Since the focus of this game was on narrative, I started with the theme I wanted to convey- dealing with self-harm. I didn't want the game to have a sad tone, though. I wanted more of an irreverent atmosphere, similar to how many people with mental health issues (including myself) make jokes about it in order to better cope with it. That led to developing a tongue-in-cheek, somewhat fantastical premise: an anthropomorphic salamander who keeps ripping off her own limbs.

I chose the format of a fake nintendo ds game for a couple reasons, the main one being that it allowed for an entire "screen" devoted to dialogue and another "screen" devoted to gameplay (similar to Kid Icarus: Uprising). The point-and-click format also allowed me to design a wide variety of minigames that especially fit into the tasks required to book a therapy appointment- clicking links, freely moving objects, etc.

Chordata was made for a school project, so the development cycle was prescribed to me and started with laying out the deliverables I wanted to have done by different times. Since I wanted to make something that did justice to my idea, I was overly ambitious with the content I planned for those deliverables. Predictably, this led to me not having enough time to make everything I had planned, or at least not to the quality level I wanted.

I dealt with this issue in two ways. The first way was cutting scope: I removed the "distraction" mechanic and reused assets wherever it was feasible, focusing most of my energy on the point of the game: the story and gameplay. The second was, unfortunately, crunch time. I spent three days straight spending all available time working on this game to finish it in time for the deadline. While this is not an ideal solution, I did learn techniques for working as efficiently as possible and getting a lot done in a short period of time.