Letters to Reid: Learning How to Work With a Team and Compromise
Letters to Reid is a 2D side scrolling exploration game. In it, players control a character in an underground cave system and attempt to find the titular letters. The letters reveal a narrative of grieving post the death of a sibling.
This game was inspired by the death of my brother, Reid. After he passed, I felt alone. My parents were busy with their own grief, and friends were more comfortable when I didn’t talk about him and his death. I felt as though no one could or wanted to understand.
I believe that games are a powerful resource and can be used for much more than entertainment. My goal when designing Letters to Reid was to create an experience of grief through the environment and narrative. I wanted those who had lost someone to identify with the experience and feel seen. I also wanted to provide a resource for those who had never experienced grief to understand it.
Initially, I intended the game to be first person in a 3D environment. I find that perspective more immersive, and my goal was to immerse the player in grief. However, due to resources and the team I had assembled, it wasn’t possible.
Much of my design process became “what parts of my vision can I compromise on and what is necessary?” I had to pare down my large vision into the small essential parts. For the first time, I had to keep the skills and limitations of others in mind when designing, instead of just my own.
I decided that the most important thing to focus on was the narrative. If I could write a compelling narrative, then I could immerse the player in the experience even in a 2D and third person environment. Changing the game from first person to third person was the largest compromise I made. I was worried about how personal of an experience I could make the game in third person. However, I had to take into consideration the ability of my art team.
I ended up with a game that differs greatly from my initial vision. But, the experience of creating Letters to Reid taught me more about designing and leading than most of the games I had created previously.