Hi this is Simo writing again to talk about today's prototype and the feedback and observations on last weeks prototypes.

Last weeks prototype i have ditched the idea of following stencils to paint in favor of randomly filling out a screen to create a tag. The feedback i have gotten is that people kept trying to fill out the word DRAW which was on the screen and it took them a while to understand the goal of that minigame. However there was a certain sameness to the tasks which people have complained about. They wanted to see different outcomes and different things to look at. However the act of drawing it self was enjoyable by many and they said it was intuitive.

However due to technical issues mentioned in the previous devlog, i have to say the quality of the feedback is to be questioned. Due to the technical challenge of creating a drawing minigame and overall lackluster feedback (compared to other peoples games we saw during the playtest where people were much more engaged and enjoying the prototypes) we have decided to go back to the drawing board and reassess our approach at exploring the themes of graffiti and the urban setting. We decided to make two very different prototypes with nick as this will be our last try at prototyping, combining our feedbacks to create test out our new ideas.

For mine i decided to flip the tagging on its head and put the player into the shoes of the proposed cop/authority that which the player would have to avoid. In this prototype the goal is to cover up the graffiti throughout the city. The aesthetic and thematic inspirations for this idea came from the works of papers please combined with the relaxing and pleasant gameplay of Pressure Washer simulator.

For this game I wanted to explore the feeling of doing something you may not want to do, and put the players into an uncomfortable grey area where they have to test their own limits and see what they want to do, and what they will do if simply told to do so.



To further reinforce and motivate the player to do these things to make the experience intrinsically pleasant, such as in cleaning sim games like Power Washer Simulator.

In the current prototype the players goal is to cover up graffiti which i want to make interesting and hopefully will drive the player to explore the levels to see all the art available to them, putting them at odds where their job is to ultimately erase this work. Hopefully during the play test i will get to see if the players will be implored to look for the graffiti just to see what is out there. And if they like painting the walls, because the one thing people enjoyed in the previous playtests it was the act of drawing whatever, without real aim.

Finally for the time mechanic I have decided to make the levels be played in "shifts" for now a simple timer in each level to replicate the grueling time on a job you don't want to, and having to be speedy in a job not so well done. This aspect was inspired by the game Perfect Vermin, where you have to quickly finish a simplistic job in a really short amount of time.

Screenshot from the game, the main look and feel I was going for was heavily inspired by Perfect Vermin and Papers Please.