Game Overview
Sillypolitik is a single-player card strategy game where each card represents an important institution in a society, such as a Treasury or News Agency. The player competes against a heuristic AI for control of these institutions by funding illegal activities and exposing their opponent's efforts. The art style features a mix of art deco, retro 80s graphics, and surrealism.
Above: A work in progress picture of the gameplay.
The Story
Rufus Krieg is a laundromat owner and a Harvard political science graduate from the town of Bungleburg. One day, after taking some nondescript pills, he hallucinates a man who calls himself 'General Kapusta' who insists that Rufus must take over the world, starting with his homeowner's association.
My Role
On this project, I was both the team lead and gameplay designer. Initially, I wrote and presented the pitch and recruited students to the project.
During preproduction, I paper prototyped the game's mechanics and documented the rules.
During production I determined milestone goals with my producer, Anna Fulton, scripted card abilities, and designed additional levels.
The Team
Member | Role | Link to Their Work |
Lev Working (Me) | Team Lead / Designer | You're here! |
Anna Fulton | Producer, 2D Artist | |
Mack Moore | Lead Programmer, AI | |
Steven Ho | Programmer | |
Camden Gain | Artist | - |
George Abrahms | UI Designer | |
Samuel Clouse | Audio Designer |
Game Philosophy
Here are the design choices and considerations I made for the game, both for quantitative elements such as game mechanics, and more intangible issues such as narrative and leadership.
Mechanics
Love of Numbers - One element that I have noticed about this game, in contrast to others, is that it requires a lot of crunchiness. Perhaps I am excessively personifying it, but in less poetic language, frequent interactions between numeric values in the game are what makes it interesting.
Compromise with Practicality- One of our game's major goals was to create a heuristic AI that could competently play the game, and that requires limiting the scope of design. Some ideas that are fun and evocative were cut because of their difficulty to score.
Narrative
Contrast, Gradients - This game represents follows the descent into absurdity and madness of a protagonist that is devoured by his ambition, who loses his grip on reality as a result. Consequently, names, dialogue, places, and mechanics must grow stranger and more complex over time.
Architecture
Modularity- From the start, we used practices common in the software industry, especially inheritance, and overriding to ensure that. For example, all abilities in the game, activated or passive, card or player, inherit from the same component class, and then have its functions overrode as necessary.
Leadership
Communication- Many interpersonal conflicts, integration issues, and differences in vision, occur due to a breakdown in communication. When I perceived a difference in opinion or vision in the game, I created small, informal meetings between team members to bridge the gap. I also worked to be transparent about largescale design and scope decisions.
Autonomy - Due to the team being very talented and experienced, I sought to place only necessary requirements, and for aesthetic considerations especially only offered my opinion rather than demands. This resulted in most team relationships being frictionless, productive, and rewarding.
Design Process
Here is an overview of the way that I designed levels for this game:
Denote narrative requirements.
Brainstorm new design spaces to explore.
Paper prototype the level.
Playtest the level for game balance and interest.
Request new features from programmers.
Script card abilities.
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