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Metamorphosis: Thyota's journey - embedding environmental themes into fantastical elements in games

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Metamorphosis: Thyota's journey - embedding environmental themes into fantastical elements in games

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Content METAMORPHOSIS: THYOTA'S JOURNEY
EMBEDDING ENVIRONMENTAL THEMES INTO FANTASTICAL ELEMENTS IN GAMES
by
Joanna Shen
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
(INTERACTIVE MEDIA)
May 2021
Copyright 2021 Joanna Shen
Acknowledgements
First, I would like to thank my thesis chair, Andreas Kratky, and thesis advisor, Margaret
Moser, for all their time and help in bringing Metamorphosis to life. Andreas, you’ve been a
mentor to me since day one of my graduate journey and encouraged me to pursue my
design interests to my fullest potential in my own way. Thank you for your guidance,
wisdom, and emotional support these past three years, I look forward to the next time we
can work together. Margaret, thank you for your advice with nearly all things technical
and asking me all the hard questions I don’t consider. I’ve learned so much from you, and I
will continue to push the boundaries of my design and technical skills, one tutorial at a
time.
Next, I’d like to thank my science advisors, Diane Kim, Jessica Dutton, and Ann
Close, for being a part of my thesis project journey. Words can not express how grateful I
am to have all three of you support my design choices, give valuable feedback, and
encourage me in my time of emotional distress. Knowing that you all believe in me, my
abilities, and my creative vision is empowering to say the least.
T o my industry advisor, Alenda Chang, your knowledge and expertise on the
environment in games is enlightening and inspiring. It makes me elated to know we
resonate with beliefs and values we both share, and to hear you reassure me in my design
choices.
I would also like to thank my unofficial advisor Maureen McHugh for your narrative
feedback and expertise. You’ve always been so supportive of my narrative ideas since first
year, rest assured when I make A Boba Cafe, you’ll be the first to know. T o
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Tracy Fullerton, your expansive knowledge of game design and directing has helped me
figure out and shape the fundamentals of my own design process. Thank you for believing
in me and my potential to be a creative director.
Beyond my committee, I had the privilege to be mentored by other brilliant minds
both in and outside USC: Roger Mendoza, thank you for taking time out of your busy
schedule to share with me your experience developing Gris; your insight and feedback on
my own project has been invaluable, and I’m truly honored to have worked with the
creator of one of my inspirations for Metamorphosis; Jane, Laird, and Carl, thank you for all
your guidance and feedback during my thesis project journey, I sincerely appreciate all the
effort you’ve put into adapting thesis class to fit my and my cohort’s needs during the
pandemic; Sam, thank you for your neverending support and counsel, I look forward to
bothering you again once we return to campus.
T o my amazing team of twenty-two talented friends and individuals, thank you for
joining me on this journey and bearing with me as I learned how to direct for the first time.
Without your help and contribution, I wouldn’t have been able to create Metamorphosis as
it is today, and for that I cannot thank you enough for your patience, dedication, and trust
in me.
Additionally, I would like to thank the Alfred P . Sloan Foundation for partially
funding the development of Metamorphosis. I’m honored to have received the grant for
games and contributed to the Foundation’s mission of strengthening public understanding
of science through media.
Finally, to the following friends and family, thank you for making this journey
possible: my MFA cohort, we’ve grown and been through so much together, I can’t wait
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to see how you all revolutionize our industry; friends from other MFA cohorts and
undergraduates; Stella Bub for having the utmost faith in me and being the best little
sister I can ask for. T o Ro, working together in 532 was one of the best experiences I had at
USC. Thank you for continuing to help me grow as a designer and person, and being there
for me whenever I need you. Lastly, to my family and Hunter, thank you for always
believing in me in everything I do and supporting the many interests I have. No amount of
words can describe how much you mean to me.
iv
T able of Contents
Acknowledgements ii
List of Figures vi
Abstract ix
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1 Artist Statement ………………………………………………………………………………………………... 1
1.2 Origin Story ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
Chapter 2: Research, Ideation, and Concept Development 6
2.1 Prior Art ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7
2.2 Concept Art …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
2.3 Prototypes ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15
2.4 Design Research: The Embedded Design Approach …………………………………………. 18
2.5 Pillars ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 20
Chapter 3: Development Process 21
3.1 Pre-Production and Initial Decisions ………………………………………………………………... 22
3.1.1 Creating the World of Metamorphosis ……………………………………………………. 22
3.1.2 The Player Mechanic: Eating Trash ………………………………………………………….. 34
3.1.3 Narrative Design ……………………………………………………………………………………... 38
3.1.4 Platforming and Exploration ……………………………………………………………………. 41
3.2 Production Development ………………………………………………………………………………... 44
3.3 Challenges During Development ……………………………………………………………………... 50
3.4 Final Game ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 53
Chapter 4: Results 54
4.1 What Went Well ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 54
4.2 What Could Be Improved ………………………………………………………………………………... 55
4.3 Learnings …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 56
Chapter 5: Next Steps 59
Chapter 6: Conclusions 60
Bibliography 61
v
List of Figures
Figure 2.1: One of the many colorful and rich habitats the player explores in Abzû
(2016).
Figure 2.2: The genre and art style were some of the key design elements inspired
by Gris (2018).
Figure 2.3: Princess Mononoke (1997) was one of the first animated movies I
watched that left a lasting impression on me.
Figure 2.4: The curse consuming Okkoto, the giant white boar, is physically
manifested as goo-like worms that spread throughout the body and eventually kill
the victim.
Figure 2.5: Ichthyocentaur character designs I created. The one on the left was
drawn in 2018 and embodied the idea of ichthyocentaurs growing corals on their
bodies and planting them in the ocean. The one on the right was drawn in 2019 and
explored how to design certain types of ichthyocentaurs based on the corals they
embodied. Art by Joanna Shen.
Figure 2.6: A more recent iteration of the ichthyocentaur character design. The one
in the middle became the model for the player character Thyota. Art by Joanna
Shen.
Figure 2.7: A spread from my designer notebook with notes about elkhorn corals
and doodles of how the eating mechanic would look. Art by Joanna Shen.
Figure 2.8: A compilation of some of the creature sketches I drew. I had fun with the
designs and let myself draw what I felt like combining or imagining at the time. Art
by Joanna Shen.
Figure 2.9: Storyboard of the opening sequence for the first iteration of the
narrative, which features a human that transforms into an ichthyocentaur.
Storyboard by Joanna Shen.
Figure 2.10: A diagram showing the emotional arc of one of the early iterations of
the narrative. The final game doesn’t follow this iteration’s exact narrative beats,
but retains the emotional progression of the arc. Art by Joanna Shen.
7
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Figure 3.1: One of the first pieces of concept art done to envision the world of
Metamorphosis. Art by Joanna Shen.
Figure 3.2: Thyota’s design was drastically simplified from the one on the top, to
become the one on the bottom in order to accommodate for the number of
animations they would have. The one on the bottom is the final in-game sprite
design drawn and animated by my character artist Michelle Ma.
Figure 3.3: An illustration of Thyota’s final character design drawn by my Character
Lead Caitlin Leonard.
Figure 3.4: A collection of reference images and designated color swatches
compiled by my Environment Lead Rachel Geng.
Figure 3.5: A few varieties of coral created in the designated art style. Art by Rachel
Geng.
Figure 3.6: Turnaround of Scat Ray. My creature lead Muyang Li made small
adjustments to the design to make animating more feasible. Design by Joanna Shen.
Figure 3.7: Side by side comparison of Scat Ray’s design from ideation (left) to final
in-game sprite (right). Concept design by Joanna Shen, final in-game sprite drawn
and animated by Muyang Li.
Figure 3.8: My creature artist Shushu Li helped me redesign Leafy to make
animating more manageable. Design on left by Joanna Shen, final design on right by
Shushu Li.
Figure 3.9: Final version of Leafy Eel Dragon’s in-game sprite design. I love how
graceful Leafy’s design and swimming animation are in the final game. Drawn and
animated by Shushu Li.
