Game Title
Nine Shifts

Developer Name
The Grubbery

Short Promo Blurb
Use your voice to escape a log cabin fire simulation by testing knowledge of Climate Change facts

Full Description
You wake up in a cozy wood cabin near a forest. Lofi hip hop plays in the background, and a fire crackles in the fireplace. It’s quite comfortable -- it’s almost like you could live here forever… and your charming, funny AI companion Charlie confirms this.

But then you notice a forest fire nearby. It seems to be getting closer. You try to leave and find the door is locked. Charlie tells you the only way to escape is to solve nine puzzles before the forest fire consumes the cabin.

Promo Image(s)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fYr6rVMuFxQ4v85srSnwlx0rM-9wC8jQ?usp=drive_link

Promo Video
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1binXTGjLjjis29pLhu56KPxC2tXhHo9W?usp=drive_link

Artistic Statement / Use of Theme(s)
I often see facts and figures about Climate Change and get overwhelmed. I wanted to create a game where you feel the immediacy of Climate Change, but also feel comforted at the same time. I wanted to use the player's voice by speaking into the microphone, so that they need to vocalize their thoughts and knowledge, making their experience more immediate and memorable.

From that perspective, I approached the theme–Change the Story–by pitting the player against/with the environment. The main environment narrative in the log cabin is to sit back, relax, and eventually burn up in the forest fire.If you choose to not give in, you can change the outcome of the simulation. Here in Washington State, we have been getting progressively more forest fires in the summers, which has been linked to Climate Change, so I wanted to incorporate that as well.

My inspiration for this project comes from several sources, but two of the biggest ones were the “This is Fine” meme and Lofi-HipHop Girl. “This is Fine” meme resonates with a lot of people, especially in this tumultuous time - this deep feeling that we (humanity) have screwed up big time, and it’s hard to know what to do. You might guess that “Nine Shifts” is the anagram of “This is Fine,” which helped define that there were going to be 9 puzzles. I wanted to offset and balance that with Lofi Hip Hop Girl, which is calming, and I think a lot of us use it to help focus.

Development Summary
The project moved quite smoothly because the vision and aesthetics were very clearly laid out in the slide deck. That allowed for more time to be focused on the puzzle/question design.

One of the biggest changes was that Charlie was going to be more antagonist or, at the very least, not helpful, similar to HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Over time, it became easier to have Charlie be a guide and help facilitate onboarding.

Some of the pitfalls are definitely around Charlie—she can be a bit unpredictable with her answers. One of the ways to mitigate this is to ask her to say things verbatim instead of giving her directions. She also goes off-script sometimes, for example, speaking about Climate Change facts that I didn’t explicitly mention. I can use positive and negative reinforcement in her brain.

I’ve been the sole developer on the project. My dad, who is a Climate Change activist, developed a number of the questions. I had both my mom and dad playtest.

Release Plan
I want to see what kind of response I get with Nine Shifts, and if there’s more interest in it then yeah I would want to look into making other escape room scenarios.