read each other's work over to ensure the character's voices remained consistent and there weren't any continuity errors.
To emphasize key scenes such as the fight at the end of the 2nd act, Robin’s audio improves in quality as he shouts his insecurities at Scott. This non-diegetic glimpse through Robin’s facade forces the player to question how much they understood his behavior—how informed their choices were.
However, playtesters either didn’t see the point or didn’t recognize this as a choice. So I added flowers to indicate safety on the left path, making the player more inclined to doubt Robin.
Combat
The player can stun or smash enemies. If the player smashes an enemy Robin made stunned, or vis versa, a guild combo is achieved, resulting in a higher guild score. With the two working so in such close proximity, it’s easy to earn guild combos unintentionally.
If the player’s combat style is ‘Team Player’ for all 4 levels they earn a friendship point, and this achievement is shown at the final level cleared screen: their ‘guild synergy’ is revealed to be 'Fellowship' (or 'Adequate' if they fall short).
Audio
My co-writer and I oversaw our voice actors’ recording to give notes on delivery. Once all the lines were finished, I edited the audio in Audition, cleaning up Scott’s audio and lowering the bit depth of Robin to give the impression of a voice chat, so the player is clear who is the player and who is the NPC. We communicated on how to best export the files for Unreal sequences, and when he finished those I edited some triggers and added effects.
Into Diegetic Audio
Out of Diegetic Audio
Editing: Level Design
After several white box playtest sessions, we noticed players never took the left path during the second choice. The idea was to make two identical paths and give the player the option to reject Robin’s advice without justification other than distrust of his competence, thinking a disagreeable player would enjoy testing the limits of the game a la the Stanley Parable.
Content Design
→ kuːl ɡeɪm → cool game.
During the scene, the two write out the boss’s true name. Using the tiles on the floor.
Cipher
To justify the scene where Robin and the player solve a rune based puzzle, I created a writing system based on IPA with some some inspiration from Hangul. Vowels are by themselves or wrap around a starting consonant, ending consonants are written alone.
This wall can be found in the labyrinth of the 3rd level.
This wall can be found in the labyrinth of the 3rd level.
Full Playthrough and Closing Thoughts
This is my most ambitious project to date, but there are a lot of areas that would be improved with more time investment.
No Feedback During Dialogue — Although the goal of this project was to create as diegetic an experience as possible, players less keen to roleplay tried to interact with Robin in any disruptive ways they could, swinging their hammer at Robin regardless of the tone of the scene. More branching dialogue to have Robin act annoyed at repeated acts could discourage this behavior later in the game, creating more immersion.
No Agency in Giving Power-up — The only significant choice the protagonist makes without the player's agency is in giving Robin the power-up 'Thor's Bomb Slinger' in the midpoint. Players often found this jarring, not realizing "what they did" to give it to him. Giving them the choice would change the way the breaking point plays out significantly, requiring more backing dialogue and a different set piece.