{"id":616,"date":"2026-01-19T15:26:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/?p=616"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:26:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:26:33","slug":"project-crit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/2026\/01\/19\/project-crit\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Crit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Contribution<\/strong> Colour-Coding Key<\/strong><\/summary>\n

Aysa<\/mark> \/ Camilla<\/mark> \/ Combined<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

How does User_Unknown Stand Out?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

User_Unknown stands out by presenting psychological horror through familiar online spaces rather than traditional monsters or physical threats. The game uses live-stream interactions, chat messages, and digital harassment as its primary source of tension, making the experience unsettling because it mirrors real-world online behaviour. By placing the player directly inside a streaming interface, the game transforms a normally passive social space into an active gameplay system where performance, morale, and harassment are constantly in conflict.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The setting in 2020, alongside its grounding in real incidents and extremist online ideology, further blurs the line between fiction and reality, giving the narrative credibility and emotional weight. This realism is reinforced through environmental storytelling, as the gradual deterioration of the main character\u2019s bedroom reflects her declining mental state without relying on explicit exposition. The blend of 2D, 2.5D, and 3D perspectives strengthens this divide between the public digital persona and the private, vulnerable space of the character\u2019s life. Combined with a short, focused runtime, User_Unknown delivers a dense, emotionally driven experience that prioritises psychological impact and social commentary over conventional horror tropes.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Could go Wrong in Development of User_Unknown?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Summary: <\/strong>There is a multitude of risk-factors in game development, which is why we need to assess and pre-plan what we will do to prevent that from occuring.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main development risks include scope creep, mini-game complexity, system interdependency bugs, limited playtesting, and time lost to over-polishing narrative or visuals. These risks are amplified by the small team size and short development timeframe, making careful planning and strict prioritisation essential.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scope Creep<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Scope creep is a potential risk for the development of User_Unknown, where ideas get expanded beyond the original plan through the addition of unnecessary features (examples; extra dialogue, more interactions, more mini-game depth). This is also called feature creep\/bloat.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact if this occurred would be missed deadlines, incomplete or unpolished features.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As our game is narrative-heavy and emotionally driven this may be likely to occur, which is why we should keep this in mind when producing our game.\u00a0<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mini-game Production Exeeding Given Development Time<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Mini-games require more time to design, implement, balance and debug. As there is a few mini-games to produce at a good quality, each with unique mechanics etc, this makes it a likely risk of exceeding the given development time to occur.\u00a0<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact if this occurred would be reduced polish across the whole game, mini-games feeling unfinished or frustrating. This would be critical if it occurred due to the required 4 varying difficultieis and escalation throughout the core gameplay as even small mechanics multiply workload and allotted time.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

