As previously stated, the main gameplay hook is that the game has the player craft real-time responses while the NPCs are talking to them, blurring the lines between VN and puzzle genre gameplay.

All puzzles in the game revolve around combining cut-up word, phrases and occasionally images into responses to NPC dialogue. This may come as a surprise, but the main point of reference for these mechanics are actually popular edutainment games, such as Duolingo.

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The core scene-by-scene gameplay consists of a series of interactions with NPC characters, in which per scene there will be a numerical chance of one of the three named NPC characters triggering an exchange with the player.

(For the first 2 days of the game [for tutorial purposes], as well as for the vertical slice of the game my peers will be developing, the encounters should be predetermined instead of chance-based to allow for tutorials, and also less complex programming)

One of the characters will appear on-screen (as shown in the UI breakdown further below), and will begin talking to the player. It is here when the fragmented sentence pieces appear on the player’s screen, and they are tasked with forming a response to continue the conversation.

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Depending on the inputted response, the NPC will react either positively or negatively to the player — this should ideally be shown through a small notification next to their portrait, signalling either “+1” or “-1” depending on whether their reaction is positive or negative.

This reflects an internal “friendliness” variable, that is not readily summarised until the end of each day. This variable should not have any affect on dialogue or unique interactions for the purposes of this vertical slice. In the final game, not the vertical slice, it should be directly linked to different ending cards that correlate to the story and character interactions (see Story, Game Structure and Overview – GDD for more).

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Core Game Loop

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The overaching meta game loop is quite simple – the game should take place over 5 days, each consisting of 4 scenes with potential NPC encounters: morning break, lunchtime, afternoon break, and after school. Each of these should have differing diorama backdrops (albeit with asset reuse where suitable) and NPC converstion relating to their subject matter.

(Again, for the vertical slice I recommend only creating a single day of content for the game.)

At the end of each day, a review screen will play going over the positive and negative interactions you had with the NPC characters (see Story, Game Structure and Overview – GDD for more — mockup of this screen is also availible below).

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Meta Game Loop

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The game also gives you additional tools: a tone indicator, and send button.

These additions bring further depth and added sense of pressure to puzzles, as the player will need to also consider the timing of their responses (making the conversation flow naturally) as well as the tone of their voice when they speak — for example, if they are talking about a serious matter with a casual, laid-back tone they will be brought under scrutiny.

Because they add a considerable amount of depth to the game, so much that it would likely be overwhelming to new players, they should be introduced to the player later in the game, possibly in Day 2 or 3. (For the purposes of creating a vertical slice, these two mechanics shouldn’t be a necessity to implement — I understand they add lots of complexity to the game and could easily overcomplicate things quite dramatically.)

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Core Gameplay Mockup

UI Breakdown

Review Screen Mockup