The theme provided at Global Game Jam
2020 is a six-letter word: Repair.
Our team thought of the Ship of Theseus - after Theseus returned from Crete, his ship docked at Athene. Whatever was broken got repaired and replaced, and eventually, no part used the original materials. Philosophers wonder if the ship is still the same ship and if it isn’t, since when?
I want the table in this game to maintain its original purpose, the players to do whatever it takes to serve it, and experience all the
chaos and fun that comes with replacing the legs.
The theme provided at Global Game Jam
2020 is a six-letter word: Repair.
Our team thought of the Ship of Theseus - after Theseus returned from Crete, his ship docked at Athene. Whatever was broken got repaired and replaced, and eventually, no part used the original materials. Philosophers wonder if the ship is still the same ship and if it isn’t, since when?
I want the table in this game to maintain its original purpose, the players to do whatever it takes to serve it, and experience all the
chaos and fun that comes with replacing the legs.
The Ark is a puzzle game. The player plays as an ant who delivers packages. When he delivers packages to his customers he also passes through the joys and sorrows of those human beings. The game combines surreal elements and uses a fantasy setting about a whale who becomes the ark of the last human race. The game mixes in a few realistic elements to reflect the anxiety of people of different ages nowadays. The game’s design also reflects a few social phenomena such as empty-nesters, transsexualism, consumerism, postpartum depression, and intends to make the players think through them.
Project Overview
Inspiration
The Ark is a propositional work made for CIGA Game Jam 2020. The art at the left was the keynote provided for participants to interpret by themselves.
We felt this art expresses the state of isolation and loneliness among people in a world of extremely rich merchandise.
The crack in the center of the room filled with a huge amount of shopping packages, symbolizing the inner world of people who are overwhelmed and torn by consumerism. The ants crawling outside the window at the same time，just like our hardworking couriers, act as the last bridge between people and the outside world.
Art by Dandan Qiu 2020 （http://artand.cn/）
Design Process
 Early sketches, which showed some core ideas about the game: The whale, the cracks, the courier ants and the room settings |  The Whale-in-the-sea concept |
|---|---|
 A zoom-in version of the whale |  Room setting placeholder |
 Put the whale in Unity and tried to build the first environment of the game. |  Room prototype 1 |
 Room prototype 2 |  Room prototype 3 |
World Setting
As the sketch shows, the protagonist of the game is a whale floating on the sea. But at the beginning of the game, the player will start to explore the room in the belly of the whale, and the camera will zoom out only if the player discover all three rooms in the whale. Then the "Ark" title emerges, showing that the place where these people are is actually the Ark. As for what happened to the rest of the world, we leave it blank for the players to imagine.
Each room in the game also has its own symbolic meaning.
The middle-aged person in the second room symbolizes the various crisis that people face in middle age. The box marked "fired" in the hand indicates the pressure and frustration brought by his job. His dark skin and costume also symbolize the multiple pressures and discrimination he suffered due to his race and identity.
The old man in the first room symbolizes the aging of people and the loneliness that comes with it. Also, the broken photo frame on the ground probably suggest some heartbreaking stories behind him as well.
The hysterical woman in the third room symbolize a series of difficulties faced by women in their lives. The stroller symbolizes challenges brought to women during and after childbirth. The LV logo and flamingo on the stroller symbolize the dilemma brought by consumerism and comparison pressure between people.
My Role
1. Came up the whole setting and atmosphere of the game world, put forward the initial idea of using whales as the ark
2. Narrowed down and managed the scope of the whole project to ensure it can be done at a 2-day game jam. Decided to focusing on shaping the atmosphere and narrative of the game
3. Wrote the game flow and process document.
4. Assisted assets management and setting up in Unity.
The screenshots of the game process design document and in-unity work I have done.
Gameplay Overview
