Cashing-in On Very Immediate Desires
System Design Process
About the Game
"Cashing-in On Very Immediate Desires" (COVID), is an engine-building game where players will have to work together to race against an ever-growing demand for resources to battle the pandemic, by building a production chain of machines that can generate these resources.
Conceptualization
The project required this game to be created around the idea of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it was recently brought to the world's attention at the time. As such, the intention of the game was to communicate the tension of racing against the clock to produce essential equipment for hospitals, while keeping it light-hearted through the art and narrative.
Prototyping
This projected was ambitious for the time provided, and we had multiple parameters to extensively test for this game to work. Prototypes were quick and cheap to produce, so data could be collected quickly. Due to how long a game lasts, we had to improvise on getting the core snippets of the game tested and review the segmented data before full-length iterations were tested.
Constraints
We had a number of strict limitations to design around: The game cannot last longer than 90 minutes; The game must be able to support 3-6 players; We had a total of 5 weeks to make the game completely playable without any guidance aside from the rulebook and a video tutorial.
Systems and Interactions
COVID consists of 3 core systems constantly interacting with each other: Factory Building System, Economy System, and Demand System. Each system deeply relies on interactions with the other systems to deliver the game's intended experience.
Factory Building System
This system pertains to all actions that are related to the inputs and outputs of the factory that players will have to put together to create resources. This aspect of the game received the most extensive testing and re-iteration, to strike the right balance between complexity and accessibility of the system.
Economy System
The economy system is where most of the largest decisions are made. Statistics and playtest data provided us with information required to tweak the flow of resources to allow the players to scale well against the Demand System.
Demand System
As this system pertains to the simulation of urgency in the world's demand for medical supplies, it was crucial to ensure this systems scales hard enough to challenge players in each playthrough, but not too hard that it feels impossible to win.
Final Production
By the final few days, we had to draw the line and cement every aspect of the game for it to be physically produced. Here, we solidified the narrative, art and components required to fully build the game.