What would you do as the new kid in town if you knew your family would be moving again in a year? Would you take the time to make new friends? Would you get to know your new surroundings? Or, would you just bide your time until your family moved onto their next destination?
This is the simple but intriguing concept of Shipping Out, a game created by a team of 7 up and coming programmers, writers, artists, and designers, and inspired by the real-life experiences of Chris Otey.
We recently had the privilege of talking to Mr. Otey about this new title and the work that went into its making.
This is what Chris had to say.
Tell us a bit about yourself and why you decided to become a video game designer.
I am 22 years old and I grew up in a military family. So, I’m not really from anywhere. I lived in Fairfax, Virginia the longest, so that’s where I say I’m from.
I recently graduated from George Mason University (GMU) with a degree in Game Design. I love video games, comics, movies, and my friends. Basically, I’m a huge nerd.
I think I always knew that I wanted to be a game designer. It was just something I was very passionate about. Growing up, I moved around a lot due to my dad’s job, and there were a lot of lonely summers before school started. Luckily, I always had video games to keep me company. This is one of the things that drove me to make games. I think games can have a very special place in people’s hearts and that is something I want to be a part of.
Tell us about Shipping Out and the inspiration behind its concept.
Shipping Out stems a lot from my childhood. I grew up in a military family and we moved about every 2 years. This lifestyle made me into the person I am today, so I wouldn’t change a thing about it. But, growing up, it was definitely difficult at times.
Typically, we would move at the beginning of the Summer, after school let out. When we got to wherever the military wanted us to be, most of the time, I didn’t have any friends until school started.
I had a lot of lonely summers and I was definitely an indoor kid, so I played a lot of video games. We would always know we were gonna move again, so a lot of the time I was pretty apathetic about making friends. I knew I was gonna leave in a year or 2, so what was the point?
As I got older, I realized this was not the mentality to have. This served as the initial inspiration for Shipping Out. I wanted to make a game where you had to make friends with a limited amount of time and learn you can still make lasting memories.
Tell us about the team that helped in the creation of Shipping Out.
Helped is an understatement. I had the best teammates in the world. I love each and every one of them. We all brought something to the table.
Shipping Out could not have happened without the incredible work and effort of our Artists; Kimia Zadegan, Danielle Wallace, Jacob McFadden, and Andy Kasinski. They built the town and all of our character models. They really brought the wholesome and cute aesthetic that helps set the tone of the game.
We also had writer, Cyrus Kingdom, who saved {me} many times with his incredible dialogue and speed.
Additionally, I have to shout out the world’s best programmer, Matt Thomas. I could have had infinite cool ideas and designs that would have gone nowhere if it wasn’t for him and his talent. I will forever be grateful for him.
I {personally} joined the team after its initial forming. Matt put out a call on Facebook, looking for a Designer to join the team. I immediately messaged him and asked what kind of game they were thinking of making. His response was “Better Animal Crossing”. Conveniently, I love Animal Crossing and already had a story pitch ready. So, I pitched it to the team and they loved it. From there Shipping Out was born.
Besides creating SO’s concept, you helped co-write the game’s script. What’s the process you/your writing partner went through to take the game from a simple concept to a completed script?
Cyrus Kingdom was my partner in crime. This game would not have been finished if it wasn’t for the hard work he put in.
With Cyrus’s help, we created a pretty great writing pipeline to get everything done on time. I would create the beats of the story, basically. I designed a map of where we start and needed to go, but in great detail.
Cyrus would then take the beats and turn it into the dialogue for the game.
I would then take the dialogue and input it into our dialogue branching tool that would then spit out a file that could be read by Unity. From there I would build all the scenes in conversations that you see in-game.
Other responsibilities you had for the game included world building and level design. For those of us who aren’t developers, can you give us a brief explanation of what this involves?
Starting with world-building, we wanted to build a small town that felt real and lived in. So, I created a historical document for the town that detailed how it was founded and what it was like today. I also listed the types of buildings and shops that the town would need for people to actually live there comfortably.
When it came to level design, I drew up a map of the town and plotted out everything from the roads to where the player’s house would be. From there, I went into Unity and physically placed all of the assets and tiles we needed to build the town and its typography.
Tell us about the customization options in Shipping Out.
We have a pretty diverse character creator. This is something the team and I wanted from the very beginning. We wanted players to be able to reflect themselves in this story because it’s something millions of people have experienced.
Since this was a family experience, we wanted everyone to be able to accurately reflect their family. This is why we wanted the player to be able to customize their parents. Players can create 2 dads, a mom and a dad, 2 moms, adoptive parents. Whatever your situation, you can customize it… well, except siblings. That would have been really hard.
The game is set in the coastal town of McGuire. Was this area based on/inspired by any real-life location?
The town of McGuire is actually named after one of the bases I lived on as a kid. There were good memories there. The real McGuire was not a beach town, but I’ve always wanted to live near water, which is why I chose it as the setting.
It appears that the main character has a limited amount of time to complete all of his/her objectives such as making friends, solving a mystery, etc. How does the concept of time work in the game?
We spent a long time trying to figure out how to explain the passage of time to the player. The player is in town for 6 in-game months, but it is broken up into 9 Chapters.
Initially, we designed the game to be much longer, but quickly realized how much actual time we had to work on the game and quickly made the necessary cuts.
How long is the game?
A general playthrough, depending on how long the player explores, should only take about 2-2.5 hours.
It sounds like there’s a bit of a mystery to solve in the game. Can you reveal anything about how players will go about solving this mystery?
Weird things are happening around McGuire. Something is stealing precious items from around the town. The player gets caught in the middle of it. In order to clear their names, players will have to follow branching paths, conduct their own investigations, stay out of trouble, and solve puzzles.
Any future plans for Shipping Out? Or will it be an Itch.io only game for now?
For now, it will just be an Itch game. The team and I are blown away by the positive reception of the game, but, after graduating, we all had to go our own ways. One day we will come back to Shipping Out. But, for now, we are proud of what we have made.
What’s next for you?
I currently do remote work, but I will also be working as a 3D artist soon as well. I also have a few other small game ideas racking around in my brain that I want to pursue.
Thanks, Chris for taking the time to answer our questions. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors!
You can read more about the very talented Chris Otey and see a demo reel of his work on chrisotey.com. You can also find him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Read about the entire team behind the creation of Shipping Out and download the game for free via Itch.io. (Donations/contributions to the team are accepted).
