My Brother’s Lightkeeper
My Brother's Lightkeeper, a game developed in two months, by Quin Richards and Kobe Riddle, for EAE-3720 Alternative Game Development Summer 2024 at the University of Utah.
The sea is an oft-used metaphor for life in the Judaeo-Christian world. A large point of inspiration for the themes and motifs of My Brother's Lightkeeper is the Christian hymn Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy, a song about our role as individuals in helping others through the struggles of life. My Brother's Lightkeeper seeks to explore the needs and responsibilities of mortals in a broken world through placing the player in a treacherous sea, where they will be aided in the dark by other light keepers and presented with opportunities to aide others as they sail towards a hopeful shore.
Trim your feeble lamp, my brother; Some poor sailor, tempest-tossed, Trying now to make the harbor, In the darkness may be lost. Let the lower lights be burning; Send a gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save.The player moves from region to region, talking to other seafarers, finding map fragments that unshroud the lighthouses, and lighting each lighthouse to get to the next region.
The game features some light procedural generation to make each play through a little bit different.
Github Link: https://github.com/KobeRiddle-dev/My-Brothers-Lightkeeper
Itch.io Link: https://quiner007.itch.io/my-brothers-lightkeeper
Credits:
Product Owner, Kobe Riddle
Producer, Quin Richards
Game Writer, Quin Richards
Narrative Designer, Quin Richards & Kobe Riddle
UX Design, Quin Richards & Kobe Riddle
Engineering, Kobe Riddle
Environmental Art, Kobe Riddle
Character Art, Quin Richards
Game Design, Quin Richards & Kobe Riddle
Audio Design, Quin Richards
Quin Richards
Designer, Producer, Musician, Narrative Designer
Kobe Riddle
Engineer, Narrative Co-Designer, Vision Holder
Design Documents
MBL’s Title Card Deck
MBL’s Narrative Design
Our Game Loop
MBL’s World Design
MBL’s Mood Board
UX Design
Our Design Goals:
Goal #1: To induce the feeling of being lost and needing help in life through our gameplay loop.
Goal #2: Immerse the player into the world of M.B.L. through music and alternative storytelling techniques.
Our Design Challenges:
Problem #1: How do we best exemplify the feelings of being lost and needing help from others in our game?
Problem #2: How can we have players connect to the feeling of mindfulness in our game?
Our Design Resolutions:
Resolution #1: The music score can induce a sense of loneliness along with our lack of onboarding. If we let the player figure out how to play on their own, with basic guidance from the lighthouse signifiers, we can successfully get these feelings across while having the player not feel overwhelmed.
Resolution #2: We can have the player connect to the feeling of mindfulness via the seeking out NPCs in the game. NPC interactions are not a required key part of the game. If the player seeks out each of the three mini stories we’ve written, they can feel a sense of compassion and support for those NPCs.
A Basic Wireframe of the MBL UX
A Basic User Flow Deck of the MBL UX