The NYU Game Center Showcase 2024
˚✦★⋆. ࿐࿔ .˚ *✦ ˚.˚ .✶ -͟͟͞☆
⟢Thesis
⟢Capstone
⟢Studio II
⟢Major Studio
⟢Mosaic
Spirit Conductor
⊹ ࣪.⋆~⊹₊⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆✩࿐
For Studio II
Spirit Conductor is a cozy management game in where you play as the conductor of a train exploring the world in search of the spirits of the dead, helping them face their regrets and move on to the other side.
Interview:
✧In one or two sentences, what is your game about?
What if we took Spiritfarer and gave it a darker narrative... and made it happen on a train instead of a boat?
✧What was the inspiration of the game? What made your team decide to make this game specifically?
As a team we love cozy management games, but felt like sometimes they can be so "sweet" and "friendly" that the stories begin to feel artificial and lose their impact. We wanted to make a game that managed to tell a darker story while at the same time still evoked the wholesome feeling we really enjoy. (Also, trains are cool)
✧Were there difficult moments when developing the game? What led to those difficult moments? What did you learn from it?
As a Studio II project, we approached the development process with an ambitious idea while being conscious that we would only be able to finish a small slice of this concept. That said... we still had trouble achieving this slice in time for the showcase, and had to choose what to focus on. While challenging at first, it helped to take a step back and identify what was important about the game to us, and then focus on that.
✧Were there darlings that you had to kill? What were they? Why was the decision made to remove them from the project, and what were the reasons that you like the darling so much?
As a cozy management game, we had a lot of plans for systems and sub-systems that the player would be able to develop such as train upgrades, farming, a crafting system, etc. We think these systems are what make management games so addictive and replayable, and were super excited to give our own spin on those systems. But in the end, we ultimately believed that focusing on the narrative and exploration elements was a better move as they were the more unique elements of our game.
✧Talk about your teammates! What was everyone’s role?
Vivian was the narrative designer for the game, writing the dialogue and branching narrative, and implementing the dialogue system in Unity, and she also made the character art. Chenyi was the gameplay programmer and technical game designer, and implemented many of the core game systems related to movement and the train. Alonso served as the producer and did additional programming for systems such as inventory and object systems.
play this game on itch.io