A rotating RPG

In this initial build, Kate experimented with various ways to make the rotation system worth engaging in. After another designer proposed combat priority being based on points the player can assign to characters, Kate added two mechanics to bolster this system; 

• Fatigue - which lowered the speed of characters who stayed in battle 

• Temporary Status Effects - which only lasted for the round of combat and were often useless if they did not go before their target. 

This had the added benefits of  forcing players to think carefully about how they used their speed points and having to swap characters constantly so as to not lose speed. In addition, Kate chose 5 characters with 3 active at a time for two specific reasons

• 3 active characters was the most Kate found manageable for both player cognitive load and balancing

• At least 1 character would always be active for at least 2 turns, so fatigue while manageable was inevitable.

When the project was expanded to a wider scope, the design had to accommodate the characters and story. It was decided early on that the characters would be college students and the "monsters" they fought would be allegorical for various insecurities and doubts the characters had.

To reflect this, Kate's early Advanced Monster Concepts were designed so that certain monsters representing certain struggles were more effective against characters who were particularly susceptible those insecurities.

For example, one character (Beverly) who is good at dealing damage when given high speed was paired with a tanky monster (Blue) that was good at slowing down characters and could deal damage proportional to damage received.

As the previously discussed systems can be fairly complicated to new players, Kate designed tutorials meant to elucidate the most important parts of the system in the limited time given. The introduction of rotation was staggered to the second battle to let players get used to speed assignment. Additionally, a glossary of statuses and mechanics was available at all times but not formally introduced until after the player had been introduced to concepts within. Kate used playtest data heavily to pick out the tutorial text most important to getting players started.

Poverty's effect on mental health was a theme the team wanted to touch on. To convey this, Kate worked on making a system where routes that avoided combat were also more expensive and players were punished for running out of money.

Kate loosely modeled the game's map off of the Chicago Metro system, as it provided a visually interesting shape for players and provided several connected route opportunities. Kate used Roll20 to test early versions of the map, seeing how players would change their routes based on a starting amount of money and changing monster placement separate from the combat. Hidden combat encounters were placed in ways players were liable to encounter if they took more expensive routes and ran out of money.

Kate purposefully made the cost of travel obscured, so players would pause often before moving to figure out if they were going to lose money. To facilitate this, a line system similar to real-world metro services was implemented, where players only spent money when switching lines. This also meant that monsters could be placed on lines in such a way that switching was effective at avoiding combat, while also significantly more expensive.

Kate purposefully set the starting amount of money at the minimum amount required to get to all the games mandatory locations without having any money left over, so that players would feel constrained by their limited funds.