System Interdependancy Bugs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Interdependency bugs may occur if the systems overlap, affecting eachother in unintended ways. Risks would include all the systems needed for the game to function and progress; H-PS, SM, Core Day Loops, and mini-games.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of this would be detrimental and would cause incorrect endings, broken progression and play confusion when the game doesn\u2019t work as intended. This happens when multiple systems feed into one outcome, increasing complexity fast. This can be prevented by making sure that the coding is efficient and not \u2018speghetti code\u2019, through intensive research and experimentation.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narrative Overload<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If the narrative isn\u2019t thoughtfully written and intentional with its usage of words then there is a high risk of there being too much dialogue or exposition which in turn would slow pacing and reduce the tensions we would of worked hard to produce.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact would be players disengaging with the story and in turn becoming disinterested with how the narrative would play out and their ending losing impact. The psychological horror side of the narrative would also lose effectiveness and wouldn\u2019t give the intended ethical effect of change that we are striving for. As narrative-heavy games rely on restraint as much as content, we need to really be thoughtful with our storywriting, keeping it intentional and in-line with our initial game scope.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visual Polish Becoming a Time Sink<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Visual polish may become a time sink by over-investing into room states, lighting, or environmental detail. This would remove crutial time from development.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact would be on the core gameplay, taking away time from structural coding. It may also halt the production of game features, causing them to be incomplete or weak. This may happen as environmental storytelling is core to one of the dimension states in our narrative and game progression, making it easy to over-polish. We need to be mindful and take advantage of asset reusage and maybe producing a asset pack to make it quicker to produce.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotional Tone Not Landing as Intended<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The risk of the core narrative ethical push that we are intending by centering it on a female enduring harassment would be the harrassment and threats feeling either too subtle or extreme.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact that this could have would be the core narrative message feeling unclear or uncomfortable in the wrong way. The players may also disengage if it feels too fictional or misinterpreting the intent of the games concept. On the darker side, people who are apart of a extremist incel group may find pleasure if we don\u2019t focus on the ethical side of the story. Our game should rely on psychological discomfort rather than explicit horror.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Limited Playtesting Time<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If we have limited playtesting time or don\u2019t make sufficient external testing due to the tight schedule of production we would have alot of risks to address.\u00a0<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Difficulty spikes may take people off-course with the story, causing anger and a bad UX design. The narrative may also become confusing if we don\u2019t test the impact of the story and also how the choices would chain. On the programming side, we may also miss bugs which may make the game or some sections unplayable. All of these would be prevented as long as we keep playtesting a priority as many small teams often deprioritised testing under time pressure.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team Bottlenecks<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If one person becomes overloaded with doing most of one thing such as narrative or programming it may slow down production. Also, if they arent available or ill it will create a bottleneck.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impacts of team bottlenecks would be burnout of the developer or the whole team which would reduce the production rate and quality of our project immensely. It would also cause uneven progress as some tasks rely on prerequisites. Delays would also occur if one team member isn\u2019t performing well on their assigned role and tasks. This can be prevented or reduced by keeping good logs of tasks, frequent meetings and keeping eachother updated with good communication.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technical Issues with Perspective Switching<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Keeping the 2.5D concept alive may prove to be difficult. Switching between 2D, 2.5D, and 3D introduces bugs or may break immersion if there is no fluidity.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impacts of this would be camera issues if they aren\u2019t performing the way we intended or keeping it from breaking, increasing debugging time. It may also cause play disorientation with people that have motion sickness.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time Lost to Iteration Without Clear Milestones<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Constant tweaking of features or concept designs without locking down features or production timelength may create disorganisation with our sprints.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be no \u2018finished\u2019 feeling if we don\u2019t refine our game as we go along and in turn may cause a late-stage crunch which isn\u2019t desirable at all.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Our Scope Realistic?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Summary:<\/strong> Realistic if Mini-games are kept simple and reusable. Narrative branching is minimal until the ending. Systems are functional, not over-designed. Visual variation relies on reuse, not new assets.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed scope for User_Unknown is ambitious but conditionally realistic for a two-person team within a 10-week timeframe, provided that strict scope control and prioritisation are maintained. Both developers on this project are very passionate about the games concept which would make it easier to produce and keep us interested in the process.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critical Analysis of Our Scope<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Two different endings:<\/strong> morally good and bad\n
      \n
    1. Feasibilty \u2192 High\n
        \n
      1. Only two endings branching from a shared narrative structure. Efficient process.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. HP-S allows the endings to be determined without creating fully divergent story paths. Simplified mechanic programming<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Most content can be reused up until the final act. This is where the different endings will commence.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. Achievable and well-scoped<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        1. 30 minutes<\/strong> of unique gameplay\n
            \n
          1. Feasibility \u2192 Medium\n
              \n
            1. Resonable amount of time for a narrative game, but the wording will be very important. If it implies 30 minutes of purely mechanical gameplay, it would be unrealistic.\n
                \n
              1. The risk of this would be the writing workload, polishing dialogue and pacing of the story, playtesting for emotional impact<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              2. Achieveable if narrative-driven pacing is prioritised over complex mechanic<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                  \n
                1. Game Systems:<\/strong> H-PS & SM, Day loops, Cutscenes, M-G\n
                    \n
                  1. Feasibility \u2192 Medium – High\n
                      \n
                    1. Indiviudally, the systems are symple. The main challenge would integration, not complexity of the mechanics.\n
                        \n
                      1. H-PS & SM can be implemented easily and are hidden variables.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      2. Day loops reuse structure and reduce complexity of the games progression<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      3. Cutscenes can be dialogue-driven rather than cinematic.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      4. Main risk of this would be feature creep\/bloat during implementation and systems interacting in unintended ways.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      5. Realistic if systems remain minimal and tightly scoped.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                          \n
                        1. 4 different mini-games<\/strong> with different difficulties (E, M, H, & I)\n
                            \n
                          1. Feasibility \u2192 Medium – Low (Highest Risk Area)\n
                              \n
                            1. 4 mini-games should really be one core mechanic scaled across difficulties or very simple, self contained mechanics rather than complex, individual types of mechanics.\n
                                \n
                              1. The \u2018Insane\u2019 mode being an amalgamation helps reuse existing mechanics.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                              2. Main risks of this would be designing, implementing and polishing 4 unique mechanics. Balancing difficulty within limited testing time. Bugs introduced by scaling difficulty.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                              3. After critiquing this game section, we should treat this as 1-2 core mechanics with variation, not 4 fully separate mini\u2013game mechanics. This will be something to revisit in semester two.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                                  \n
                                1. 4 Versions of the MC’s Room<\/strong> (4 different visual states of environment with interactable objects)\n
                                    \n
                                  1. Feasibility \u2192 Medium\n
                                      \n
                                    1. We are reusing the base environment with object displacement, added clutter and lighting changes to differ them into 4 separate environments.\n
                                        \n
                                      1. Interactions with objects within the room should be limited and meaningful, not numerous. Only intentional additions to showcase the narrative, not just for visual improvements.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                                      2. Main risks when producing these environments would be over-polishing environmental details and creating too many interactable objects.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                                      3. Achievable if changes are incremental and symbolic, not structural.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                                        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                        How does User_Unknown Stand Out? User_Unknown stands out by presenting psychological horror through familiar online spaces rather than traditional monsters or physical threats. The game uses live-stream interactions, chat messages, and digital harassment as its primary source of tension, making the experience unsettling because it mirrors real-world online behaviour. By placing the player directly inside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":618,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/aa14g23-yr3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}