The Design Process Behind Shopkeeper: Space Salesman

Backstory:

We've all played games that place the player as the hero of the story.  I wanted to explore the idea of playing as not the hero but someone living in the world. The hero is just someone the player would encounter while working their 9-5 job.  At the time of this game jam, I just finished Undertale and was currently working on the original Final Fantasy. The goal was to make something different but still a combination of the games that were fresh on my mind. The idea I was going for was a spin on JRPG combined with the mood/feeling of Undertale. I wanted each of the NPCs to have a somewhat goofy but engaging personality in the hope it would create some kind of connection with the player.

Normally in a traditional JRPG, the player would be the hero of the story and the general store is just a pitstop on their adventure used to resupply on items. Like I stated earlier, instead of playing the hero, I wanted the player to  fill the role of the salesman of the general store. This is just the player's job, they aren't aware of the the purpose of the customers that they are helping nor does the player care. The goal of the game was for the player to sell correct item to each customer based on the conversation / personality of the customer.  

Original Design:

In the original design, the world had a more traditional fantasy setting and the sales the player makes would have an impact on the story. For example, if the player sold the warrior customer a magic wand rather than the new shield they were asking for, the warrior customer wouldn't return to the shop. The player would learn from conversations with other NPCs that the warrior died on his adventure, turned himself into a shield by using the wand, ect...  This would start a chain of events in the world, now that the warrior wasn't a part of the the story anymore a monster might attack the town, player's stock might be stolen, or new more evil customers might start visiting the shop. The outcome would all depend on the role that the NPC played in the world. I wanted to make the player have an impact on the world without allowing the player to be the direct hero. 

Change in Scope:

During the course of the game jam, I realized that the scope of this project was much larger than possible for the time limit. That's when I started playing with another idea of urgency for the player, I needed to make a threat for the player to correctly match each customer to the correct item based on conversation. That's when the Space Mafia came in to the story. We needed a way to include at least one more theme of the game jam into the game besides just the color theme. The Space Mafia is coming for the player and sticking with the goofy mood of the NCPs, the player's kneecaps were at stake. Now that the sense of urgency has been created, a goal for the player to achieve needed to be developed. The player was a salesman so we connected the idea of commission from sales as a way to successfully complete the game. To lower the scope of the game, the amount of time the player had to raise the funds was lowered to a work week, 5 days. The player would earn the selling price of each item sold but a correct match to the customer's needs would increase the amount in the form of a bonus to the player's total. 

Challenges:

We played with the idea of the total amount of money required, during testing we discovered that the total amount required to successfully complete the game could be achieved in about 3 out of the 5 days. As a way to combat this and make the game more engaging, the idea of the supplier was implemented. Each morning, the player would have the opportunity to purchase items using their total amount of funds to resupply the store for the customer's and their potential needs. The player's stock of items would carry between the days so even if the player bought an item that isn't required for that day, it would still be able to be sold at a later point. I feel that this implementation created a nice balance between maximizing player's funds and being prepared for the NPCs of that day. 

Conveying to the player the importance of correctly matching the NPC's needs to the correct item was one the most important objectives to figure out. This was the major part of the game, the player could sell any item they wanted to the NPC. I needed a way to tell the player the outcome of their decision without breaking the immersion with a "YOU'RE WRONG" or "CORRECT" plastered across the screen.  We ultimately decided on the inclusion of positive and negative sound effects to correspond on the player's choice that was accompanied with NPC dialogue praising or berating the player in the NPC's own personal fashion. 

Mood:

The mood I wanted to convey  was one  simple and  goofiness but give enough personality to each of the NPCs that it could be heartfelt interaction. I wanted to create a connection between the player and the NPCs of this world. My goal was the player to walk away from this game with a memory or a favorite character. I couldn't have asked for better art for this project. We were limited with the theme being a part of the Two Color jam. My partner on this project, Hayden, really brought the character's to life with his art. He really encapsulated the theme I was going for, simple and goofy. 

Outlook:

Looking back on this project, its one of my favorite games I've designed.  This was a team effort and I appreciate all of the effort put into it. This wasn't the first time Hayden and I worked together and it won't be the last. We created something that we could be proud of. I can see expanding on this project in the future, maybe expanding it to the scope to the original design.   

Thanks for taking the time to read this. 

Until next time ,

-ColbP