It Never Ends

Click on the image to watch the gameplay video of It Never Ends on YouTube.

Project Description

It Never Ends is a 2D story-driven game about confronting Depression, a monster that personifies depression. The game puts an emphasis on player agency both in gameplay and story. It was developed over the course of 5 months by a team of 5. It is important to note that this game is an MVP, not a full game.

My Roles and Responsibilities

I was the writer, project manager, game designer, and programmer. 

As the writer, I wrote all the dialogues in the game and was responsible for the narrative. Over the course of production, I worked with my teammates to re-write the dialogues based on player feedback. Even though those revisions significantly changed them, they made the game much better in the end.

As the project manager, I made sure that we were on track every day during production, helped facilitate weekly meetings, and worked with my teammates from different disciplines to make sure the final experience is cohesive and impactful. It is worth noting that this was not an official role specifically assigned to me, rather it was something I voluntarily chose to become.

As a game designer, I worked with my team to define the rules of the game and create an impactful story. One of the most important tasks I completed as this role was creating the first two sketches of the game’s map. 

And finally, as a programmer, I was responsible for implementing the title screen and pause menu and fixing various bugs, both minor and major.

The Challenges I Faced

These were the main challenges I faced, followed by the solutions I found for them:

1. Defining the vision: Fearlessly sharing ideas, trying to solve disagreements, and as the final option, letting go of what you personally love, and doing what is the best for the game and the team.

2. Gaps in communication: Having weekly meetings and documenting every design decision. 

3. Some members not collaborating: Talking with them privately and having empathy.

4. Big technical problems: Trying to solve them using all the resources available and as the last resort, getting help from the people in and out of the team who have knowledge about those problems.

Skills and Knowledge Gained

I learned many different things from working on this game, but these are my top three:

1. Working with a team has many ups and downs. There were times that I thought I could not continue, but instead, I chose perseverance and continued. I learned that it pays off at the end.

2. Sometimes, we don’t share our ideas because we’re not confident about them. However, some of the ideas that I shared and wasn't confident about, made big changes to the game. I learned that I shouldn’t be afraid to do that. 

3. Because of my role as a project manager, I learned that I have the potential to become a successful game director, which is my dream job in the game industry.

Design Process

The game's map went through many iterations by the whole team until it became what it is now. But during pre-production, I created the first sketches of the map, which included ideas that were incorporated in those future iterations: