Many people enjoy social interactions as humans are generally drawn to connect with others. For many years video games have sought to create social experiences through multiplayer functionality. However, in recent years there has been a rise in more and more “multiplayer” games that are simply lots of players in the same game at the same time. A player can be playing with tens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of players at the same time, without actually interacting with them at all. I believe that video games can be a great way to encourage play between people, but it is disheartening to see so many games where people don’t actually interact with each other while playing the same game. This problem led me to develop my own multiplayer game, Voyage Afar.
The mobile social deduction game Voyage Afar puts four to six players on one of two teams, Astronauts and Aliens, where they must attempt to solve puzzles to repair their spaceship. The puzzles are specifically designed to give players only limited information, meaning effective communication is required for a team to be able to solve the puzzles before the time runs up. To create another layer of complexity, players don’t know who their teammates are, and must use critical thinking to figure out who is being truthful and who is attempting to sabotage the mission.
This game looks to solve the problem of a lack of interaction between people through three design goals: creating in-person social interactions via a virtual platform, balancing gameplay by automatically scaling teams according to group size, ensuring replayability without being predictable. These three goals focus on creating a game that challenges players and makes a fun environment for them to play together in. It is important to not exclude people from social activities and that is why my game focuses on a scaling gameplay and low game predictability so that players new and old can enjoy the game together.
Overall I believe that my game Voyage Afar provides people with a game that brings them and their friends together via a fun and enjoyable gameplay experience. As technology continues to grow in our lives I believe that the amount of opportunities to connect using technology should grow as well, and Voyage Afar seeks to do just that. There was a lot of work that went into the design and implementation of this game, but in the end I am very proud of how it turned out and I look forward to hearing about how people enjoyed playing the game in their social groups.
