Picture of Athena Tran

Athena Tran

Narrative and Level Designer

Contact

The Forgotten Zodiac

Placeholder

Goal

  1. Build a narrative-focused project beginning with research and finishing with documentation tailored for team collaboration
  2. Create branching and linear dialogue that is congruent with the characters and seamlessly leads to gameplay
  3. Create clear and digestible character, location, and script materials for art and design teams and team collaboration

Overview

image
image (1)
image (2)
image (3)
image (4)

Linear & Branching Dialogue

Designed Quest Branching Dialogue

Tested with a playable prototype
Designed Quest Choice Hub
Designed Quest Choice Hub
Screenshot_3
Screenshot_5
Screenshot_4

Step 1: Wrote branching dialogue threads that integrate variables and choices seamlessly into the gameplay:

Included the following branching dialogue design considerations:

  1. Roleplay choice HUB – Allows the player to respond to the NPC with polar opposite reactions that best suit their own playing styles
  2. Tutorial Quest – As this quest is still part of the tutorial, there are no quest acceptance hubs.
  3. Polarized Choices – Polar opposite choice to cater to the various player types.

Step 2: Wrote dynamic dialogue that responds to player actions:
Created thematic choices to increase player immersion:

  1. Urgent Stakes: Ensured clarity on the narrative urgency for the Build the Armory and Settlement Defenses gameplay
  2. Respected Player Character – Made it clear that the sovereign trusts the player character’s insights, so that player choice feels their choice holds weight
  3. Narrative Simplicity – Quest reflects the player character’s unquestioning loyalty to her sovereign at this stage of the game, but gives polar opposite choices to cater to different player types
  4. Tied to Gameplay – Ensured dialogue was tight, informative, and quickly led to gameplay

Step 3: Prototyped a clickable branching dialogue text prototype using Arcweave to simulate the dialogue in the context of narrative flow:

Created a prototype with the following goals:

  1. Optimize player tap/clicks: Through a clickable prototype, the script can be felt and further revised to improve pacing and player investment.

Live design space – Through the note function in Arcweave, design teams can leave notes on experience and improvement directly in the prototype

Play Prototype Here

Linear Dialog

image (5)
image (6)
image (4)

Quest Linear Dialogue Creation Process:

Included the following linear dialogue design considerations:

Gameplay Needs – As part of the tutorial section, this interaction was designed to:

  1. Raise tension by revealing a great threat to give narrative context and stakes to the Build and Armory and Settlement Defense gameplay.
  2. Introduce the Lead NPC
  3. Quest Reminders – Allows the player to remind themselves of the Quest Requirements.

Character Design & Barks

Player Character: Mao

Design
Weapons
Barks
Attacks
Screenshot_1
Screenshot_2

Crafted a player character with motivations that conflict throughout the story, leading to dynamic choices that shape her growth and branch her story into three exclusive character arcs that resonate with players across various gameplay quests and mechanical themes.

  1. Researched, designed, and fleshed out character motivations and personality to reflect narrative themes, combat functions, and game mechanics
  2. Wrote the character bio and gameplay barks with using their design, combat function, and Jungian personality archetypes in mind
  3. Supported the combat designer by designing unique weapons and attacks for each character, as well as naming and describing their attacks 
  4. Designed each character’s narrative arcs based on the three tech trees and the factions that create them to create narrative tension as their loyalties become divided.


Polished the character’s personalities, bios, and barks based on the finished character designs

 

 

Ally NPC: Master Rin

Design
Weapons
Barks
Attacks
image (17)
image (16)

Designed a leader NPC quest giver and wrote their dialogue barks to connect them to their building, biome, and location. As well as crafted a storyline for this character connected to the gameplay with their region.

  1. Serve as a mentor to the main character, giving her instructions and guidance along the way.
  2. Rin is the last vessel of the Forgotten Cat Spirit, erased from the Celestial Zodiac long ago. 
  3. He lives in seclusion within the Ancestor Woods, where he raised Mao in secret.
    • Rin is mysterious and sharp.
    • He carries a magical necklace that contains a cat spirit energy sphere inside.
    • Those who meet him claim he is impossible to forget.

Enemy NPC: Zen

Design
Weapons
Barks
Attacks
image (21)
image (20)

Designed an antagonist NPC and wrote their dialogue barks to connect them to their corrupted biome, role, and location. Also crafted a storyline for this character that ties directly into the Eclipse-based gameplay within their region.

