Synopsis: In a part analog, part digital game, the police are tipped off that a heist team is targeting their city. The heist team works to prepare for their heist and try not to get caught while the detective team works to find clues and beef up security to catch the heist team. Players navigate the world solving puzzles embedded in files to gather resources to prepare for the “Final Heist”.
Our game brings people back in time to prohibition where the only people sketchier than the gangsters are the local detectives.
The game is designed for people looking for an experience similar to an escape room but that’s competitive and replayable. Puzzles difficulty is designed for teenagers or adults.
The game blends analog and digital mechanics:
Digital facilitation of team assignment and communication. There is an anonymous chat room for all players and team chat rooms for each team.
Players engage with campaigns where players must solve puzzles. The answers will be confirmed by the digital system.
Teams move around a board that is a simplified map of places in a city. Each team has a home base. There are 4 possible targets and 4 resource locations. If teams choose to occupy the same space then a chance meeting occurs.
Final Heist: The game comes to a climax as the heist team enacts their heist and the detectives try to stop them. Only one team can emerge victorious.
The two teams interact with the narrative in two very different ways.
Embedded Narrative
The detective team must solve puzzles to collect clues about the heist team.
Enacted Stories
The heist team must make choices to collect resources in order to pull off their heist.
This game blends fantasy as players are transported back to the 20s with a selected persona with challenge and fellowship as players work together on teams to solve puzzles faster than the other team. The narrative will be varied as the heist team and detectives enact the narrative and the detective team discovers clues to the embedded narrative.
Tone:
Enjoy the glitz and glamour of Great Gatsby and the thrill of the Untouchables.
Tone References:
- Untouchables
- Great Gatsby
- Ocean’s Eleven
- Noir
Key Challenges:
- Seamlessly blending analog and web based interfaces. There is the potential to augment the analog experience with digital affordances like answer checking and secret movement with chance meetings. However, it will be important that players don’t feel like they are constantly switching between the two.
- Making a cohesive narrative. Given our desire for replayability it will be more challenging to ensure the enacted narrative is deep and cohesive.
- Making actions feel impactful: With a variety of tasks and puzzles, ensuring that these tasks progress the narrative or objective
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