In Through Ash we wanted to explore tragedy through limited player agency. We intended to do this by dropping the player in the aftermath of a dramatic event and by giving them just enough knowledge about the technical components and a vague idea about the general mission to give them a sense of direction, but not  enough to be able to fully grasp the situation.

By locking the player in an isolated bunker they have no understanding of the outside world, they are entirely dependent on the systems and narrative lines that are given to them, we can then create the experience of distance, denial and quiet grief. Instead of following the usual trope of the player focusing on survival or being a hero, we want the player to be focused on being in a routine, operating systems, and maintaining the bunker.

A key choice we made early on was that we wanted to create an emotional impact without relying on dialogue of narrative tropes. We wanted it to emerge from the environmental storytelling in the bunker, system behaviour, timing of events, and a delayed understanding of what the “critical package” was.

Project Goals:

Before developing the game, we first came up with these main goals:

• By the deadline have a complete and polished short narrative experience that lasts around 15-20minutes
• Have a clear begging, middle, and end using systems and events to create the core flow of the game
• Be able to communicate the story through the use of the gameplay systems and the environment rather than relying on text
• Maintain a tense, stressful tone utilising visuals and audio
• Make sure that every system, mechanics, and feature have a purpose, make sense, and fit the game’s atmosphere
• Achieve the impactful story twist this game idea is based around, making sure that players reflect on their previous actions and decisions

Core Experience & Loop

Through Ash revolves around controlling a rover across a nuclear wasteland whilst the bunker is continually falling into disrepair. The player has to constantly switch between controlling the rover and fixing any repairs that need to be addressed, all whilst the game’s world is explained through environmental storytelling and radio snippets. By having this be the player’s experience & loop it creates a continuous pressure on the player as they have to balance control, urgency, and uncertainty up until the final cutscene.