A narrative designer’s journey and afterthought.

”It may be thematically dense, but crucially, Season never overwhelms you with too much information at once. Instead, it drip-feeds the history of Tieng Valley in manageable chunks, and gives you plenty of room to ponder, absorb, and come to your own conclusions about how its people are gradually untangling themselves from their past.”

Rock Paper Shotgun

A Self-driven Contemplative Narrative

Finding the right design to deliver the story while engaging the player to explore the world was a daunting task for me as a first-time narrative designer.

This being my first rodeo, and the fact that I joined it at a stage where everything was already moving into production means I can’t give you a beautiful story about how we managed to get to the design that we shipped with. However, I can share with you the key concepts that we stuck to and never gave up on that led us to this result.

The image above sums up the narrative design goals derived from the game’s core pillars. We wanted Season to be a chill experience that respected the player. We wanted the player to experience the game in their own way at their own pace. And that is a lot more difficult than it sounds.

I found this part of the process very important to share, as it shows the kind of designer I am. I like to design for a specific vision. I feel that with consistency comes a unified experience.

“Sometimes the language of open-world games is obvious, especially if you’ve played a few of them. Excitingly, Season doesn’t feel like such a game, as its approach to gameplay and story are fresh and largely disinterested in giving you boxes to check”

Gamespot

Worldbuilding

“SEASON: A Letter To The Future  has a real touch of brilliance around it, showcasing something truly unique with a world that players will be desperate to rediscover, and hopefully there will be an opportunity to do so. A game that will last long in the memory, even if it’s something that will be lost to its own characters.”

Screenrant

As the early concept above shows, a big part of Season focused on exploring a world mostly unknown to the player. And for that to work, we needed an interesting world to learn about. A huge chunk of my time on the project was dedicated to building this world in a consistent manner, so it’d feel almost like a puzzle for the players to solve if they so wanted. We have achieved this to a certain extent, and I can’t wait to explore this area even more.

“Season is about every little thing we can value in a life as fleeting as the seasons, and it’s one of my favorite games in years.”

Polygon

“SEASON: A letter to the future is a masterful meditation on history and memory.”

Vice