Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc – Varsha, Sarah and Kristine

Synopsis + Story

Our game, Whisk(ers) (name to be finalized), introduces the player as a cat, Mochi (as a default name) on Caturn, a planet inhabited solely by cats. Mochi’s parents have unfortunately passed away, and Mochi has inherited the family bakery. Because of being at school, however, Mochi has rarely stepped foot in the bakery before, but to keep their parents’ legacies alive, Mochi strives to learn the ins and outs of the bakery, dust off the counters, and bring it back to life.

The game is designed as a series of escape rooms, but instead of “escaping” each room, Mochi is able to unlock either spaces, appliances, or ingredients that will allow them to achieve their bakery dreams. For example, Mochi might start in the kitchen, and after successfully completing the puzzles to collect various items and keys that will allow them to “escape” or solve the kitchen room, they might gain access to the kitchen (the stove, the ovens, pantry spaces, etc.) The next “room” might then be a grocery store, which will grant Mochi ingredients they might need. Another room might unlock secret recipes from their parents’ office.

Since our game will also be in 2D, in terms of mechanics, we want to take inspiration from Cube Escape: Paradox in its 2D design of zooming in and out of objects as well as navigating between walls / rooms.

While collecting various objects and items to solve each escape room, the narrative will also unravel, allowing Mochi and the player to learn new things about their parents and the history of the bakery.

Tone

Because of our current narrative, we might encounter a challenge here in balancing the tones of the game. We decided that the main feelings we wanted to capture in this game were coziness and cuteness. Overall, we wanted the game to be one where players could relax, but also be actively involved. In creating the cozy and cute atmosphere, we will choose music and art accordingly. The color palette will be soft and warm, and the music might be jazz or lo-fi. The name and appearance of your cat can be customized by the player, which might also make the game cuter through personalization.

Working in the relatively sad narrative, though, will be difficult. To address this (as someone suggested in class), we might make it so that the parents had passed a long time ago. We also had the idea of making it so that instead of the parents passing away, the parents might simply be away on vacation, or, we could instead make the game a coming-of-age story, where Mochi goes off on their own, but wants to follow in their parents’ footsteps.

The Setting

Whisk(ers) takes place on Caturn, a cat-inhabited planet that mirrors a bustling urban environment inspired by New York City, featuring a cozy, family-owned bakery amidst the city’s fast-paced energy. Situated between towering skyscrapers and undying traffic is Mochi’s bakery, a pocket of comfort and familiarity in an otherwise hectic world. Although the city captures vigor and bustle, the game primarily centers around the calm and cozy interiors of the bakery, where the story unfolds.

The bakery’s coziness comes not only from its comfortable interior design, such as pillowed stools and silky pastel tablecloths, but also from the personality it holds from her lineage that spent decades in this space mastering their craft. Whether it is the familiar jingle of the bell that greets Mochi as she enters the bakery or the cute pieces of furniture her family spent time picking out, the setting allows her to still feel at home as she ventures on the daunting journey of learning the craft her family has been perfecting for years. There’s something deeply tactile about it all too, like the flour-dusted counter her mom used every morning or the scratch marks on the step stool her dad always stood on, each piece holding little imprints of family history.

We chose the contrast between the bustling cityscape and the comforting, cozy bakery to show that Mochi belongs and can feel fully at home, even amid the chaos unfolding in her personal life and in the world right outside her.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Whisk(ers) is inspired by traditional escape room mechanics, but with a twist: rather than escaping, the focus is on unlocking different components of the kitchen, such as spaces, appliances, or ingredients, allowing Mochi to slowly learn and embody their family’s craft.

We envision the following mechanics to create an engaging gameplay experience:
Mochi begins their journey in the kitchen, where they will complete a puzzle to unlock a specific essential appliance, such as the oven.
Potential puzzle idea: Match temperature and timer dials, using handwritten notes and embedded clues, to the respective bread types to master the craft of bread making.

