Companion System for The Long Dark
The Long Dark is an existing survival game based in an apocalyptic Canadian wilderness. To develop my system design skills, I designed a companion system to enhance the game.
"Wandering in the wilderness becomes a little less lonely with a canine. Build a trusting relationship will not only bring you companionship but by detecting predators, hunting prey and even finding items, your dog will give you an advantage in the harsh and unforgiving wilderness."
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Key Features
Gameplay analysis of existing systems and gameplay in The Long Dark, including Noun/Verb diagrams, Objective-Challenge-Reward loop, High and Low-Level gameplay loop.
Analysis of existing systems, gameplay, and UI in similar games and games with similar systems.
Example diagrams of the system design, including UI mock-ups, Noun/Verb Diagram, key features diagrams.
Prototyping and Justification
Prototyping
Paper prototyping allowed for the abstraction of complex systems in order to test the viability and balance of the new system.
Based on this testing, a key balance area was highlighted and addressed.
Sample gameplay based on real gameplay capture.
This exercise served as both a demonstration of the intended player experience as well as a balancing exercise by exploring the impact of the system in real play scenarios.
Analysis of clothing at different difficulties and game stages, used to balance and justify the heat boost provided by the companion.
This approach used was to assess the relative impact of the temperature boost in different gameplay scenarios to ensure balance and proportionality. As expected, the benefit is more significant in the early game. This is balanced by the dog's requirement for food, which is a bigger burden in the early game stages.
See document for full breakdown and justification.