The Pitch


Last Escape

"In Last Escape you play as a group of survivors trying to escape a zombie apocalypse but need to travel deep into an unknown city to radio for rescue."

Feelings to evoke: Suspense, dread.

Types of fun: Discovery, collaboration, & challenge.

Goal: Call for evac at the Radio Tower, then use a Signal Flare to be rescued via helicopter.

Opposition: Zombies.

Theme: Zombie-infested city.


Starting at the Top

A major goal I had while designing Last Escape was creating a "top-down design." This meant nearly every decision was made starting from the concept. In this case it meant leaning into the zombie apocalypse. Here's an overview of how I designed & iterated on the exploration mechanic to evoke the feeling of exploring a zombie-infested city.

Click to zoom! [Credit](https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2129/game_design_cognition_the_.php?print=1#:~:text=Typical situations in which top-down game design cognition,from other media%2C such as books and movies.)

Click to zoom! [Credit](https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2129/game_design_cognition_the_.php?print=1#:~:text=Typical situations in which top-down game design cognition,from other media%2C such as books and movies.)

Exploring an Unknown City

I decided to evoke the feeling of exploring an unknown city by drawing from a deck of location cards. Each card would represent a location that could be found in any city. Gas stations, hotels, gun stores, etc.

How The Mechanic Works

My Goals For The Mechanic

Getting Creative For Rapid Prototyping

Using a poker deck as a location deck was a great randomizer. Numbers represented the location.

Using a poker deck as a location deck was a great randomizer. Numbers represented the location.

Our survivors, represented as chess pieces. Each piece represented a different class.

Our survivors, represented as chess pieces. Each piece represented a different class.

Zombies! To be honest, I was running out of tokens.

Zombies! To be honest, I was running out of tokens.

Initial Playtesting & Feedback

In this example, two players decided to explore away from the sporting goods store while one looted it.

In this example, two players decided to explore away from the sporting goods store while one looted it.

Note: In the example to the left, ****players didn't know they were walking into a Gun & Grocery store. Locations were revealed after they moved. This led to two key pieces of feedback.

Problem 1: Exploring the city isn't satisfying.

Problem 2: The first goal (Radio Tower) is discovered too fast.

Problem Solving: Before coming up with a solution, I start by stating the problem and asking the Five Why's until I discover the underlying problem.

Problem 1: "Exploring the City Isn't Satisfying"


Why isn't it satisfying? Players feel like they're wandering aimlessly.

Why are players wandering aimlessly? The direction they move doesn't matter.

Why doesn't direction matter? Because they draw the same location no matter the direction.

Underlying Problem: Locations are revealed after the player moves. There is a lack of depth in the decision to move a specific direction.

Solution

Place location cards adjacent to all explored locations.