Hello all, and happy new year! I’m developing my first game and I’ve decided to start a DevLog here so that I might get some feedback and advice.

The game I’m developing is called Bird, which is a social impact game about mass incarceration where players discover and interact with real-life memories of my artistic collaborator, Darrell Fair, an incarcerated artist and activist. Players will experience these memories as hand-drawn animations, audio interviews, and music. In some ways Bird can be thought of as a short, immersive documentary.

Level Design

Bird is inspired by a metaphor from Michelle Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow,” which compares mass incarceration to a birdcage. The levels are laid out like a dreamy museum. There are objects that represent Darrell’s memories spread throughout the level, and the focal point of each room is a birdcage (either 3D or hand-drawn). As player’s trigger memories (animations and interviews, etc.) the bird cage will transform through added wires as if each memory is another wire on the cage.













Artwork

The artist I’m collaborating with on this project is currently incarcerated in Illinois, so our workflow/process is unique. Each animation starts with an interview, where we discuss some of Darrell’s memories of his family, childhood, and everyday life. Then Darrel will use the limited resources at Stateville Detention Center to work up the animations. Each animation is just a few frames in length, created with pencil and tracing paper. The papers are then physically mailed to me, at which point I collate them in photoshop, trying to keep them as authentic as possible. These animations will then be triggered by the player, and projected onto the walls of the virtual space along with recorded interviews of Darrell describing the scene.

Audio & Music

A large part of the experience will be the audio and music. Players will trigger a number of audio interviews with Darrell and his family and friends. The music will also underscore a lot of the action in the game. Due to the intense vulnerability of the subject matter, the vast majority of the score will be a cappella choir, which will underscore the dreamy atmosphere of the level design, and emphasis some of the text spoken by Darrell in his interviews. The Crossing Choir (Philadelphia, PA) will be recording the score this summer.

 






Work Still to Be Done:

-   Most of the level design is finished, but around 30% still needs to be completed
-   The mechanics for the projected art and transitions between levels/room needs to be scripted and tested 
-   Interviews with Darrell will be recorded through the first two quarters of 2024, but only a fraction of those will be selected for implementation
-   Audio mechanics are roughly in place, but will need a ton of fine tuning and mixing
-   Most visual assets are placeholder, so as the animations are mailed to me and finalized I’ll be implementing them as well
-   Polishing elements still need to be done, UI, pause screens, menu, etc.
-   Lots and lots of playtesting to get the right feel of the experience
 

Thank you for checking this out! I plan to release this for free on Itch.io and Steam sometime in late 2024. I’d love to hear what you all think of the project, and get some opinions on some of the work I’ll be doing over the next 6+ months.