Figure 3.10: Concept designs of various sea creatures. I wish we could have
included all of them. Designs by Muyang Li.
Figure 3.11: Concept of Bunny Crab (left) and how it looks in the game (right).
Drawn and animated by Muyang Li.
Figure 3.12: Concept art of Uniwhale. The design was inspired by combining
unicorns, whales, and purple yams. Designed by Joanna Shen and Muyang Li.
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Figure 3.13: Side by side comparison of Lilyfish’s design from ideation (left) to final
version (right). Concept design by Joanna Shen, final version drawn by Muyang Li,
animated by creature artist Luke Greenwood.
Figure 3.14: Final in-game sprite designs of the creatures. Drawn and animated by
Muyang Li, Shushu Li, and Luke Greenwood.
Figure 3.15: Screenshot from Directed Research prototype that explored using
color loss and decreasing speed to portray the consequences of consuming plastic.
Figure 3.16: Screenshot showing the player performing the energy releasing.
Figure 3.17: Mother Coral and Satellite Coral designs. The use of rich reds and
pinks was reserved for these special corals to emphasize their importance amongst
other corals. Designs by Rachel Geng.
Figure 3.18: Screenshot from the game showing Thyota standing next to the goo
blob that is trapping the small energy coral.
Figure 3.19: One of the puzzles in Metamorphosis. The player enters from the right
and progresses towards the left in order to save Scat Ray caught in a goo web.
Figure 3.20: One of the calm segments in Metamorphosis where players can play in
the water currents amongst the Golden Elkhorn trees.
Figure 3.21: The art direction remained the same throughout production.
Figure 3.22: The eating mechanic did not change from its initial intention, but the
narrative context was iterated several times.
Figure 3.23: Key art for Metamorphosis. Lines by Caitlin Leonard, color by
storyboard and color artist Malina Ronét, title design by Michelle Ma.
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viii
Abstract
Metamorphosis is a game that evokes empathy for nature by embedding environmental
themes within fantastical elements.
Evoking empathy in the context of this paper focuses on the individuals’ ability to
feel for another that is not human, such as the natural environment. Portraying this shift in
concept is attempted through fictional world-building, instilling moments of helping those
in need, and drawing a parallel to real world organisms affected by the environment.
Utilizing embedded design into a 2D narrative-driven game, we find that players in
playtests are moved to empathize in the virtual environment with characters and
creatures in the game world. Metamorphosis is intended as a step towards developing an
ecocentric attitude and real-world environmental empathy, slowly and at our own pace,
through moments of consideration and reflection that help people metamorphize their
predisposed way of thinking.
This paper discusses the conceptualization and iterative process of developing
Metamorphosis. Through this process, I realized that I had to narrow down my design
question to focus on the aspect of empathy and that eliciting behavioral change is beyond
the scope of this project.
ix
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Artist Statement
I wonder why I care about the environment as much as I do, and how I came to be
this way? Among being exposed to environmental topics and enjoying nature excursions, I
realized the movies I watched or games I played throughout my childhood had an
emotional impact on me. This realization led me to pursue game design because of its
versatility as a medium that has the potential of reaching a variety of people on an
emotional level. I created Metamorphosis with a question in mind:
❖ Can a game with an engaging narrative and environmental themes embedded
within fantastical elements inspire players to be more empathetic towards the
environment?
My interpretation of empathy in the context of designing Metamorphosis and this
paper refers to the emotion that is felt when helping a nonhuman being or place in need,
such as the environment. We often interpret empathy with respect to another human
1
being because we have an easier time empathizing with others of our kind due to our
familiarity with their predicaments. From this understanding, I wanted to see how focus in
empathy can shift from humans to the natural environment. However, this is already
proven to be difficult as the environment and climate change continue to be a challenge
for some people to identify with, likely because they don’t see the “human” in the
environment they can connect with. Because of this, I emphasized Metamorphosis’s
world-building to include fantastical elements that were foreign with hints of familiarity,
as well as situations in which people can emotionally relate to.
Before I came to this conclusion, though, I struggled with deciding what exactly I
wanted players to empathize with, and how I could measure the effectiveness of my game
in evoking empathy. My hope was to have players empathize with the real world
environment upon playing Metamorphosis. However I constantly had to remind myself this
would be a task beyond the scope of my project and my ability, simply because we can’t
control what and how people think, nor can we literally place them in someone's shoes.
That isn’t to say games don’t have an impact on players: in fact, as mentioned in Playing
Nature, our interactions with interactive media shape our conception of our actions in real
life (Chang 2019). Game design has become a growing medium that allows designers to
speculate radical futures and create these scenarios for people to experience
1
. I resonated
with this concept, but found it challenging to accept the merit of my design when
evaluating its success in influencing people’s perspective. This is due to my efforts in
looking for specific measurements to base people’s feedback off of, when I should have
had more faith in the quality of feedback from my playtesters. Claims about the impact of
1
Anderson (2015)
2
games with empathy and how to measure them are recognized but not discussed in detail
in this paper
2
. Coming to this realization allowed me to accept how I defined empathy in a
broad and general way, and acknowledge my use of qualitative results to validate my
design methods.
At the very least, I want to see if players will feel connected to the characters in the
game in a way that plants the seeds of empathy. From a wider perspective, this game
presents environmental themes from a unique perspective: instead of playing as a human
exploring the marine world, you play as an inhabitant and caretaker of the marine world.
This directly places the player in a position where they have the ability to help others,
which plays a role in helping the player form a connection with the game world and,
hopefully, eventually the real world.
Though Metamorphosis focuses on the player’s connection and empathy with the
environment, it extends to human-human interactions and connections as well. I want
Metamorphosis to point towards a more empathetic future where people are more
conscious of their actions, big or small, and the impact they have on the environment and
the people around them.
2
There are existing studies and games that address empathy in different contexts. Some examples include
Bonnie Ruberg’s article on empathy and its alternatives, Alenda Chang’s Playing Nature, and Wells and
Lekies’ study about childhood nature experiences influencing adults.
3
1.2 Origin Story
I considered a lot of things when I was designing Metamorphosis. After I thought
about why I care about the environment so much, I came to a few conclusions:
❖ I want to know that I would have a future on this earth and live it to the fullest.
❖ I wouldn’t want my home and livelihood threatened or destroyed by things that
were out of my control.
Particularly the second point, I thought about how I would feel if my home was
filled with someone else’s trash, or if my home was uprooted and mowed down because
there was some oil in the ground under the house. I felt terrified of the idea that
circumstances out of my control would threaten my family’s and my livelihood. People do
what they can to achieve what they want, whether their actions are for the good of others
or themselves. Because of this, we often don’t see the consequences of our actions on
other inhabitants and factors that exist on this earth, simply because we’re so focused on
our own needs and desires.
This is not necessarily ill-intentioned, as people often do not deliberately mean to
harm the environment. But the consequences of our actions are catching up to us.
Humans have a history of taking more from the environment than they give back, which
disrupts the life cycles of many organisms and throws ecosystems off balance. Though
efforts to conserve biological hotspots and crucial habitats have been implemented,
people’s mindsets seem to remain unchanged. From my observations and personal
experiences, this type of mindset seems to revolve around convenience and the lack of
exposure to ongoing environmental issues - it’s difficult for people to connect with
4
something they don’t see, let alone something that does not directly and immediately
affect them. The monumental scale of the problem and lack of exposure to alternative
sustainable practices also leave people feeling hopeless in their efforts to be more
eco-conscious, wondering if their choices even matter. With the ongoing pandemic, this
feeling may be amplified in a way that negatively impacts our view of people.
Perhaps it’s because of my current life situation that allows me to have the space to
be more empathetic with the environment. What I hope to see is people starting to
consider and reflect on the effects of our actions, which would make a big difference on
our behavior in the long run. Even if we developed empathy slowly and at our own pace,
just starting to have these moments and thoughts would help people metamorphize their
predisposed way of thinking.
