Step 3: Game Design Document

Next step was to write up the Game Design Document (GDD) for the game. This was a living, breathing, ~30-page document – as the gameplay would change based on iteration and playtesting.

Here is an intro section of that GDD:

 

Intro to Type 1 Diabetes

In T1D, you have 1 curve (Blood Glucose) which is on a 15-minute delay – that’s your only feedback. You can inject insulin, but its absorption rate into the body varies widely (at minimum it takes 15 minutes to take effect, and 1+ hours until it is at full effect). Carbohydrate consumption increases BG (sometimes drastically depending on what it is).  Exercise decreases it. So do a million other factors. Go below a BG of 40, Coma. Stay above 200 long enough, organ damage.

 

The Game

You are playing as the caretaker of a patient with T1D. This could be a parent of a child.

 

Player Goal:

Your goal is to keep your child’s blood glucose levels in range for the largest percentage of time.

 

Failure States:

If the blood glucose goes too low, the child will fall into a coma and you will lose.

If the blood glucose stays high for too long, the child will go into DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) and you will lose.

 

Core Mechanic:

The fundamental mechanic is simple: your child is eating various amounts of carbohydrates. You need to inject the right amount of insulin at the right time to keep the blood glucose stable.

The mechanic inherits from rhythm games  – in that you need to inject the right amount of insulin at the right time, as well as classic arcade games like missile command where you need to take into account the movement of the projectile you are firing as well as the target – the two will intersect far into the future.

The game itself is modeled as a particle simulation game, like Frost. Particles represent glucose and insulin. Unlike frost, the only particles you can actually control are the volume and timing of insulin (and glucose if you’re providing an emergency glucose boost)

 

Time:

Time is accelerated substantially in this game – to what extent, we will need to test.

 

Secondary Mechanics:

Secondary mechanics will be introduced over the course of the game.

Not sure how many of these we’ll be able to try out during the game jam, but here goes:

– Glucose intervention – if the patient is going low, the user can drop juice at the end of the conveyor belt. Juice will be absorbed quickly, as the particles will ‘pour’ between the gears instead of needing to be broken up. Too much juice is bad – we’ll have to determine how it should impact scoring.

– Non-compliant patient – eats things without giving you notice (represented as something ‘dropped’ at the last minute on the end of the conveyor belt)

– Unknown carb count – at the beginning, we’ll show the insulin dosage numerically. Then we will replace this with the numerical carb count, and the user will need to do the multiplication of the insulin ratio. Eventually, there may be foods where we won’t give you a numerical value and you will need to eyeball it based on the particle density and size of the food.

– Insulin drop – (see above)

– Exercise – causes more rapid absorption of glucose