Scorpion

Roles: System Design, Level Design, Narrative Design

Scorpion is an RPG I created for my systems directed study, based around a two episode Star Trek story arc of the same name. Play as different senior officers on the Star Trek Voyager and experience an interactive version of the story that leads to the recruitment of fan favorite character Seven of Nine. The game is built on a trust system that accumulates based on how you interact with the crew members, who is picked for away missions, your success in battles, and how much you help the Borg. Building trust with characters allows them to level up and helps improve the Voyager stats they’re most associated with. Scorpion is free to download on Nintendo 3DS and 2DS through the RPG Maker Player.

Trailer

Design Decisions

To establish the trust system early on I provided narrative that informs players when they earn trust; allowing them to better understand and form strategies around the system.

I provided the player with narrative feedback each time they leveled up, helping draw attention the trust system and how it affected their progression.

Inside the Damaged Borg Cube level the path always splits into 3 directions, 2 lead to enemy encounters while the other leads to the end. Shadows were placed on enemy encounter routes to provide foreshadowing.

To make it clear when the player received trust in narrative scenes, a visual effect was added. Word bubbles were placed on NPCs which would clear when trust was earned from that character.

The game could be saved at any time through a menu, but I also added narrative beats at key moments to encourage the player to save.

Unlocking the nano-torpedoes and nano-warheads greatly influenced the Bioship battles at the end. Due to their importance I wanted to provide both visual and written feedback to encourage the player to use them. After testing I found that the player used the torpedoes, but not the warheads. After asking them why they stated that they didn’t understand what the warheads did. I decided to add an extra sentence to explain both weapons so they better understood their importance.

Most of the game involves building trust, but I was also encouraged by my instructor to add a few drains into the system as well. I decided to allow players to choose to spend some of Captain Janeway’s trust to unlock a Scorpion attack, making the final battle with Seven of Nine easier. This aligned with what occurs in the original story. I also created a shop that allowed players to trade trust from chosen characters for healing and attack items.