5
Chapter 2
Research, Ideation, and Concept Development
Metamorphosis is a game about empathizing and forming a personal connection
with nature by performing selfless acts for the good of the environment. The goal of
Metamorphosis is to bring environmental and self awareness to players through an
embedded design approach where real-world environmental issues are parallelled by
fantastical elements.
While it’s inspired by real life environmental problems, Metamorphosis attempts to
capture the dynamics of marine systems without literally representing them. A variety of
media has influenced the development and design of Metamorphosis. In this section, I
introduce these media and identify the key elements that contributed to Metamorphosis’s
game design.
6
2.1 Prior Art
Figure 2.1: One of the many colorful and rich habitats the player explores in Abzû (2016).
Abzû is a 3D underwater adventure game where you dive into the depths of the
ocean and immerse yourself into diverse and rich environments (Figure 2.1). Some
strengths of this game include the gorgeous underwater world, the art direction, and
moments of peaceful meditation. Some non-applicable elements in regards to
Metamorphosis are the 3D art style and the presence of humans in the environment.
One of the core pillars of Metamorphosis is the sense of exploration through a
foreign world. Abzû was able to capture this through massive world-building that included
nine different habitats to visit and the variety of animals that lived in each habitat. The
original game design of Metamorphosis included three different habitats that would have
their own exclusive creatures. T o create the sense of exploration given time constraints on
7
the project, I scoped Metamorphosis down to develop one habitat, Coral Forest. This
allowed me to focus on populating Coral Forest with as many creative and diverse
creatures and flora as possible. Additionally, similar to Abzû’s game flow, the level design
of Metamorphosis includes puzzle-solving moments juxtaposed with calm, peaceful
segments that encourage the player to further explore the environment without pressure.
Abzû takes on a “no text or dialogue” approach to delivering their narrative, which was not
as impactful for me since I didn’t feel the need to have a story in the game. The reason for
this could be the fact that the world Abzû created was too large and vast for me to focus
on following the narrative. From this, I’ve decided to design the world of Metamorphosis to
be contained in an effort to guide the player to narrative elements in the game, while
giving them the freedom to explore the game world.
Figure 2.2: The genre and art style were some of the key design elements inspired by Gris (2018).
8
Gris is a 2D platformer game that has influenced a number of elements in
Metamorphosis, including the gameplay format, art direction, and game feel of the controls
(Figure 2.2). Originally planned for production in 3D to create a more immersive
underwater world, Metamorphosis eventually shifted to become a 2D platformer after
seeing the effectiveness of the breathtaking beauty of the worlds in Gris. Seeing the
worlds in Gris made me realize that I can play to my strengths in better conveying my
artistic direction through 2D art and captivating players with unique characters and
creatures they’ve never seen before. This shift in art direction gave me the freedom to
develop other elements of the game, such as figuring out how to embed visual storytelling
elements into a platformer. Because we want the players to focus on the visuals and
gameplay, my narrative designer and I challenged ourselves to convey our narrative purely
through visuals, though this is not a hard constraint to our game’s design. The reason for
this optional constraint is because, from my experience playing both Abzû and Gris, a
narrative without text or dialogue can confuse players who are thrown into a new and
foreign world, such as that of Metamorphosis. Later on in development, we opted to include
a small amount of text after the title screen to better inform the player of the narrative
context.
9
Figure 2.3: Princess Mononoke (1997) was one of the first animated movies I watched that left a lasting
impression on me.
Princess Mononoke is an animated movie about the timeless struggles and conflicts
between humans and nature that inspired many themes and aesthetics of Metamorphosis
(Figure 2.3). One of the main themes is the destruction of nature at the hands of an
external, antagonizing force. The antagonist in Metamorphosis, the Goo Monster, is similar
in aesthetic and concept to the materialization of the curse in Princess Mononoke - both
appear as an amorphous, abstract goo representing evil and poison that seeps into the
environment and taints the creatures (Figure 2.4).
10
Figure 2.4: The curse consuming Okkoto, the giant white boar, is physically manifested as goo-like worms
that spread throughout the body and eventually kill the victim.
In all three media examples, the central protagonist was a human. I did not like that
humans were highlighted and seemed to be the focus of effects of environmental factors.
From the beginning I wanted Metamorphosis to stand out amongst existing environmental
themed media by placing the player into the role of an inhabitant in a fantastical marine
world, and removing humans or humanoid avatars from the game
3
. T o do this, I leaned
further into fictional world-building by making the player an inhabitant of Coral Forest
which is being threatened by the external force, rather than playing as a human entering
the environment. I want to convey the idea that we - humans, animals, the environment,
etc. - are all connected and affecting each other in some way, regardless of how foreign or
far apart we are from each other.
3
Games like Shelter (2013) have a similar approach of placing the player into the role of an inhabitant of an
environment, though the setting is not in a fantastical world.
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2.2 Concept Art
Drawing is the best way for me to express and convey my ideas, more specifically
through character design. Creating and perceiving images allow me to better understand
concepts and themes presented in media. Much of my art lies in fusing different elements
inspired by nature, mythology, and my numerous other interests. When I create art, I often
find myself thinking, “What if I can combine two things that are not traditionally
combined?” Why should anything be exclusive of each other? At the core of my creations, I
strive to make people happy with my art, and share magical and unique designs by
incorporating them into interactive media.
The concepting of Metamorphosis started with using character designs I drew as far
back as 2018 (Figure 2.5). I drew them again in 2020 as I workshopped my game and
narrative, often sketching the characters in situations I was exploring in my prototypes
(Figures 2.6 and 2.7). From previous research, I decided early on an elkhorn coral
ichthyocentaur would be the main protagonist due to the nature of elkhorn corals being a
foundation species in coral reefs.
12
Figure 2.5: Ichthyocentaur character designs I created. The one on the left was drawn in 2018 and embodied
the idea of ichthyocentaurs growing corals on their bodies and planting them in the ocean. The one on the
right was drawn in 2019 and explored how to design certain types of ichthyocentaurs based on the corals
they embodied. Art by Joanna Shen.
Figure 2.6: A more recent iteration of the ichthyocentaur character design. The one in the middle became
the model for the player character Thyota. Art by Joanna Shen.
13
Figure 2.7: A spread from my designer notebook with notes about elkhorn corals and doodles of how the
eating mechanic would look. Art by Joanna Shen.
I also began designing creatures by drawing influences from past designs dating
back to 2010. From there, I had fun fusing different animals together to create an
assortment of types of creatures that would inhabit the world of Metamorphosis (Figure
2.8).
14
Figure 2.8: A compilation of some of the creature sketches I drew. I had fun with the designs and let myself
draw what I felt like combining or imagining at the time. Art by Joanna Shen.
2.3 Prototypes
In fall 2019, I decided to do some more directed research into types of
environmental media and systems design. I wanted to figure out how to design a system
where environmental themes are presented to the player, but not in an in-your-face way.
T o do that, I did some research into systems design to gain a better understanding of it.
Then, I consumed various forms of environmental media, such as watching nature
documentaries, playing games, brushing up on marine science and ecosystems knowledge,
and reading articles and papers. The result of my findings was my Directed Research
prototype that captured the core loop of my design concept. This prototype is further
described in depth in the “The Player Mechanic: Eating Trash” subsection under
“Development Process. ”
Simultaneously while I conducted my research, I had written a first draft of my
narrative about a human who worked for a waste shipping company that dumped waste
15
into the ocean. After getting caught in a storm and getting shipwrecked, the human fell
into the ocean, where they transformed into an ichthyocentaur by the spirit of the ocean.
In order to get home and transform back into a human, they had to traverse through the
pollution-ridden oceans they caused with their waste dumping (Figure 2.9). I introduced
the narrative with a human to have the player associate their role in the game as a
recognizable character before they turn into a completely different character. However,
as I continued to iterate and get feedback on my narrative through spring 2020, this
version became unnecessarily complex, so I decided to shift the focus of my player
character design to be more ecocentric than anthropocentric. This worked out better for
my design question, since the core concept of it is ecocentric design through
world-building of a fantastical marine environment. This allowed me to directly place the
player into the game world as an inhabitant of the ocean and remove excess exposition.
