Blending in
Blending In is a narrative puzzle game about a chameleon with social anxiety / autism masking who has trouble getting through social interactions. So to get by he has to change his colours to others in order to fit in and get by.
Role: Narrative Designer, Programmer
Engine: Unity
Genre: Narrative, Puzzle
Type: 3D
Team Size: Solo
Why: 3rd year narrative design project
Narrative Designer
narrative through gameplay
1. Elementary school: Player and character learns about their ability to mask and fitting in. This issue is still just a minor inconvenience.
2. Middle school: Has to go around through classrooms to get past people. Learns there are some people he can't blend in with.
3. Highschool: Has to go out of their way to take a longer route to classes because of people he can't fit in.
4. Highschool: Its gotten harder and harder to mask. Is surrounded by people in the cafeteria, has to frantically find a way out while bumping into people.
5. Post secondary: After all this time he has found someone he doesn't need to mask and makes a friend.
Level's story
In the end I had 5 levels that showed different ways this struggle impacted the main character. It also changed school years every time to show it progressing.
Results
After that I made a few mock up levels to see what could and couldn't be portrayed through the speechless levels, this included external playtesting with classmates.
Tests
Since there was no dialogue I wrote a list of things that could happen. Like what each level represents and the consequence that comes with social anxiety and masking.
Flow
I wanted there to be no dialogue in the game. I wanted the story to be told through the gameplay but mostly the level and the environment.
