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CAPTAIN COOK: DEAD RECKONING
Captain Cook: Dead Reckoning (2023) is an educational navigation game, designed and developed as part of an internship with XR Stories in York, in collaboration with the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby.
As part of an intern development team, I collaborated closely with the museum team to iterate and develop a high-fidelity game prototype that was both educational and fun.
My personal responsibilities included designing a set of 2D tiles and UI elements for the game's map, game testing, and writing short narrative segments and quiz questions based on facts and information provided by the museum.
About
DESIGN PROCESS
Process
Based on a playable paper prototype designed by the museum, the team began brainstorming the ways in which 'Captain Cook: Dead Reckoning' could be translated into virtual game space. Remaining faithful to the original game's structure and the museum's requirements were key, however the transition from pen and paper navigation to digital gameplay posed some unique challenges to overcome. As part of the project's initial pitch presentation, I constructed a simple storyboard to demonstrate the experience.
Once the team had established the game's overall art direction and theming, I began sketching ideas for the game board's map tiles and weather icons. After exploring various options, I presented my work to the team to discuss which designs would be further developed for the final product.
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We began to bring our ideas to life in Unity: testing interaction designs and building a visual wireframe to guide the implementation of game elements. While the original paper game required players to physically draw their navigation route, we instead decided to implement navigation dice; each side representing a different direction. To increase the overall stakes of the game, we added a set number of turns, in which the player must discover as much of the map as possible.
Having unanimously decided on the team's favourite concept designs, I illustrated a set of finalised map and weather tiles, which would replace the previous placeholder elements and contribute to the game's visual identity. For the map tiles, I ensured that each tile would align and connect correctly, regardless of their randomly generated placement.
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At the end of each turn, we decided to implement short narrative segments in the style of voyage dairy entries, to signify the end of an in-game day. In order to fulfil the requirement of making the game educational, I gathered a list of Captain Cook facts from the museum team and translated ten into fact-based diary entries. Following this, I wrote a set of quiz questions to test players' knowledge at the end of the game. The quiz was then implemented to trigger once the player had reached the end of their turns.
While testing occurred throughout the whole development process, I focused on thorough game testing during the final phases of development. This involved playing through the game from start to finish multiple times and identifying any remaining bugs, typos and potential user experience challenges. These were then quickly and concisely reported to the team's lead developers.
Finally, our work culminated in the presentation of a live demo for the client. This was a fantastic opportunity to share and discuss each of the game's features in detail, and receive valuable feedback.
GALLERY
Gallery
KEY SKILLS / SOFTWARE
Skills1
2D tiles and icons in this project were designed and illustrated by me in Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop.
Developing gameplay concepts and designing interactive features alongside game developers.
Working as part of a dedicated development team and collaborating with the museum team to understand and realise their needs.
This project involved a significant phase of collaborative testing. I thoroughly replayed the game and quickly reported and bugs or user experience challenges.
Development tasks were coordinated between team members using Asana. Project assets were managed and shared using GitHub and Google Drive.
Creating and delivering presentation / pitch material to the client.
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