Scooping with the Fishes
Scooping with the Fishes
Role: Game/ Narrative Designer
Team Size: 4
Scooping with the Fishes is a Mafia-themed, dialogue-driven adventure game disguised as a gelato shop cashier simulator. It was created at a 48-hour game jam and refined for a few weeks afterward.
Working on a team of 3, I had to wear several different hats on the project. In addition to crafting the story for the game, I worked with the main programmer to implement dialogue as procedural elements. I also put the game together in Unity once the dialogue and art assets started getting completed.
"Scooping” was built entirely in Unity, using a plugin called Fungus to create dialogue overlays for all the different characters as well as display image animations and transitions. What truly sets this game apart is that players get a different experience every time they play because all of the NPC responses, appearances and ice cream preferences are procedurally generated each game.
Having to write dialogue in a way that could be mixed and matched was quite challenging, but our positive playtest feedback showed us that it was well worth the effort.