Figure 2.9: Storyboard of the opening sequence for the first iteration of the narrative, which features a
human that transforms into an ichthyocentaur. Storyboard by Joanna Shen.
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Another iteration of the narrative focused on creating a sense of hopelessness in
which the player would inevitably fail to complete their objective in the game and almost
die despite their best efforts. I mapped this emotional arc using objective correlative
4
in
the format of environmental art, color palettes, and verticality (Figure 2.10). This
narrative, however, changed during production when I realized my overall design tried to
embody too many concepts and emotions into one project. After removing some design
elements, we had to rewrite the narrative beats to fit with the revised design question and
within the scope of the project. However, we made sure to retain the emotional
progression of the arc, as this was one of the main pillars of our design question.
Figure 2.10: A diagram showing the emotional arc of one of the early iterations of the narrative. The final
game doesn’t follow this iteration’s exact narrative beats, but retains the emotional progression of the arc.
Art by Joanna Shen.
4
Objective correlative refers to the technique of mapping internal feelings or particular emotions to the
external world through the use of symbols and images.
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2.4 Design Research: The Embedded Design Approach
I read an article about using a psychologically embedded design approach to design
games with serious topics
5
. The concept revolves around intermixing “on-topic” and
“off-topic” game content to make the focal message less obvious and more accessible for
players (Kaufman & Flanagan 2015). Doing so encourages a shift in players’ psychology in
a more subtle and more impactful way than directly presenting the theme to the players.
Upon reading this paper, I felt like it made a lot of sense to me. Out of all the
documentaries, movies, games, and other media I’ve consumed, I found myself gravitating
more towards media that presented real-life issues and themes in abstract or fantastical
ways. Watching the war between the boars and the humans in Princess Mononoke always
made my heart hurt and empathize with their pain, whereas watching a documentary
about plastics in the ocean made me feel guilty about using plastic wrap to pack up dinner
leftovers. Since I already love creating fantastical worlds through my love of drawing and
character design, I decided to try embedding environmental themes into fantastical
elements in the game.
I started to plan and design my game utilizing the embedded design approach. First,
I chose to focus on marine ecosystems and issues that affect the livelihood of marine
creatures. This is because much of the ocean is unknown to us, and the more distant
something is, the more “out of mind” it becomes and the less likely someone will care
about it. Then I tried to think about how to build a bridge between marine issues and
gameplay. I wanted the player’s action to be directly related to issues that marine
5
Kaufman and Flanagan (2015)
18
creatures encounter. Moreover, I wanted the gameplay to be reactive to the player’s
actions, meaning whatever the player does will affect the in-game environment and
elements as they progress. This meant I had to further narrow down my focus on marine
ecosystem issues and pick just one, so I decided to do more research particularly on
marine plastic pollution. I started to think, how do you actually get rid of pollution if you lived
in the ocean? It’s not like you can just put it in your pocket and say you got rid of the trash.
Jokingly, I thought the only way to actually get rid of anything in the ocean is to probably
eat it and digest it. But this thought became a core concept of my game that led to the
emergence of the game’s mechanic: the player needs to eat trash to get rid of pollution in
the ocean.
The limitations and risks, however, that come with this approach may cause the
audience to feel disconnected and more distant from the themes presented in the game.
This is possibly due to the fact that the game world is made up, so the audience may not
necessarily feel like they’re a part of the game world that is presented to them. Moreover,
the creatures and character are unique designs made specially for Metamorphosis, making
the unfamiliarity of the world even more difficult to connect to.
2.5 Pillars
After exploring and creating a variety of prototypes, I identified and established
the initial pillars for my game:
19
1. World-building (Art): the wondrous and imaginative world of Metamorphosis
features never before seen characters and creatures. Art allows me to convey this
sense of unfamiliarity and curiosity that comes from exploring new worlds. This will
be portrayed by 2D art drawn in the designated art style.
2. Responsive environment: the game features an underwater environment that is
inspired by processes seen in the real ocean and reacts to the player’s actions. The
player, then, has agency over how they directly affect the environment as they play
the game.
3. Meaningful narrative: using an engaging fantastical narrative to convey the idea of
self-sacrifice for the well-being of others.
4. Emotional Investment: throughout the game, players will feel empathy as they
accomplish tasks such as restore dying habitats, rebuild coral homes for the
inhabitants, help animals find their families, and more.
In the next section, I mention the revised design question and pillars for
Metamorphosis after starting the development process.
20
Chapter 3
Development Process
The culmination of my research led me to confront questions and make a series of
design choices I hadn’t considered before. Because of this, my design question, pillars, and
experience goals were modified and adapted as I went through the development process.
More specifically, I had to narrow down my design question to focus on the aspect of
empathy, and recognize that eliciting behavioral change is beyond the scope of this
project. My reasoning for making the following design choices, the limitations of these
choices, and the shifts that occurred in my question and pillars during development are
explained in this section.
21
3.1 Pre-Production and Initial Decisions
3.1.1 Creating the World of Metamorphosis
World-building was the main defining trait of Metamorphosis. In comparison to the
other pillars, world-building was the strongest and most prominent component of the
game because I use it as a way to instill empathy in players while informing them about a
world that is largely unknown and unfamiliar (Figure 3.1). Creating an imaginary world
would set up the players’ expectations of Metamorphosis, have them anticipate
encountering quirky and unusual in-game elements, and develop opinions and thoughts
within that context.
Figure 3.1: One of the first pieces of concept art done to envision the world of Metamorphosis. Art by Joanna
Shen.
22
I went back through my sketchbook and drawings and found my designs for
characters called ichthyocentaurs (pronounced “ick-thee-oh-sen-tars”). These magical
characters are protectors of the ocean who help corals and plants grow as they roam
across the oceans by breaking off pieces of coral that grow from their bodies and planting
them into the sea floor. This particular character design fit in the context of the world of
Metamorphosis and the designated mechanic. Though the character’s ability shifted to be
that of consuming pollution, the concept of self-sacrifice was prominent at the core of the
character’s design.
The aesthetic choice of the character itself arose from the desire to create a
fictional yet believable underwater world that people would be compelled to explore. The
ichthyocentaur character design helps the player develop a sense of familiarity with the
player character through the presence of prominent physical human traits to the
character, such as choosing to include the upper body and head of a human. The
foreignness of the player character then came from the horse body and legs being covered
with fish scales, and having a dragon-like fish tail. By emphasizing the human part of the
character design, this allows the player to develop that sense of familiarity, be ok with
being in a foreign in-game world, and feel comfortable with exploring the in-game world.
T o make the player character more relatable, my narrative designer and I established that
they would be someone who was forced into their role as a protector of the ocean by
being the last one of their species. Inspired by the character arc of Aang from Avatar: The
Last Airbender, we thought about how the player character would be a young adult who
wants to do whatever they want and be free, but needs to mature and eventually confront
23
their destiny of sacrificing themself to save the ocean. The initial sketches and illustrations
of the ichthyocentaur named Thyota, who would end up being our player character, looked
regal and proud as opposed to being a young adult who looked inexperienced and had
much to learn. With the help of my character artists, we redesigned Thyota to better fit
the character description we had in mind (Figures 3.2 and 3.3).
24
Figure 3.2: Thyota’s design was drastically simplified from the one on the left, to become the one on the right
in order to accommodate for the number of animations they would have. The one on the right is the final
in-game sprite design drawn and animated by my character artist Michelle Ma.
Figure 3.3: An illustration of Thyota’s final character design drawn by my Character Lead Caitlin Leonard.
25
The art direction of the game was heavily inspired by Gris and Abzû. Color is a very
important visual storytelling tool in representing the health of the environment and the
player character Thyota. Because of that, we had to delegate color palettes to certain art
elements in the game. For example, blue tones and values were used for the ocean, and
rich reds, greens and yellows were jewel tones used for corals (Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.4: A collection of reference images and designated color swatches compiled by my Environment
Lead Rachel Geng.
