System Design

Play my twine game here!

I created this game as a kind of simulated trip to Ikea (or non-descript Swedish as I call it) because I know that Ikea is a store that anyone can get lost in. Any time I go, I find my mind wandering and when I enter their little displays I can almost imagine myself living there. If I were to modify this game further, I would love to see it be a 3-D modeled game where you can actually have your character explore the physical Ikea showroom. It would be in first person, and you would be able to customize your character in the game, obviously to include diverse characters and skin tones. I would want to see perhaps a couple non-playable characters (NPCs) that come in the form of store employees to help the user not get lost in the store. The user would start with an objective to find a certain object, but the longer they spend in the store the fuzzier their memory of their objective would be. Perhaps they could equip items that they can earn from successfully completing the game.

My vision also includes a rotating map system. Since every single Ikea has a different showroom layouts, there could be a few maps that are randomly selected each time players load in. As the map loads, players will load in to the beginning of the show room and be told their objective for the game. They then have to go through the showroom, ignoring the things that may attempt to pull their attention and distract them from their objective. Certain displays will be glowing or make noise that will possibly distract the player from their objective.

A map of an Ikea showroom

When a player gets too distracted, they will find themselves unable to see well or their controls will be made more difficult. If they look down at their hands or attempt to look in a mirror, they will see that they are starting to become part of the store. Perhaps they are turning the pattern of the last thing they sat on or touched, or maybe they are just simply getting more and more transparent as they spend more time in the game. If they complete their objective, the player will earn points that they can use toward customizations that will aid them in the game. One customization could be a list, which when equipped will allow the player to remember their objective throughout the entire game.

Overall, I think it would be a fun and relatively easy to pick up single or multiplayer game to play. I think there is a potential market for this game, and if I ever had the opportunity to bankroll someone into developing this game I would absolutely love to.

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This project has been great fun. I have genuinely enjoyed both parts of it. I had a really fun time creating the game in Twine, despite having to learn coding on the fly. I will forever be grateful to my computer science friend for helping me figure out some bugs in my game that I was incredibly frustrated with. Genuinely, I had so much fun with both of these parts. That being said, I feel that some of these ideas that Parrish puts out don’t really apply to my game. I’ve created a pretty silly game that only really serves the purpose of simulating what it’s like to get lost in an Ikea. 

I think anyone would get use from this system. Both the Twine game and my theoretical game are designed to be easy for anyone who is starting out in the gaming world and isn’t necessarily “good at games.” I know that I personally have never been truly good at games because I’ve struggled with the hand-eye coordination that most games require. The only people that may not be able to access the games are those who are severely visually impaired. Especially the theoretical game, which relies heavily on visual cues for the disappearing part. Other than that, there are not many barriers to access. 

My game does somewhat perpetuate the system of capitalism, seeing as it takes place in a retail store. That is the only real system that it perpetuates, because it is a somewhat fantastical game. There is no way in reality that you would actually meld with the furniture in Ikea, but in my little made up game world you do. I know that in Ikea there are safeguards against staying there overnight and I do firmly believe that people would not actually lay down to take a nap in the middle of the day in a bed in Ikea. If they did, more power to them. 

My game does reflect my value a little. The whole fantasy element reflects my value of trying to find the fantasy in everyday life. I like to make my life just a little more fun by adding fantasy to the little things, such as getting lost in Ikea. I think that allowing this game to open players eyes to that is a wonderful thing. In a world full of bad news and gray skies, why shouldn’t we inject a little bit of fun?