Surrealistic Style - Design Process

Short Description

Surrealistic Style is a 2D platformer about happiness. It follows the story of a weird alien called Surrealistic Style who leaves its home in Winter to explore the land of Spring. There, it meets Assman, a lonely and introverted man who rants about his life and problems.

Design Process

Important note: This part is about the process of designing this game with a focus on the narrative. 

The Goal

My goal was to show happiness and its importance as the ultimate goal in many people's lives in an unconventional way.

The Constraints

• The short length of the game

The Main Challenges and the Solutions I Found

• Showing happiness: 

Even though happiness can be interpreted from the setting of the second level, I decided to use the character Assman as the main communicator of the theme. The game is based on the idea that happiness is not easily achievable nor is a constant state, and because of that, Assman mainly talks about his unhappiness and his desire to become a happy person.

• The ending: 

 Creating an ending for the game was a big challenge mainly because the game uses Assman as the main way to tell the story, and therefore, doesn't follow the common ways that video games use to tell a story. But due to the fact that the game is humorous and self-aware, I decided to end the game in a sudden and unsatisfying way and make the game itself react to this in the post-credit screen.