The colors would have watercolor textures overlaid on top to add depth to the art
assets and convey the underwater aesthetic. T o distinguish the character and creatures
from the environment art, the characters were drawn with an outline while the
environment art was drawn without lines (Figure 3.5). The environment art had more
26
textures that created a more immersive world, whereas the characters had simple colors
to help with making the animations more manageable to draw.
Figure 3.5: A few varieties of coral created in the designated art style. Art by Rachel Geng.
I initially planned for the game to be made in 3D so I could improve my 3D modeling
and animation skills. However I decided early on that my focus for this project was to learn
to be a creative director. Thus, I decided to compromise by settling for a 2.5D art style,
where the player navigation would be restricted to the horizontal and vertical axes, and
the art assets are 3D models placed in 3D space. As I continued to refine my game idea
and build out the art style, I realized that many of my art assets would need to be created
from scratch since my character and creature designs were unique. Creating all the 3D
models and animations for the characters and creatures would take too long to achieve
what I had in mind for the end product. Additionally, I had to prepare to do everything
myself if I could not recruit enough 3D artists, and drawing in 2D is something I can do
very well. Hence, I shifted the art style again to be 2D art, and still navigate along the
horizontal and vertical axes. This decision allowed me to better convey the ideas and
character designs I had for Metamorphosis, and enabled my art team to generate a large
amount of art assets within the amount of time I had scheduled for development.
27
The marine world is full of mysteries and unknowns, and I loved exploring that
unknown with my imagination. I love to create hybridized creatures inspired from animals
we have in real life. Along a similar reasoning for Thyota’s design, by combining real world
animals to create these hybridized creatures gives players a sense of wonder yet familiar
feeling to the foreign world of Metamorphosis. T o have them think “what other kinds of
creatures could there possibly be?” would be a success to me. As one of my advisors said,
most things in the ocean seem alien anyway, who knows what else could be living there!
It started out with Scat Ray, one of Thyota’s animal companions in the game. He
was a creature my friends and I created in high school biology class for a speculative
evolution project. I remembered his design - manta ray body with bat wings and a scorpion
tail - and thought he would fit perfectly with the aesthetic of Metamorphosis (Figures 3.6
and 3.7). From there, I created Leafy the Leafy Eel Dragon, who would become another
one of Thyota’s animal companions (Figures 3.8 and 3.9).
28
Figure 3.6: Turnaround of Scat Ray. My creature lead Muyang Li made small adjustments to the design to
make animating more feasible. Design by Joanna Shen.
Figure 3.7: Side by side comparison of Scat Ray’s design from ideation (left) to final in-game sprite (right).
Concept design by Joanna Shen, final in-game sprite drawn and animated by Muyang Li.
29
Figure 3.8: My creature artist Shushu Li helped me redesign Leafy to make animating more manageable.
Design on left by Joanna Shen, final design on right by Shushu Li.
Figure 3.9: Final version of Leafy Eel Dragon’s in-game sprite design. I love how graceful Leafy’s design and
swimming animation are in the final game. Drawn and animated by Shushu Li.
30
As I gathered more teammates for my project, I really wanted my talented artists to have
their artistic input in the game by designing their own creatures (Figure 3.10). My artists
exceeded my expectations as creatures like Bunny Crab, Garden Party Eels, Uniwhale, and
SunMoonFish were brought into the world of Metamorphosis (Figures 3.11 through 3.14).
These creatures naturally had a place in the Metamorphosis world and helped to set the
atmosphere and tone of the game.
Figure 3.10: Concept designs of various sea creatures. I wish we could have included all of them. Designs by
Muyang Li.
31
Figure 3.11: Concept of Bunny Crab (left) and how it looks in the game (right). Drawn and animated by
Muyang Li.
Figure 3.12: Concept art of Uniwhale. The design was inspired by combining unicorns, whales, and purple
yams. Designed by Joanna Shen and Muyang Li.
32
Figure 3.13: Side by side comparison of Lilyfish’s design from ideation (left) to final version (right). Concept
design by Joanna Shen, final version drawn by Muyang Li, animated by creature artist Luke Greenwood.
Figure 3.14: Final in-game sprite designs of the creatures. Drawn and animated by Muyang Li, Shushu Li, and
Luke Greenwood.
33
3.1.2 The Player Mechanic: Eating Trash
As mentioned earlier in section 2.4 Design Research: The Embedded Design
Approach, the mechanic was inspired by the concept of marine animals eating trash.
Removing trash from the ocean meant getting rid of it somehow, and hiding it the sand or
putting it behind some coral was not going to cut it - trash does not just disappear. When
the thought of eating trash in order to clean the ocean popped into my mind, it actually
worked really well.
But eating trash should not be that simple. There should be a consequence to this
action, otherwise the player will keep eating trash and think they are invincible. Thus, the
mechanic had two effects that were inverse, almost contradictory, of each other: when the
player eats trash, their health drops and they slowly die, while the environment’s color and
health are restored and slowly come back to life.
T o depict this mechanic, I built a prototype with some simple gameplay (the
Directed Research prototype mentioned in Chapter 2). The goal of the prototype was: 1.)
show that eating trash was bad for the player, and 2.) show that eating trash was good for
the environment. In the prototype, you play as a small pink fish in an empty sea floor
environment littered with six plastic bottles (Figure 3.15).
34
Figure 3.15: Screenshot from Directed Research prototype that explored using color loss and decreasing
speed to portray the consequences of consuming plastic.
Upon swimming to and consuming the first plastic bottle, a few small elkhorn corals
appear in front of you. However, your color saturation and speed slightly decrease, though
this is very subtle at first. After each subsequent bottle, the diminishing color saturation
and slowness of the player become obvious to the point that the player can hardly move to
consume with the sixth and last bottle. The effects of color loss and speed are irreversible,
meaning once the player has consumed a certain amount of plastic, they will die. This
design choice was intentional in order to convey the seriousness of marine animals
consuming plastics and trash and show that the consequences they experience are
permanent.
I really liked the gravity this mechanic carried and thought it would be a great
balance to the fantastical world I created. With the gameplay and level design I had in
35
mind, the player could choose to consume trash in order to restore the environment, or
they could avoid the trash to save themselves. Through playtesting a paper prototype of
this, though, the result showed that the intended level design did not complement the
current mechanic, and lacked in generating player motivation to actually perform the
mechanic. By making the mechanic harm the player whenever they perform it and not
seeing any positive feedback as a result, whether or not the benefits were personal, the
player felt unmotivated to choose the path with the most trash. T o consolidate this within
the projected production schedule, I had to designate the level design to be more linear
and “force” players to confront the trash.
By constraining the level design, we had more time to focus on addressing other
concerns that came with the mechanic. At the time, all the player could do was press a
button and consume trash, there was no interesting component to the mechanic that
would capture the player’s attention and motivation. With the help of my narrative and
level designers, we added an “energy releasing” mechanic to the eating mechanic to make
the gameplay more engaging for the player (Figure 3.16). Releasing energy on a dying
“coral activator” - a strong foundational coral that supports the nearby organisms - would
restore the coral activator and give it enough energy to bring life back to the surrounding
environment. The energy releasing mechanic added dimensionality to the gameplay in
giving players a purpose after consuming harmful substances, and allowed for players to
directly affect and see the visual feedback from the virtual environment through their
actions.
36
Figure 3.16: Screenshot showing the player performing the energy releasing mechanic.
At this point, the mechanic and gameplay lacked consequences as a result of the
player’s actions. T o address this, we devised a system called “goo mode, ”
6
in which the
player is slowly dying after eating harmful substances in order to build pressure and
motivate the player to play the game. Goo mode’s attributes of added weight and slowed
speed also allowed us to be creative with our level design and devise puzzles that utilize a
combination of the eating goo, releasing energy, and goo mode mechanics.
Though there were still a few flaws that made subsequent narrative and level
design choices rather difficult, the outcome of this mechanic iteration worked well within
the scope and context of Metamorphosis.
