I drew the ‘2D environment’ for the opening scene and all the skybox. I worked closely together with the programmer setting the 2D assets and time-coded the cameras in Unity to create the ‘2.5D’ effect.
Sketch Storyboard on the first week
Final Illustration on the second week
Interaction Design
Our story was adapted from several old Chinese fables.
A Friendly Sneaky Character
We were creating a sneaky mouse, who pretended to be friends with the guest– a cat in the game, but in the end the mouse will betray the guest. Every scene and event was about building up a cute, lovely, and friendly mouse, except for the final turning scene where he suddenly gave you an evil look and kicked you off to the river.
Building Up the Trust
To intensify the feeling of betrayal, I created a sense of commitment up front, where they shared a gesture f friendship. The guests were given choices from time to time, to enhance the feeling of it was your decisions that drive the plot development. It made people feel more committed to and convinced by what happened next.
This interaction design also intrinsically revealed that the guest was a cat in the game by showing off the paws you were controlling.
Final Twist
After the betrayal, I pulled back to the old scene where the mouse made the committing “high five” with the guest. I designed to have the mouse suggest the same gesture again, but with a different meaning.
Here is one of the best reaction we got from the guest playing the game:
This is one of our instructors, Jesse, it was his first time playing the final version of the experience.
Interaction Map
The interaction map helped clarify all the actions, narratives, events, choices given, and what audial and art assets needed for each part. It helped us vision the whole picture, and know exactly what were needed to be done, where they fit in, and most importantly, have it delivered in two weeks.
Annie Huang 