On the Line

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Design Process

The design process for On the Line was largely iterative throughout the game’s creation. At its core, the idea came from crossing Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes with Papers, Please! and this is what we focused on first. We worked to define a set of emergencies that could occur in the game and researched official advice that would be given for the situation. This was then abstracted as little as possible to be easily communicated between players during play but still applicable to the real world.

Alongside this, we made a character creation and an outside-of-work environment to emulate the complicated work-life balance of emergency call operators. This area of the game also allowed us to highlight the mental health tole of the work these operators undertake. My main role in this was creating the document for one of the players to use and ensuring the team was running coherently and that everyone understood what was required from them.

Game Documentation

Below are a few of the most crucial pages of design documentation created for On the Line by myself and the team.

My Strengths

My main strength in this project was my design communication skill. This included the creation of the player guide book which meant I had to communicate complex emergency advice clearly and concisely to players while still being accurate and informative. This skill also came up in development, as producer, I had to create many of the team’s documentation to keep us organised and so that everyone understood what was needed of them.

Lessons Learnt

This project was my first time acting as a producer and I learnt a lot about team organisation and communication. In particular, the creation of organisational documentation, particularly Trello boards and spreadsheets tracking things like dialogue trees and how they interconnect. Finally, I also had to act as the main person on the business side of the game. This meant communicating with management at Octopus 8 Studios as well as potential stakeholders and writing and giving speeches at public events displaying the game.