  1. Zen was once the noble Dragon Guardian of the Sky Kingdom, sworn to protect the Celestial Seal.
  2. When the Eclipse breached the barrier, Zen became fully corrupted and is now controlled by its influence rather than acting on his own will.
  3. He now wanders the shattered Sky Ruins, where his presence shapes the storm-warped gameplay encounters.
    • His personality is fractured, shifting between rage and brief flashes of his former honor.

    • His attacks draw from corrupted wind and storm magic, reflecting both his dragon heritage and the broken Sky biome.

    • He sees Mao as both a threat and the only being capable of stopping the corruption consuming him and the other Zodiac.

 

Storyboarding & Trailer Script Writing

image (24)
image (26)
image (25)
image (27)
image (28)
image (29)

Wrote a storyboard script for the opening sequence of the game, and designed a preliminary storyboard to collaborate with the art and marketing teams, and get internal approvals:

  1. Designed shots with worldbuilding in mind, creating a sequence that can be used as both a trailer for the game and the intro cinematic before the tutorial
  2. Included clear location, camera view, and action for use by the art team.
  3. Wrote text in the POV of the main character to maintain continuity with the character-centric narrative of the game.
  4. Designed the text so that it could be free-standing or read by the main character’s voice actor as needed by the marketing team.
  5. Designed a storyboard prototype with simple assets for quick and efficient communication between teams

Voice Over Documentation

Designed and Formatted a Voice-Over Script Document:

Created 5 Voice Over Actor documents for the Player Character, 3 NPC quest characters, and the enemy leader that provided detailed information to support the actor and provide faster and better voice recording sessions.

Each document included:

  1. Character Design images, character bios, personality notes, motivations, and vocal directions for each character 
  2. All lines of dialogue for this character, along with scene details and quest summaries to provide situational and mood context for the voice actor


Compiled a Voice-Over Actor Casting Document:Compiled a Voice Over Actor Casting Document to help our team cast appropriate actors/actresses based on cultural, age, and gender requirements for the characters.

Worldbuilding

(↓ Hover on the tooltips to view the building designs)
1

2

3

Fleshed Out The Exterior Locations for The Map

Building Design

Designed the building documents for the art and design teams to achieve the following design goals:

  1. Provide a key reference image with notes and additional information to further refine design intent and supply the art team with clear materials to inspire their work
  2. Clearly indicated if the building document was for the interior or exterior of a building as well as its name and location number for the team to reference the town map with ease
  3. Included notes on the important details, gameplay usage, NPCs, and brief descriptions of NPCs relating to the building for quick reference 

Building Design

Designed the building documents for the art and design teams to achieve the following design goals:

  1. Provide a key reference image with notes and additional information to further refine design intent and supply the art team with clear materials to inspire their work
  2. Clearly indicated if the building document was for the interior or exterior of a building as well as its name and location number for the team to reference the town map with ease
  3. Included notes on the important details, gameplay usage, NPCs, and brief descriptions of NPCs relating to the building for quick reference

Building Design

Designed the building documents for the art and design teams to achieve the following design goals:

  1. Provide a key reference image with notes and additional information to further refine design intent and supply the art team with clear materials to inspire their work
  2. Clearly indicated if the building document was for the interior or exterior of a building as well as its name and location number for the team to reference the town map with ease
  3. Included notes on the important details, gameplay usage, NPCs, and brief descriptions of NPCs relating to the building for quick reference 

Designed the (LOCATION)'s Cartography

image (11)
image (12)
image (14)
15

Created a world map to achieve the following design goals:

  1. Designed the sectors as both memorable story environments and a natural boundary for scope
  2. Created locations centered on the natural progression of resource needs for gameplay
  3. Divided the key quest locations across the worlds to encourage exploration and expansion for players to unlock new skills, tech trees, and narrative arcs as they explore new territory
  4. Wrote a location key to indicate location names and their faction status at the start of the game 

Genre and Content Research

image (8)
image (9)
image (10)

Performed high-level research to document to help determine the game’s popularity and help the marketing team do preliminary research with the target audience by critically consuming content from similar games as well as movies and shows that share narrative themes:

  1. Created a list of movies, TV shows, and games, including the official synopses of the titles, and links to their trailers
  2. Wrote focus notes on what elements to draw inspiration from to prove similar ideas have interest across several audiences