6
Discussed in further detail in subsection 3.1.3 Narrative Design.
37
3.1.3 Narrative Design
The purpose of writing a narrative for Metamorphosis was to create an opportunity
for players to develop an emotional connection to the player character and the in-game
world. After iterations and workshopping from fall 2019 through spring 2020, the
narrative landed on the idea of taking on the role of a magical undersea creature who has
the power to consume toxic contaminants.
In the world of Metamorphosis, there is a giant Mother Coral whose energy is the
lifeline of the ocean. Her energy is distributed through her network of septae (similar to
roots in plants) to her Satellite Corals (Figure 3.17). There are three Satellite Corals that
reside in three different habitats: Coral Forest, Kelp Groves, and Lumino Caves. The
ichthyocentaurs, protectors of the ocean, play a significant role in connecting to the
Mother Coral and maintaining the habitats. Through their special ability, they distribute
Mother Coral’s energy to the rest of the environment and consume a limited amount of
pollution that makes their way into the ocean.
38
Figure 3.17: Mother Coral and Satellite Coral designs. The use of rich reds and pinks was reserved for these
special corals to emphasize their importance amongst other corals. Designs by Rachel Geng.
However, an era of peace lulled the ichthyocentaurs into leisure. Only Thyota, the
youngest ichthyocentaur, along with their animal companions remained in Coral Forest to
continue carrying out their duties. One day, an unknown, malevolent goo-like entity -
fittingly named Goo Monster - started seeping into the marine world and poisoning the
Mother Coral. Unprepared for the attack, the ichthyocentaurs perished and habitats left
devastated. The Mother Coral, sensing the Goo Monster was targeting Coral Forest next,
used her remaining energy to protect Thyota and their animal companions from the goo
invasion. Though safe, Thyota was the last of the ichthyocentaurs left in a polluted Coral
Forest and separated from their animal companions.
39
The narrative plays a big role in providing context and creating meaning to the
mechanic. The “eating” part of the mechanic parallels the real world example of marine
animals consuming trash. T o fit within the fictionalized world of Metamorphosis, trash is
abstracted to “goo” to represent all sorts of pollution and dangerous invasive components.
Consuming goo harms the player and initiates the “energy releasing” mechanic. By
removing the goo, the player uncovers a small energy coral and inherits some of Mother
Coral’s energy, which they can release on the coral activator and help bring life back to the
surrounding area (Figure 3.18).
Figure 3.18: Screenshot from the game showing Thyota standing next to the goo blob that is trapping the
small energy coral.
40
Up until the player releases the energy, they are in “goo mode, ” a state in which their
health - represented by color saturation - decreases, the movement slows down, and the
weight of the player character increases. This phase represents the deadly effects of the
goo on the player. T o overcome this, they must cleverly use the goo mode attributes to
solve puzzles and progress in the game.
Much of the backstory, though, had to be removed or simplified to fit the
production schedule. Early on in pre-production, we removed Kelp Groves and Lumino
Caves from the design and focused solely on Coral Forest. Mother Coral was not
mentioned in the introduction text, as this would call for in-game explanations of the
systems in the fictionalized world. Although the exact meanings of the story aren’t
conveyed, the gist of the narrative is clear in portraying the good one can do by performing
selfless acts for another being.
3.1.4 Platforming and Exploration
Making the game into a 2D platformer was the last thing I thought I would be doing.
As mentioned in subsection 3.1.1 Creating the World of Metamorphosis, I initially
prototyped and designed my game to be in 3D. The reason for shifting from a 3D game to a
2D platformer was the same reason for my decision to change the art direction from 3D to
2D. Within the context of gameplay, constraining navigation to be on two axes instead of
three allows for more efforts to be put into the quality of the art assets and level design,
thus making development more manageable. Furthermore, utilizing a familiar genre such
41
as platformer would help with onboarding the player to explore an unfamiliar and foreign
world like Metamorphosis.
My hesitation with using a 2D platformer, however, rose from the preconceptions
that came with such an established genre. I wanted to encourage players to explore the
Metamorphosis world and take their time interacting with the environment and creatures.
But the structure of a platformer lends to players generally wanting to rush through the
game in order to complete it (as can be seen in games like Super Mario Bros.), instead of
backtracking to previous locations or lingering in an area for the sake of enjoying the
in-game environment. Despite these downsides, I decided to use a platformer in order to
constrain the amount of engineering work that went into setting up the player character
controller and navigation. T o mitigate the effects a platformer tends to inspire, I designed
two alternating sequences, each embodying a particular emotion, to construct the level:
puzzles and calm segments. Puzzles were exhilarating segments of the level where the
player focused on restoring all the coral activators in a particular area in order to progress
to the next area (Figure 3.19). The calm segments, on the other hand, were serene
exploratory segments that allowed players to destress and encouraged them to wander
around in peace (Figure 3.20). After seeing how Gris achieved creating a certain emotion
through moments in the game within the bounds of a platformer structure, I thought
about what could be a compelling moment and reward for players for performing the
mechanic. It was here the idea of saving creatures emerged, and, along with restoring the
environment, became the main moment of interaction and emotional investment for the
player.
42
Figure 3.19: One of the puzzles in Metamorphosis. The player enters from the right and progresses towards
the left in order to save Scat Ray caught in a goo web.
Figure 3.20: One of the calm segments in Metamorphosis where players can play in the water currents
amongst the Golden Elkhorn trees.
43
3.2 Production Development
During production development, I realized my design question was very vague. It
lacked structure due to its broad scope, which made it hard to identify and translate into
testable design strategies. This led me to start combining multiple themes and concepts
into one project in order to attempt achieving multiple goals, such as creating behavioral
change in players and inspiring them to take action in real life. I had to take a step back and
re-evaluate my goals with respect to my production schedule. I reminded myself that the
idea of behavioral change is not immediate and will manifest in more ways than one. For
this particular design, I am not trying to provide action items for people to do in real life in
order to save the environment, but instead designing moments and creating space for
people to experience an emotional encounter in a fantastical setting. With my artist
intention more clear, I honed down on my design question:
❖ Can the act of helping fantastical creatures by harming themself in the game
encourage players to feel empathy for the creatures and the environment, whether
in-game or in the real world?
44
From there, I revised a few of my pillars, more specifically combining two of them:
1. World-building (Art): using my art to convey this sense of unfamiliarity and
curiosity that comes from exploring new worlds. This is done through 2D art drawn
in the designated art style.
2. Conscious environment: the game features an underwater environment inspired
by processes seen in real oceans that reacts to the player’s actions.
3. Meaningful narrative: using an engaging fantastical narrative to convey the idea of
self-sacrifice for the well-being of others. This is also used to create moments of
emotional investment for the player.
This section touches on how I implemented the previously mentioned initial
decisions with respect to my revised design question.
The art direction served us well and had the least diversion from its initial intention
(Figure 3.21). The art style was established since the beginning of pre-production and it
was a matter of getting all the art assets and animations completed. Because of this, I
reached out to numerous artist friends who I felt would complement my designated art
style to enlist their expertise and help. From there, to make art production more
organized, I split my art department into three teams: character, creature, and
environment. Nearly half my team was composed of artists, so I designated a character
lead and environment art lead to help maintain and enhance the art direction of
Metamorphosis throughout production.
45
Figure 3.21: The art direction remained the same throughout production.
Though production for the art assets started on schedule, quite a few art assets and
animations were not accounted for, which led to some content creep during production. I
had to keep my expectations in check, and either remove content that would not be
necessary to the completion of the game, or use existing art assets for multiple purposes.
All in all, it was very heartwarming and exhilarating to see my artistic vision come true
thanks to the culmination of my artists’ efforts and creativity.
The narrative with respect to the player mechanic underwent the most iterations
throughout production, which made it feel like the narrative design and mechanic were
constantly stuck in the pre-production phase. The metaphorical nod to the real world
issue and the initial intention of the player mechanic did not change, rather the player
mechanic’s context within the narrative changed (Figure 3.22).
