Sky Tales

Fine Arts Faculty of University of Porto

Post-Graduation in Interaction Design, Web and Games
Guilherme Vila Maior and Matilde Ferreira

Oct 2021 - Nov 2021

Design Persona

We present to you our little buddy, Smith

Feel free to reach him when in need of guidance, weather guidance, that is. He’s quite the weather informant, and very instructive. He’ll keep you updated on all the weather information you need to make sure that you’ll never go out without an umbrella again, or maybe even without your favourite pair of sunglasses.

Smith also offers a nice Interactive Narrative mini-game to kill some time on your way to work, waiting for the bus, or even while your partner is cooking breakfast. Smith’s game has no place for boredom and is quite open to new paths, paths that you’ll trace while experiencing a new story each day. Our buddy Smith will guide you all the way, and even suggest activities according to the weather. Just don’t keep him waiting for too long, as he enjoys interacting and talking to people.

Brand Traits

Personality

Smith is a very reliable source, safe to say that he’ll support you on a daily basis and won’t put you in a place of danger. He’ll always be in the front-line willing to help in a timely manner, being patient throughout. Even though he’s quite the catch, you’ll be in charge for most of the time, but keep in mind that you’re his best company..

Surprise and Delight

Themed illustrations according to commemorative holidays or specials events. Story lines in which Smith expresses his personal preferences and references movies and other elements of pop culture that might relate emotionally to the user.

Reward

Smith once a day rewards the user with a nice suggestion, whether it may be a movie to watch, or even a nice place to visit! Of course Smith will keep the weather in mind while doing so.

Game Design Document

Game Concept

Sky Tales is a choice-driven interactive narrative. It offers multiple short stories that relate to the user’s current location weather. Each day the user has a new story available.

Genre

Text Adventure

Interactive Storytelling

Target Audience

45-55 year olds

Game Structure

There are 5 different styles of cards (Sunny, Cloudy, Rainy, Snowy and Thunder), each one to be used depending on the player’s current location’s weather. There are multiple short stories for each style of cards, all of those following the same structure, using three types of choice-making:

1. Choices that take you on a quick storyline detour, merging later back onto the main storyline (giving the player a false sense of choice, not realizing that that specific path is already pre-defined);

2. Choices that don’t affect the storyline at all (two options taking the player to the same card);

3. Choices that place the player on a new storyline (splitting the storyline in two independent paths, with two different endings).