PROJECT DETAILS
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Last Broadcast is a 3D branching narrative game set in a small radio station at the end of the world. The player assumes the role of D-Jay, a charismatic radio host giving their last show as the world falls apart. As the player takes calls from various characters, they must make difficult choices to determine how the stories of both D-Jay and the people around them play out.
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What is a meaningful choice? What gives it meaning? Is it just about the consequences? Or is it about the choices given? Last Broadcast seeks to explore these questions.
EXPERIENCE GOALS
The player feels lonely as they are isolated within the radio station and experience conflict with the callers. This gives the player the chance to reflect on and ponder their past choices and actions. Eventually, the player feels hope, with an emphasis on remembrance and legacy, as the consequences play out.
DESIGN GOALS
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The player knows D-Jay will not survive, so the narrative drives the player to focus on the mark they want to leave on the world after they are gone.​
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The choices presented are meaningful. Each choice is designed to be morally ambiguous and to drive player agency. What would the player want to do in this situation?
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The game is about a story set during the apocalypse. It isn’t about the apocalypse. It’s about the characters and the people, not about why this is happening.
CORE MECHANICS
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HELP callers by making decisions and exploring the branching narrative
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RUN the radio station; INTERACT with objects and PLAY music
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CREATE a pinboard collage to relax and rewind
CONTRIBUTIONS
I contributed as an Narrative Designer
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
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Worked in a three-person writer’s room to design the overall narrative, themes, and player interactions
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Developed initial pitches for storylines, which were workshopped and combined with others for the final narrative
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Made visual idea maps and diagrams to organize and strengthen the narrative​
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Created and directed the Firefighters storyline, developing character arcs and narrative branches
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Wrote and revised three scripts
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Performed live readings to give and receive feedback
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Implemented scripts in ArticyDraft
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Helped make casting documents/materials for firefighters characters
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TOOLS
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Unity 3D
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ArticyDraft
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Final Draft
TEAM MEMBERS
Collette Quach, Moose Sabharwal, Joh Chung, Abby Farhat, JT Torrea, Charlie Heatherly, Harrison Roberts, Casey Fleming, Celine Tang, Ina Sablan, Jace Clowdus, Michaela Chang, Scott Gilman, Grace Groves, Shruti Bhat, Lane Alexander, Ray Savord, Claire Hu, Cloud Tian, Justin Shin, Helena Chung, Julia Heatherly, Samhi Mitra, Lisa Dao, Dexter Huang
TRAILER
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
BRAINSTORMING AND PREMISE
Our Creative Director Collette decided early on that the three storylines of Last Broadcast would be the Lovers, the Connection, and the Firefighters; however, the other writer, Scott, and I were able to help brainstorm and pitch ideas for the specifics. While Collette's initial premise was to feature a single firefighter, I thought it would be interesting to explore the dynamics within a team as they're stretched thin by the calamity, battling personal demons while trying their best to help others. The three of us were each ultimately tasked with one storyline to write, and I was given the Firefighters. Thus, I decided to combine my trio's relationships and conflicts with Scott's pitch for Lieutenant Jim McGrady to create the final cast for the Firefighters: strict and standoffish Captain Lee, seemingly-whimsical Amina Asad, and everyman workaholic Jim McGrady.
CHALLENGES WITH WRITING CHOICES
I struggled with writing the initial drafts for the Firefighters. I'd never written a branching narrative before, and I had trouble keeping each of the player choices "equal." At first, I would gravitate heavily toward the choice that felt the most "right" to me. Several times during feedback sessions, I received notes along the lines of "Why would the player choose this?" or "How can you motivate the player to pick this option?" I worked to overcome this by having one option focus on the personal qualities or emotions of a character (D-Jay or otherwise) while the other was more general, philosophical, or humorous:
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"I can’t imagine how you must be feeling" VS "What are you going to do now?"
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"You're a good dad" VS "What do you think a good dad is?"
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I was also slow to get into the mindset of D-Jay in general. It was a new challenge for me to keep a character consistent between several writers, and there were times that I struggled to come up with answer choices that were different from each other but still aligned with the core of who D-Jay was. Over time, I got better at this, and D-Jay's voice began to come more naturally to me. However, I never totally felt like I understood D-Jay the same way I understood the Firefighters, whom were pretty much my own creations.
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In hindsight, I think I still played it very "safe" with D-Jay. D-Jay wasn't supposed to be a "good person" in a very black-and-white sense, but I still struggled to make him a "not-good" person. If he ever had the option to hurt someone, it was by mistake. In the future, I'd like to step out of my comfort zone and really stretch the extremes of how someone can act. People make "good" and "bad" choices all the time, whether intentionally or by accident, yet they remain the same person, and I'd like to write more player characters that reflect this.
SUCCESS WITH CHARACTER DYNAMICS
One area I think I succeeded in was creating and conveying character dynamics between the Firefighters themselves and with D-Jay. Due to the nature of the phone calls, there were few chances for all three firefighters to interact together while D-Jay was listening. But despite this, I think their conversations in those rare moments were strong, and I was able to communicate how they viewed each other even when they were apart. Even though the narrative mostly focused on Jim, I was able to develop Captain Lee and Amina as well by using their relationships with Jim and reactions to his fate to express their own traits, feelings, priorities, motivations, and overall arcs. Additionally, writing their dialogue felt very natural to me, and their personalities synergized well while still feeling distinctly different.
GALLERY