46
The initial mechanic functioned accordingly:
1. The player consumes goo, which contains the Mother Coral’s energy.
2. The player inherits the energy, but is slowly dying due to the goo’s poisonous
nature (goo mode).
3. The player can then use the energy to restore a dying coral activator, which in turn
restores the nearby surrounding environment. By releasing the energy, the player
exits goo mode and their health is back to normal.
4. If the player misses the energy shot and fails to restore the coral activator, the goo
respawns and the player needs to try again.
5. If the player does not release the energy by the time goo mode ends, the player dies
and the goo respawns in its previous position. The player respawns at a nearby
checkpoint where they can try again.
However, this portrayal of the mechanic causes confusion for the player in terms of
understanding what exactly is happening, and whether or not the action they are
performing is beneficial to them or not. For example, the player may think they exit goo
mode and restore their health because they are releasing a purified form of the goo, when
in fact they are releasing the Mother Coral energy. Another example is players may think
they are getting their power from consuming goo, but it is the energy trapped in the goo
that is giving power to the player. The amount of narrative presented to the player
contributes to these misunderstandings. Because of the scope of the project, much of the
backstory and world-building could not be made for this game. For instance, the players
do not encounter the Mother Coral in this version of Metamorphosis, so they may not
47
understand why there is a yellow glowing ball of energy in the goo they need to consume.
T o address the limitations of narrative context and the contradictory nature of the
mechanic, the narrative was adjusted to better fit the mechanic. The final iteration of the
mechanic we decided on progresses accordingly:
1. The player consumes the goo, which is attached to a small energy coral.
2. Upon consuming the goo, the player enters goo mode while inheriting energy from
the small energy coral that has been rid of the goo.
3. The player must release the energy and heal the dying coral activator in order to
restore the nearby surrounding environment. Doing so allows the player to exit goo
mode as they have been healed by the coral activator.
4. If the player misses the energy shot and fails to restore the coral activator, the goo
respawns on the small energy coral, and the player needs to try again.
5. If the player does not release the energy by the time goo mode ends, the player dies
and the goo respawns on the small energy coral. The player respawns at a nearby
checkpoint where they can try again.
48
Figure 3.22: The eating mechanic did not change from its initial intention, but the narrative context was
iterated several times.
The narrative of the mechanic still may not be conveyed as clearly as I had hoped,
but from the playtests we conducted, our playtesters understand that consuming the goo
is harmful to them, and the only way to avoid death is to restore the coral activator by
releasing the energy they obtained from the small energy coral.
Finally, the choice of platforming mechanics itself did not change from its original
intention, though we had to readjust the level design numerous times to fit both the
platforming and player mechanic design. There were many features we wanted to add to
create a rich, responsive environment, but that would mean adding more work for our
artists, which time did not allow for. I had to narrow down the interactions to the most
important moment and identify processes that have to happen for that particular moment.
We decided to focus on the moment of saving a creature after the player has consumed
goo and successfully released energy on a coral activator to cleanse the remaining goo
49
from the area. The most successful example of this moment was when the player saves
Scat Ray from being caught in a giant goo web. A short cut scene shows Scat Ray
struggling in the goo web and crying. After the player completes the puzzle and the goo
web dissolves, a brief cut scene shows Scat Ray swimming to the player and showing its
happiness by performing two loop-de-loops). Ideally all the creature-saving moments
would have a similar progression, however the number of different creatures were
already established, each having only one swimming animation. Narratively, we also
wanted the moment of saving Scat Ray to have more importance since he is one of
Thyota’s animal companions. T o not add more work for my creature artists, my audio
designer and composer created a variety of creature sound effects and environment
stingers to enhance the moment the player saves the creature. I continuously consulted
with my art, audio and engineering teams to make sure the tasks to create this moment
were split as evenly amongst them as possible, and removed any irrelevant tasks to lighten
their task load.
3.3 Challenges During Development
Amongst making design choices to properly convey my vision, I encountered the
challenges of managing and communicating with twenty-two team members of varying
backgrounds and understanding of game development, coupled with the inability to meet
in person due to the Covid-19 pandemic . An example of this is the difficulty I had of
getting rapport with one of my producers, who came from a film development
background. There was a lack of understanding on the part of my producer of what I do as
50
a creative director, mainly because they looked for but could not see tangible efforts in the
project on my end. On the other hand, because the production of different parts of the
game happened asynchronously, such as the art team going into development earlier than
engineering of the mechanic did, I was unclear in establishing explicit task lists for my
teammates, which made it confusing and frustrating for them when they felt their task
lists were increasing rather than decreasing. These factors led to lapses in communication
from my producer to some of my teammates, as well as a lack of proper communication of
my producer to me in regards to the needs of my teammates, which in turn caused some
strain in those relationships. I held a Project Realignment meeting to reorient the team
and tried clarifying some misunderstandings. Needless to say, this experience, though a
good one to have, was emotionally draining and made me reevaluate myself as a person
and a creative director.
Another challenge I faced was constantly adapting to the changing of my engineers
throughout the entire phase of development. Having a volunteer-basis project makes it
challenging to retain team members who are busy with their own schedules. Over the
course of six months, there were three separate times I had to actively search for
engineers to replace one or more engineers who left the team. The engineers who I
worked with long-term, though, were talented and very capable individuals who helped
make Metamorphosis what it is today.
The project set-up in terms of the structure of the game could have been more
efficient and streamlined as well. The entire game was built in one scene, which meant
that my engineers could only work on the scene one at a time in order to avoid conflicts
with version control. This also meant that the game is not properly optimized for playing in
51
a web browser on a laptop due to the sheer number of assets that have to be loaded all at
once when the game starts. T o address this, we are trying to consolidate the environment
art assets, which were designed to be modular and placed as individual objects in the level,
into a single PNG image to decrease the number of assets.
Finally, though written in detail in a previous section, I find it worthwhile to
mention the struggle of having to design the player mechanic and adapting the narrative
to the scope of the project in this section. The uncertainty in the foundational base of the
mechanic made it difficult to move forward with and decide on certain design choices,
such as finalizing the opening storyboard sequence images, figuring out how many cut
scenes are needed, or deciding how many animations the Goo Monster should have.
Making decisions late in the development process led to content creep that threatened to
extend the production time of the game. In addition to keeping my expectations in check, I
had to be more selective and prioritize what needed to be done as opposed to what I
would like to have done for the game.
52
3.4 Final Game
The final outcome of Metamorphosis is a 2D narrative-driven platformer where you
play as Thyota, a magical undersea creature, who must consume poisonous contaminants
in order to restore their home. Throughout the game, players will experience empathy for
creatures trapped by the toxins, and gratification when they successfully bring life back to
the ocean (Figure 3.23). This version of the game focuses on taking the player through the
diverse areas of Coral Forest, from the sun-soaked Golden Elkhorn trees, to the dark, cold
caves in the depths.
Figure 3.23: Key art for Metamorphosis. Lines by Caitlin Leonard, color by storyboard and color artist Malina
Ronét, title design by Michelle Ma.
53
Chapter 4
Results
Through the playtests we were able to conduct during the busy production
development phase, we gathered valuable feedback and insight from our playtesters that
helped improve our game. In this section, I mention what went well and what could be
improved.
4.1 What Went Well
Upon seeing the title screen, players loved the aesthetic and beauty of the world of
Metamorphosis. Many of them complimented us on how well the character and creature
art styles naturally complement the environment art style. Additionally, nearly all the
playtesters thoroughly enjoyed discovering the quirky and unique creatures in the game.
There was plenty of positive feedback from the players when they saved the creatures and
saw them appear in later parts of the level. Many of them expressed their hopes of being
able to interact with the creatures and talk to them. The moment of saving Scat Ray
54
showed the most promise, as playtesters responded very positively to seeing a happy and
adorable creature follow them around for the duration of the game. The approach of
creating a fantastical world appears to have effectively captivated the player’s attention
and inspired them to empathize with the creatures in the game.
