Maliki Poison of the Past:
Narrative design

Credits:

Developed by Blue Banshee Games

Creative director: Maliki

CEO: Etienne Jacquemain

Producer: Maël Guérin

Game designers: Clément Gastaldo, Aurélien Lubecki

Story and narrative design

My work in this project included a lot of narrative design as well, for which my background in role play and long-form improv theatre helped me a lot: I have strong knowledge of the hero's journey, how a story is paced, and how to convey positive emotions to keep the player engaged.

Maliki PoP’s story takes place in the rich universe of Maliki, a 20-year old comic book franchise, telling a new story but deeply rooted in the existing lore. The author successfully wrote a step-by-step synopsis that could easily involve a player that knew nothing about Maliki, and at the same time brings satisfaction to the people familiar with the comic books.

My first mission was to pace the player’s progression, creating a comprehensive timeline where I included every step of the progression, always associated with the following elements:

Chapter and location: dividing the timeline into very small sections
Elements/rewards unlocked (powers, characters…)
Access to new area / subzone
Gameplay general comments: tutorial or equivalent, mechanic I want to see developed here, enemy gimmick, etc…
Cutscenes / dialogues: need for cutscenes, dialogues, their length, tone, level of importance, etc….

The challenge here was always to find compromises between the author’s vision and the game requirements (relative to the game experience… or the budget!). It required understanding the key elements of Maliki’s universe: core values, characters’ personalities, locations… This work allowed me to make adapted suggestions for pacing, character development, gameplay insertion, and level design.

This detailed timeline evolved during the production, with several dependent documents I created at its side:

Optional content: detailed document for all quests, optional rewards, and associated conditions.
Cutscenes: a complete document with all the main and optional cutscenes of the game, the conditions to trigger them, their level of importance, their implementation status…
Tutorials and encyclopedia

Adapting the timeline

Tutorials and encyclopedia

I managed all the pedagogical choices of the game - how a mechanic is explained ? Are the explanations consultable later and where / how ?

There are three ways an element is taught in the game:

Hands-on tutorial: rarely used, but perfect for the basics of farming and combat
“Mini-guide” stored in the encyclopedia: a few texts and illustrations of explanations. Some mini-guides pop when obtained, others just trigger a notification for consultation. All mini-guides are stored in a category: Combat, Domain or Puzzles.
Additional info within dialogs: chatting with two characters in the Domain gives access to additional info, more related to tips and advice.

These different treatments ensured that:

Critical info / knowledge cannot be missed
Important info is stored and always accessible
Minor info and tips are a bit hidden

Maliki PoP is short but very dense (gameplay-wise, dialog-wise…), as soon as the game starts, following a (criticisable) trope of J-RPGs. The author was very precise about how he wanted the game to start and which elements should be quickly introduced to the player.

My mission was to design combat-related explanations. I proposed two hands-on tutorials, by first giving a “feeling” of combat (UI, structure, simple actions, only controlling the main protagonist) and later a more detailed explanation (timeline mechanics and associated healing system, techniques, elements…). As soon as the adventure begins, the player is given the encyclopedia, including several combat miniguides on other topics (stats, status effects…). My idea was to only bring emphasis on the most important elements, as there were so many other gameplays to introduce. Finally, subtleties and tips related to combat were presented in dialogs with a Domain character.

Creating written content for the game

The author did not have time to write all the text of the game, and I convinced him to let me give a hand! I analysed his style and successfully presented a few tests on sidequests and item descriptions. From then, I was appointed with the writing of the following elements, with minor corrections from the author :

Most of the descriptions found in menus: I love when games have menu texts not related with gameplay. Here in Maliki, their purpose does not serve lore building (like in From Software’s games, for example), but is more about creating a mood and bring comic relief. I wrote most of the descriptions for items, tools and techniques.
A lot of sidequests : by writing and reviewing sidequest dialogues, I have understood the characters’ dynamics (what a character should or should not say, how to make them evolve throughout the adventure, etc…)
Main quest segments: I was also able to write a small part of the main quest dialogues, especially around the endgame, where I had full control of a level design.

My job also included part of the management of localization (EN, ES, PT), alongside the game’s producer.

Managing music and sound design

I was also responsible for ensuring the artistic consistency of all aspects related to sound design and music composition on this project, translating the overall creative vision into concrete and actionable proposals. My background in music and sound design greatly supported this work, which included the following responsibilities:

Establishing creative guidelines and musical references for the composer, and supervising the composition process
Writing detailed SFX documentation for UI elements and combat mechanics, intended for the sound designer and the developers
Producing detailed combat character bark documentation for the voice acting team
Implementing sound effects and music within Unity