A Mile In Their Shoes
A game developed as a collaboration between Children's Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS), Abertay University, and my team, Little Pioneers.
Role: Producer, Designer
Team Size: 6
Duration: January 2021 - May 2021
Engine: Unity
CHAS is the single specialist provider of hospice services for young people aged 0-21, and their whole families. The work they provide is critical, and they continue to engage with as many people across Scotland as they can to ensure they help every family in need. Knowing video games are the language of younger audiences, CHAS envisioned a game for them that immerses the player into a narrative unfamiliar to them, to better understand what these young people go through and raise awareness for CHAS' work.
A Mile In Their Shoes was the name of the brief CHAS put forward, and it's the name my team stuck with during development. The brief asked for any genre of game that would be appealing to younger audiences, as well as appropriate enough to reflect the stories of young people who've used CHAS' services. We responded to the brief by designing a short prototype for an educational, platforming game to be used in a school environment, in alignment with the Curriculum for Excellence.
The entirety of this game was developed working from home. We developed assets independently and held meetings on Microsoft Teams regularly. The project was later funded for further development, and became a shipped title.
The game tells the story of Flint, a teenager whose younger sister is suffering from a life-shortening condition. Flint attends meetings with Judy, a support worker at CHAS, who listens to him and takes his feelings seriously when he feels no one else will. Confiding in Judy, Flint guides her through his recent experiences in the form of an elaborate environment from his imagination, which reacts to the ongoing conversation in the real world. You must walk a mile in his shoes as you jump through obstacle courses, escape from his bully, and make difficult choices that reflect his turbulent life.
The gameplay takes place entirely within the imaginary world Flint has dreamed up. As you traverse the platforming challenges, Flint discusses his recent negative experiences, which Judy helps him navigate. At certain points of the conversation, Judy will ask Flint a question which the player has to respond to. You'll come to a fork in the road, and you'll be placed in Flint's shoes as you make a choice that directly impacts the rest of the conversation, as well as the path the level takes you down. These choices segue the player into the next section of the stage, and each section is focused on a different topic that young people and CHAS users will be able to relate to: Bullying, Falling Behind in School, Disability Awareness, and Isolation. As the game is aimed at 15 to 18-year-olds, we intended to carefully incorporate these elements so that teenagers in a classroom could reflect on them and discuss the game's contents together, in a safe and educational environment.
Although Flint is the playable character, we wanted to focus on the importance of Judy's role in the game. We considered her the main character to help construct the game's sensitive narrative, and to properly reflect what it is CHAS does for each and every young person that needs somebody to speak to. Throughout the prototype, you can spot Judy's puzzle piece motif in various places, from a necklace she's wearing in cut scenes, to designs on the platforms, as demonstrated in the screenshot below. This was also done to highlight the positive impact she's having on the conversation.
I was responsible for designing a level that appropriately broached the topics we'd chosen. I did this by establishing a structure for the game that would encourage a second playthrough, so that children in class may play the game in pairs and both have a unique experience. Each of the four sections focusses on a different topic, and the level naturally segues between them by presenting the player with a choice that affects the design of the rest of the level. For example, when entering Section 2 (which discusses bullying), the player must decide whether Flint spoke to somebody about the bullying (Path A) or not (Path B). Both paths feature differing challenges and level designs, that also broach the outcome of Flint's choice, reflecting the difficulty of the choices he faces in his everyday life.
The following screenshot shows the plan my team and I collaboratively decided on for Section 1. After a brief introduction to the level's mechanics, the player is presented with the first choice, where they must go either left or right.
This next screenshot shows the two paths of Section 2. Path A is on top, and features precise and involved platforming. Path B is below, and has the player run away from the bully.
The project ended in May, 2021, when we submitted a finished build of the prototype as part of our university courses. We were pleased with delivering a promising concept for a game that showcases the potential for learning with video games in schools.
What I Did:
Produced the project. I was the team leader, which involved supporting and speaking for the team, making sure they succeeded, and organising meetings between ourselves, our lecturers, and the client.
Recorded meeting minutes, documented the game's design process with a Game Design Document, and maintained a Trello board to help organise the team.
Designed a level for the game that would be approachable by children experienced in gaming, as well as those who don't regularly play games. This included accommodating mechanics such as the bully chase scene, and pointers for where each line of dialogue should play.
Wrote the dialogue that plays during cut scenes and throughout the stage.
Recorded, edited and implemented the game's sound effects.
Worked in-engine (Unity) alongside the programmers to ensure assets made it safely into the game.
Managed my contributions using Github.
Organised playtesting for the game, and reported results during meetings to iterate on feedback together.
Recorded and edited pitch videos, video walkthroughs, and a teaser trailer for the client. You can view a full walkthrough of the game below.
Studentship Follow-Up
Role: Content Designer
Team Size: 3
Duration: August 2021 - October 2021
The project continued in August, 2021. Our client wanted the project to continue so it could officially launch in schools across Scotland, so our lecturer for the Professional Project module, who supported us throughout development, applied for funding to provide us with the opportunity for paid studentships. Our new goal was to develop learning resources to accompany the game in the classroom, and to further polish the game, removing as many bugs as possible. We worked on this alongside our return to university in September.
The learning resources consisted of a teacher manual, a lesson plan, activities for the pupils, questionnaires for the teachers and pupils, and a series of video walkthroughs of the game and its supporting materials. The manual contained everything the teacher would need to know about incorporating our game into the classroom, which was designed to be used in conjunction with the lesson plan, providing support to the teachers as well as an easy and straightforward guide to teaching with the game.
The pupil activities were broken down into 3 tasks, according to the lesson plan:
Worksheets: These contained a series of open-ended questions about the game and its themes, to ensure understanding of the game's core subjects. Pupils can work in pairs and take it in turns having a playthrough of the game, and watching attentively to answer the questions.
Class Discussion: Using their findings from the previous exercise, the class would come together to have an informed conversation about the difficult topics discussed in the game, and to share their experiences as well.
Creative Task: Pupils can then spend the remainder of the hour working on a creative activity which would showcase their understanding and knowledge of CHAS and what they do. They would have the choice between storyboarding a new scenario for a CHAS user, continuing Flint's story in the form of a comic strip, or designing an appropriate box art for A Mile In Their Shoes.
Together, these tasks were designed to help develop pupils' digital literacy, as well as their ability to establish healthy discussion with others about sensitive topics. This is all in alignment with the Health and Wellbeing sections of the Curriculum for Excellence. Finally, the pupil will be more aware about CHAS, and will hopefully be motivated to fundraise or support the charity going forwards. Packaged together with the game, these learning materials enable all teachers to run a class with our game, even those without much confidence in technology.
Later on in November, I met with my team, our lecturer, and our client on-campus at Abertay to record footage of the game for a promotional video to be shared on social media. We were also interviewed about our experiences with the project.
It was a fantastic opportunity, as we felt like we were trailblazing, capitalizing on the aforementioned potential for learning with games and doing something which hadn't been done before.
What I Did:
Wrote the contents of the Teacher Manual.
Researched how to, and developed a Lesson Plan. A sample screenshot is shown below.
Designed the tasks to accompany the game. Sample screenshots are provided below.
Wrote and recorded the voice-over script for the technical walkthrough videos.
Wrote the questionnaires for the pupils and teachers, and drafted the topics for the interviews in November.