Secondly, most people who played the game in its pre-Alpha phase understood the
core concept of the interaction: they were getting hurt by eating goo, and restoring the
environment by releasing some sort of purifying substance on a large dying coral.
Furthermore, playtesters who played the game in the post-Alpha phase understood their
role in the game as a protector who had to harm themselves temporarily in order to save
creatures and heal the environment.
Finally, the platforming structure of the game was also positively received. Due to
the nature of the level design, players enjoyed the juxtaposition of solving puzzles using
the eating and energy releasing mechanic, and freely wandering the calm segments to
explore Coral Forest. Players in particular had fun playing in the water currents, since it
gave them agency to navigate to higher places and anticipate puzzles that would
incorporate vertical movement.
4.2 What Could Be Improved
The clarity of the player mechanic can be significantly improved on. A majority of
people did not know how to use the mechanic, specifically the goo mode mechanic, since
there is no indication of this ability in the opening storyboard sequence nor in the
beginning of the level. In the puzzle where players save bunny crab, many of them
55
expressed having difficulty figuring out what to do next in order to progress. It was after a
series of experiments and sometimes through luck that players were able to break
through the cracked ocean floor with their weight and progress through the puzzle.
Though most people understood the gist of the narrative, there was still confusion
about the exact context of the game. The narrative bits that were selected and presented
in the game had gaps in the overall narrative that made it difficult for players to
understand the bigger picture in which they were situated. For instance, in the opening
storyboard sequence, many players thought the scene where they are healing a giant coral
depicts the main eating and energy releasing mechanic, when in fact the scene referred to
the final action you perform at the end of the level of purifying the Satellite Coral to
restore the rest of Coral Forest. This allowed the player to get only a general
understanding of the narrative rather than the intended design. However, this may not
entirely be a bad thing. Although the exact elements of the fictionalized world were not
efficiently conveyed, the general comprehension of the narrative could be beneficial in
allowing the player to superimpose their own interpretation of the narrative to their
liking.
4.3 Learnings
I learned a great deal about myself, my directing style, and design methods during
my journey of creating Metamorphosis. World-building and creating fantastical character
designs are practices I intend to carry throughout my career and life. I would like to
continue pushing the boundaries of environmental games and exploring ways to design
56
creative gameplay that brings players’ attention to the theme or educational facts
embedded in the game. I would also love to research and experiment with methodologies
that could open up the possibility of influencing behavioral change in players, whether
in-game or in real life.
Additionally, I learned how thoroughly I enjoy working with other individuals and
having them enhance my design and art style with their own creativity. It was from
brainstorm sessions with my teammates that I was able to finalize and resolve certain
design conflicts, and giving creative freedom to my artists that creatures like Bunny Crab
and SunMoonFish exist in Metamorphosis. I felt empowered knowing that my friends were
willing to work with me on this project even when they had their own busy schedules, and
that there were individuals who strongly resonated with my design goal. I felt compelled
to work with their best interests in mind and to make sure they were getting the most out
of their experience working with me.
With respect to the final version of Metamorphosis, I have come to accept it being a
game about inspiring empathy through self-sacrifice. I’m still interested in behavioral
change and would like to delve more into making environmentally themed games that can
be compelling enough to inspire action in players. As of now, I am not sure how to best
approach designing this kind of gameplay, but will continue to look more into it.
Given the chance to do it again, I would want to have a larger number of playtesters
to test my game. T o a certain extent, the embedded design approach succeeded in
achieving parts of my design question, but I had difficulty acknowledging this. Though I
had both quantitative and qualitative results that supported the design choices I made for
Metamorphosis, I would feel more confident in these results had there been more player
57
feedback throughout production. I do acknowledge, however, I did my best under the
circumstances the project and my team had to work through.
I would also want to improve the workflow and how information is distilled
amongst my team by making more time for one-on-ones with my teammates. Although I
had weekly video call meetings with each of my teams, some of my team members still
found it difficult to openly communicate and ask me questions regarding the tasks they
had, despite my best efforts to be friendly during meetings. Because of the drawbacks of
video calls, I was not able to emotionally connect with team members whom I was working
with for the first time and did not know how I was as a person as much as I would have
liked. I, again, acknowledge I did my best under the circumstances and time constraints.
58
Chapter 5
Next Steps
With the help of my science and industry advisors from the USC Wrigley Institute
for Environmental Studies and UCSB, my next steps would be to reach out to educators,
non-governmental organizations, and environmental institutions such as aquariums to
make Metamorphosis available as a resource for distribution and sharing. My marketing
lead and I are planning to advertise the game on various social media platforms and
reaching out to streamers as the release date is coming up in May 2021. Thanks to partial
funding from the Alfred P . Sloan grant, I am able to use a portion of the funds to apply to
game festivals and work towards getting Metamorphosis published on Steam. I would also
like to have our target audience of individuals ranging from ages 11 - 21 playtest the game
to see how well it is received and get their feedback.
With more time and resources, I can see Metamorphosis expanding to include the
other habitats, their systems, and creatures that were planned in the initial design. In a
larger context, there can be a series of games within the Metamorphosis universe that
encompass other environmental themes including land and air. With each habitat, a new
theme is addressed through either similar or completely different gameplay.
59
Chapter 6
Conclusions
In conclusion, Metamorphosis is successful enough that it validates my general
development process and design question. By using the embedded design method of
intermixing environmental themes into fantastical elements, players developed a sense of
empathy for the creatures they saved in the game. During the development process, I
faced numerous design and interpersonal challenges as I extensively researched design
methods and invested time in creating the world of Metamorphosis, while learning to direct
and work with a team of twenty-two people for the first time. With managing a team of
this size comes the responsibility of myself as the creative director to take the time to
better understand and connect with each of my teammates on a deeper level. The
hardships I encountered from this experience occurred the way they did because of
factors that were both within and out of my control. I understand, thought, that despite
the challenges I faced, this is what a creative development process is like. From these
lessons I intend to continue pushing myself to become a stronger and more
knowledgeable designer, as well as a more understanding and cognizant teammate.
60
Bibliography
Chang, A. Y. (2019). Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games. Minneapolis, MN: University
of Minnesota Press.
Anderson, K. (2015). Ethics, Ecology, and the Future: Art and Design Face the
Anthropocene. Leonardo, 48(4), 338-347.
Kaufman, G., & Flanagan, M. (2015). A psychologically “embedded” approach to
designing games for prosocial causes. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial
Research on Cyberspace, 9(3), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2015-3-5
61

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Metamorphosis is a game that evokes empathy for nature by embedding environmental themes within fantastical elements. ❧ Evoking empathy in the context of this paper focuses on the individuals’ ability to feel for another that is not human, such as the natural environment. Portraying this shift in concept is attempted through fictional world-building, instilling moments of helping those in need, and drawing a parallel to real world organisms affected by the environment. Utilizing embedded design into a 2D narrative-driven game, we find that players in playtests are moved to empathize in the virtual environment with characters and creatures in the game world. Metamorphosis is intended as a step towards developing an ecocentric attitude and real-world environmental empathy, slowly and at our own pace, through moments of consideration and reflection that help people metamorphize their predisposed way of thinking. ❧ This paper discusses the conceptualization and iterative process of developing Metamorphosis. Through this process, I realized that I had to narrow down my design question to focus on the aspect of empathy and that eliciting behavioral change is beyond the scope of this project.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Shen, Joanna (author)

Core Title Metamorphosis: Thyota's journey - embedding environmental themes into fantastical elements in games

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Interactive Media

Degree Conferral Date 2021-05

Publication Date 05/09/2021

Defense Date 05/07/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag 2D platformer,consume toxins,eating mechanic,eating trash,Empathy,empathy in games,environmental awareness,environmental game,evoking empathy,exploration,fantastical elements,fantasy game,marine,narrative game,OAI-PMH Harvest,ocean game,platformer,self-sacrifice,world-building

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Fullerton, Tracy (committee chair), Bilson, Danny (committee member), Lemarchand, Richard (committee member)

Creator Email joannash@usc.edu,joannashenart@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC112720053

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