Unreal MegaJam 2020 - No More Papers Please
Technical Game Designer
I was a technical game designer for No More Papers Please, a game in which an office worker has to do overtime instead of going home at the end of the workday.
Within the theme "It's been a long time, but we are not done yet" our team came up with a game in which an office worker is forced to do overtime, and trying to finish the work put on his desk. With messages from concerned family members popping up on the computer, the office worker performs menial tasks such as scanning QR codes, signing papers, and stamping documents. My contribution
- General game design (concepting, system design) - Design & implementation of the dialogue system - Main menu design & implementation - UX Design - Implementation of game-over conditions, level transitions and scoring system - Balancing the game's difficulty |
Project info
Development time: 7 days (evenings and in the weekend) Team size: 4 people Engine: Unreal Engine Link: Itch.io Developed for: Epic MegaJam 2020 Link: Jury shoutout Looking back
As of writing this on 13/03/2023 No More Papers Please is still getting downloaded and played every day, 3 years after its release. It really resonates with people, the gameplay is chaotic in a fun way and easy to understand, but I think it is the setting that sets it apart. No More Papers Please's narrative holds up a mirror to all of us about how we treat work, and makes people ponder about their personal relationship with employment. This was our intent, which makes this a project I am particularly proud of. I am also proud of the ending sequence in which the player is overloaded with work in the span of seconds. Players universally react with shock and disbelief, until the screen fades to black. The consistency of these reactions attest to the power of the set-up we created. |