Design Document Process

When writing a design document for my educational roleplaying game, Iracema, I was able to have a bird's eye view of my project. I had not written storyboards - for now, I am what people in writing circles call a "pantser", that is, a just sit on my pants and do things as they come to my mind. For this reason, my project hasn't followed a specific development pattern, and I go back and forth tweaking things here and there. Although I know that this isn't the most appropriate approach for game design, the "discovery learning" process allows me to have relevant, innovative ideas as I progress, which might not have been possible had I written a document that I would have to follow strictly.

In this post, I'd like to present a preview of the design document, describing in general lines some of the features of Iracema.

Iracema is an educational roleplaying game based on the homonymous Brazilian Literature classic by José de Alencar. The story focuses on the romance between two characters: Iracema, a Native Brazilian, and Martim, a Portuguese colonizer, referred to as “white warrior”. Alencar’s book is an attempt to present a metaphor for the development of modern civilization in the Americas.

The game presents the book’s original story, and further elements related to Brazilian literature, history, and culture are also included to promote a general understanding of the setting where the story takes place and the metaphors that are brought in the book by Alencar. Considering the game as made for non-Brazilian audiences, the extra information provided is helpful for situating the player/learner in the general context where Iracema takes place.

Created using the game development software RPG Maker VX Ace, the game can be considered a classic JRPG, that is, a product that presents features that are generally seen in Japanese roleplaying games: (i) different environments where the player navigates; (ii) varied playable characters led by a “party leader” – in the case of Iracema, only Iracema and Martim, her companion, are playable; (iii) quests, or missions, that the player needs to complete in order to progress in their adventure; (iv) meaningful interactions with non-playable characters (NPC) that provide information about the environment and the overarching story; (v) battles in which the player needs to defeat enemies – in the case of Iracema, mostly wild animals.

I am planning to include some pictures and more detailed information on the next post.