Next, Mochi must play an organization game to unlock the pantry space.
Potential puzzle idea: Sort ingredients into boxes with faded labels, relying on clues scattered around the pantry that light the way.

Then, Mochi must unlock the stove to make essential components of thier baked goods.
Potential puzzle idea: A timed challenge where Mochi must quickly add the correct ingredients into a pot based on real-time recipe prompts, testing their memory, reflexes, and ingredient recognition.

We plan on exploring future chapters where Mochi will need to explore rooms such as the grocery store to grab the necessary ingredients, and the parents’ office to uncover secret recipes and meaningful memories.

We want to introduce something that is unlocked not just through task completion, but also by earning specific skills, memories, or secrets tied to the family heirloom. We are exploring the use of collectible badges that will allow Mochi to feel one step closer to mastering the craft.

We intend to create a 2D experience and will experiment with interactions that involve zooming in and out of objects, as well as navigating between walls and rooms.

Who is this for?

Whisk(ers) is intended for individuals aged 12 and up who are interested in the intersection of cozy, narrative driven games with puzzle solving elements. This experience is designed for players who appreciate a relaxing yet emotionally engaging experience, combining charm with themes of legacy and personal growth.

This game will appeal to players who enjoy escape room mechanics, but also layered narrative that is uncovered in each step of the game. It invites those who find meaning not only in puzzle-solving, but also in small details, slow discovery, and stories that unfold through exploration.

Key Challenges for Design

Balancing mood shifts: The narrative of our story juggles many emotions, and emotions such as the fear of newfound responsibility and joy of successfully completing puzzles may arise in the player. Our goal is not to create stress; on the contrary, we are hoping to create a cozy game that the user can play for the purpose of relaxation. However, to create a significant motivation for the narrative, we chose to use a detailed backstory of why the player should care enough to advance in the game. Therefore, balancing these emotions is an important challenge we will need to address in the design.
Worldbuilding: We chose to invent a new planet for the setting of our game: Caturn with a population of solely cats. However, this involves fleshing out the details of the planet in an appropriate specificity for the player to understand but not be bored by. Finding this balance in the exposition of the game will be key in the design.
Story development: We are still in the process of crafting a satisfying ending, especially keeping our broad audience of children to young adults in mind. We would hate for our narrative to let down the audience with a cliche ending (e.g. the power was love/friendship), but we want to keep it simple enough for a child to follow.

Key Challenges for Tech

Game engine learning curve: Our 3 person team is dedicated to creating a fully functional and high-fidelity slice of the game, but this requires significant learning and growing in a short amount of time. Overcoming the learning curve in learning Unity will be our biggest challenge in tech but hopefully the most rewarding as well.
Smooth motions/transitions: A key feature we want to offer players is smoothly transitioning between static 2D walls/perspectives of the room, as well as zooming into specific spaces when an item is selected. Creating these transitions in Unity will be a challenge to overcome.
Puzzle Functionality: Beyond exploring the space, the player will encounter some objects/spaces to be hidden behind puzzles which need to be completed in order to advance. The mechanics of these puzzles need to be fully functional for the player to operate them, and any bugs/lags may cause player frustration, therefore we seek to minimize such errors during our technical development.

Key Challenges for Art

Creating the environment: Our game is from the first-person perspective, therefore the main screen we display to the viewer is the environment. Lighting, object details, and architecture are essential to creating an aesthetically pleasing environment but this is difficult to achieve artistically, so this will be a challenge for us to overcome.
Cohesive color palette: Since we are relying mostly on visual elements (potentially sound but this is not our main focus), creating a cohesive color palette throughout our game is essential and will guide the mood of the player. We want to have enough variety in color to convey somber tones and lighter spirits while also maintaining unity throughout the game as a whole.

Character design: A large component of the game will rely on cute characters, but this is subjective to each player. Furthermore, creating the character sketches is difficult to do collaboratively, therefore we will need to develop an effective workflow (e.g. one person taking the lead in digitally drawing the character). Designing characters that are appealing to a broad audience and drawing the character will be an artistic challenge.

Appendix