Pre-Mortem
​
Potential Reasons for Failure
1. Weak Narrative Structure
The story may lack coherence, pacing, or a compelling conflict. Plot inconsistencies, unclear stakes, or unresolved threads could result in player disappointed.
2. Poor Player Agency
If player choices feel superficial or do not meaningfully impact outcomes, the whole narrative is devalued.
3. Unrelatable or Underdeveloped Characters
Characters may lack depth, believable motivations, or growth arcs.
4. Pacing Issues
Excessive exposition, prolonged dialogue sequences, or inconsistent gameplay integration could disrupt immersion. Conversely, lack of narrative context may leave players confused or detached.
5. Bugs
Bugs, performance issues, or poor UI design could interrupt narrative flow.
7. Over-Ambition
Expanding storylines, branching paths, or additional mechanics too much might end up, leading to unfinished content or reduced quality.
​
Preventative Considerations
To avoid failure, I should prioritise strong narrative planning, consistent tone, regular playtesting.
Post-Mortem
​
​
Reasons for Failure​
1. Incomplete Narrative Development
The most significant weakness was the absence of a fully developed story. The narrative was constructed rapidly during the last week rather than being properly planned beforehand.
2. Insufficient Planning
Limited time was allocated to narrative design documentation. Without a structured story outline, development became confused.
3. Rushed Implementation
Due to time constraints, implementation prioritised functionality over refinement. everything was completed quickly, reducing overall polish and narrative immersion.
5. Zero Playtesting and Feedback
Zero external testing reduced opportunities to identify pacing issues, clarity problems, or emotional inconsistencies within the story.
Issue
The story was not fully planned before development began. Instead of outlining a complete narrative arc in pre-production, the plot was developed alongside implementation. As the deadline approached, the focus shifted to making the game function rather than the story. This resulted in a narrative that felt rushed and underdeveloped.
Solution
To address this within time constraints, the narrative was simplified. unnecessary dialogue was removed and the structure was streamlined into a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Issue
At the beginning of development, the project aimed to include multiple branching paths and varied outcomes to reflect different sustainability choices. As development progressed, it became clear that implementing numerous branches required significantly more time. Because the story was being written alongside development, new ideas were added without fully considering the workload required to implement them.
Solution
To resolve this, the scope of the project was reduced. Several branching paths were merged into a more linear structure. By simplifying the structure, the game was completed to a functional standard, even though the narrative complexity was reduced compared to the original vision.