1. Premise

One-sentence premise

A sixteen-year-old aspiring designer wants to attend a workshop outside his village, but money, family concerns, and other responsibilities make the decision more difficult than he expected.

Full premise

In The Road Beyond the Village, players take the role of Niran, a sixteen-year-old fox who comes from a low-income family in a fictional rural village. He dreams of studying design and eventually creating a library where people have a quiet place to learn. He has a place at a design workshop the next day, but getting there is not simple. He needs to catch the last bus, and his family has carefully saved the money for his return trip. Before he leaves, his friend Mali asks him for help with an application. At home, Niran also has to prepare for the workshop and deal with a difficult family conversation. He must decide how to spend his limited time, whether to ask others for help, and whether to leave that evening or postpone the trip. The story continues into the following morning, when players see how their decisions affect Niran and the people around him.

The idea comes partly from my experiences as a teacher in Thailand. I have seen how students’ learning opportunities can be affected by circumstances outside the classroom. I wanted to explore this through a fictional story rather than create a game that simply explains educational inequality. The characters, setting, and educational programme in the game are fictional.

Player Role

Players make decisions as Niran and see the situation from his perspective. His interest in design and desire to continue his education remain the same throughout the story, but players decide how he responds to the people around him and the problems he faces.

Player Goals

Niran’s immediate goal is to figure out how to attend the Northbridge workshop and prepare for what comes next. Along the way, players must also consider his friendships, family responsibilities, and the limited time available to him.

His longer-term goal is to study design, potentially attend university, and eventually create useful spaces where other people can learn.

Player Conflict

Niran wants to pursue this opportunity, but several things make it difficult:

• His family has saved enough for the return fare, but reimbursement will take weeks.

• He has limited time to prepare before the last bus leaves.

• His friend needs help with an application of her own.

• Something he discovers at home makes leaving more emotionally difficult.

• He feels uncomfortable asking other people for financial support.

There is no single villain in the story. The conflict comes from limited resources, competing responsibilities, and uncertainty about what kind of help is available. Even when Niran makes a reasonable decision, something else may have to wait.

Player Choices

Players decide whether to:

• Help Mali with her application, prepare their own questions for the workshop, or divide the available time between both tasks.

• Ask Mara about the family secret or focus on finishing preparations.

• Speak directly with Sam, listen to him privately, or leave and call him later.

• Board the bus, ask Mali for support before boarding, or postpone the visit.

• Use opportunities the following morning to prepare, seek support, or continue a family conversation.

These decisions affect what Niran finishes, how his relationships develop, what support becomes available, and what happens the following morning. The aim is not to make every choice equally successful, but to show that each decision comes with trade-offs.

Player Actions

Players read the story, choose dialogue responses, and make decisions about what Niran does next. They can also check programme information in his notebook to help him prepare for the workshop. The chapter can be replayed to explore different decisions and outcomes.

Resources

Niran’s main resources are time, saved travel money, study space, information, and the availability of other people. His sketchbook and phone also help him prepare and communicate.

I want these resources to be part of the story rather than turn them into a complicated management system. Players will not need to track a numerical budget or earn an empathy score. Instead, they will see how using time for one task can leave less time for another, and how asking for help can open up possibilities that were not available before.

Game Events

1. At school: Mali asks Niran to help with her application.

2. At home: Niran prepares for the journey and discovers more about his family’s financial situation and a family secret.

3. A visit from Sam: Sam arrives with a letter that connects an earlier educational opportunity to the upfront costs involved.

4. At the bus stop: Niran must decide whether to leave and whether to ask for help before the bus departs.

5. That evening: Depending on his choices, he may continue preparing, seek support, or talk with his family.

6. The following morning: Players see what their decisions made possible and what remains unresolved.

Intended Learning and Empathy

I want players to understand how limited resources and family responsibilities can shape a young person’s educational choices. From my experience as a teacher, I know that encouraging students to work hard is important, but motivation alone cannot remove every barrier they face.

Through Niran’s story, I hope players will consider how practical support can give someone more options. I also want them to recognize that a decision that seems obvious from the outside may be much more complicated for the person making it.

During playtests, I will look at whether players can explain the constraints Niran faces and understand why he might make a reasonable choice that differs from their own. I will use their explanations and observations as evidence rather than assume that playing the story automatically creates empathy.

2. Map of the Story Space

The chapter takes place in a small number of connected locations. Each location reveals a different part of Niran’s situation, so the setting helps tell the story rather than simply provide a background.

This is a schematic map of the fictional setting, not a geographically accurate map. The connections show which spaces are related or accessible during the story, rather than suggesting that players can move freely between every location.

The shared kitchen table is important because it represents both family life and Niran’s limited space to study and prepare. The bus stop makes the time pressure and cost of travel more immediate. Northbridge represents the educational opportunity Niran wants to pursue, but it also connects his ambition to the practical process of accessing support.

Map of the Main Choice Structure

This diagram shows the main routes through the chapter. However, the experience is not determined by the route alone. Earlier decisions can also change later dialogue, available support, and the consequences players encounter.

Connection to Class Concepts

I used the class framework of goal, motivation, and conflict to shape the story.

• Goal: Niran wants to reach an educational opportunity and move closer to studying design.
• Motivation: He wants to create places where people have room and opportunities to learn.
• Conflict: Money, time, competing responsibilities, and family uncertainty make it difficult to pursue his goal.

The player’s role is to decide how Niran pursues his goal, not to decide whether he cares about education in the first place. This gives the story a consistent direction while leaving room for different approaches.

I also want the choices to feel meaningful without creating one obviously correct answer. Helping a friend may mean having less time to prepare. Leaving may bring Niran closer to his dream but leave an important conversation unfinished. The consequences should give players something to think about rather than simply reward or punish them.

Following the class guidance on scope, I am focusing on one complete, short chapter rather than trying to build a much larger game. I also want Niran to feel like a person beyond his financial difficulties. His humor, creativity, friendships, and personal interests should be part of the experience, too.

3. Project Plan

I already have a playable HTML prototype, so my next step is to use playtest feedback to improve the story and rebuild it in Arcweave.

I am aiming for one complete chapter that takes approximately 10–15 minutes to play, although I may adjust the length after testing it with other players. The current prototype has four main decisions, two follow-up decisions, and 13 story screens along each route.

In Arcweave, I plan to organize the story into connected scenes and use variables to remember important earlier decisions. This should help me create later dialogue and consequences that respond to what players have done. I will first test a small section before transferring the entire chapter, so I can identify technical problems early rather than discover them near the deadline.

Potential Challenges and Responses

During playtests, I will use tester codes instead of names when documenting feedback. I will record what players do, what they say, and what I change afterward. I will also separate what I directly observe from my own interpretation of their behavior.

For example, if a player chooses to postpone the trip, I will not automatically interpret that as a lack of ambition or empathy. I will look at the player’s explanation and the information available to them at that point in the story. This will help me understand whether the choices communicate Niran’s situation as intended and where the design still needs improvement.