ABSENT
Project Owner | Narrative Designer | Sound Designer
OVERVIEW
The production of this game was part of our third and last game project at Future Games. We had 7 weeks to complete it and worked in teams of 8-9 people.
Absent is a narrative driven third person game set in a post-apocalyptic Swedish mall during the 90s.
In this game you play as a broken robot who has lost all its memories of the past. The robot now has to collect the missing pieces of its memory by exploring the mall it woke up in.
Designers
Adam Degerbrink
Lead Design | Level Design
Jonas Bengtsson
Scripting | Combat Design
Simon Sundström
Scripting | Combat Design
Sofie Lindberg
Project Owner | Narrative Design |
Sound Design
Artists
Alexander Thieme
Lead Art | Environment | Props
Hannes Lidbeck
Tech Art | Lighting | Materials
Jari Melgén
Character Design | Animations | UI Art
Joel Masko
Environment | Props
Lisa
Environment | Props
MY CONTRIBUTION
Project Owner
As project owner I made sure the members of my team understood the plan and followed it, was on track or was in need of help. I also took care of the presentations and pitching of the game.
Narrative design
With inspiration and help from my team my main task on this project was to build and deliver a interesting world and story for the player to sink into.
Sound Design
I was head of sound and recorded, edited and picked out sounds fitting for the game.
TRAILER
CONCEPT
Suspense
Mysterious feel and suspense that make the player proceed with caution.
Story Driven
A main story told while advancing in the game. Optional pickups that tells a more in-depth story.
Combat
Different playstyles. Choose between stealth and action combat.
PREPARATIONS
The first day or two of production was mostly about planning. We discussed and tried to lean into the strengths and wants of our team members as much as possible. We discussed what every person in the team wanted to learn if it was something they specifically wanted for their portfolio.
We learned that most of the artists wanted to do realistic graphics and therefore settled on semi realistic already during the first day. Two of the designers wanted to make some sort of combat system and I wanted to create an interesting story for the game.
Picture: Brainstorming different ideas.
THE IDEA
A robot wakes up in a empty post apocalyptic world. It is broken and left with scattered memories from a time it still had a purpose. It start to collect missing pieces of its memory and past to try and find a purpose again. By following the shadow of its past in the form of a girl it will slowly start to understand what happen to the world and at last who the girl really is.
Picture: Simon Stålenhag
INSPIRATION
In the beginning the idea was to make a game set outside with different key areas fitting for the the narrative. We took a lot of inspiration from Simon Stålenhag's artworks and the game, Generation Zero, with its Swedish setting and recognizable brands and signs. Even tough we had to scrap the first idea of a linear outdoor area, I was still able to used much of the ideas for the worldbuilding in our new idea setting.
Ingame footage: Generation Zero
GAMEPLAY
The protagonist will encounter obstacles on their way in the form of locked door and malfunctioning robot that they have to defeat in order to proceed. The base narrative is delivered automatically when the player is advancing in the level and additional, optional story, is told through cassette that the player can find scattered around the mall.
The enemies have weak points that, if hit by the taser, stun them for a short period of time giving the player the opportunity to attack or shut them down. There are also throwables that the player can temporarily pick up and throw to distract the enemy. There is also a repair spray that heal the player when used.
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The enemies can be fought in two ways. Either by using weapons or shutting them down by sneaking up and turning them off. There are two weapon options, the taser for long range and the bat for melee. The taser is limited by ammunition in the form of batteries.
LEVEL DESIGN
The level had to give the impression of being a city mall and we therefore looked at blueprints and pictures of smaller malls in Sweden for inspiration. Besides that we looked at how other games like, Left 4 Dead 2 and The Last of Us 2, made interesting pacing in their mall-levels
To get a more interesting pacing and variation we decided to have some tighter staff areas mixed into the wider more open areas. The first things we planned out however was what setting we wanted for the key areas, as that's where the player would proceed in the game and story.
NARRATIVE
World and Story
INITIAL CONCEPT
The initial concept was set outdoor. We wanted the player to explore a small Swedish town. The player would play as a robot who lost all of it's memories and now had to follow the tracks of a mysterious shadow of it past.
By collecting memories in the form of flashbacks the narrative would drive the player forward to different key locations where new memories could be unlocked. By the end of the journey the robot and player would have a better understanding of this world and end up finding the girl from the memories.
END CONCEPT
You could say that the idea we ended up with was the same as the initial one, but on a mini scale. To make this possible we knew that, for the sake of our artists health, had to scale it down, and therefore ended up with one long indoor level, set in a city mall. Now instead of making art for 5 different key locations and forest/farmland areas between they could focus on assets that would fit in a mall.
The key locations ended up being a cinema and a tech shop to name a few.
The World
The world of Absent is a empty abandoned place with not much movement. The electricity is still working in most places and the decay is not too far gone, indicating that the cities are either still being cared for or has not been abandoned for that long. The world went down somewhere during the 90s.
City from Three Robots, Love Death + Robots
The three robots from Love Death+ Robots
Much like the episode "Three Robots" in the Netflix show Love Death Robots, the only visible movement would be the robots and wild animals that had taken over after the humans. The humans are gone, either hiding or fighting for survival against the crazy AI that have taking over.
The Story
During the 90s the home robot started to become more and more common around the world. In Sweden 2 our of 3 families owned some kind of robot helping them with their daily chores. The most popular brand, R.O.L.F. could help with everything between house chores, walking the dog, and baby sitting. However, during the last update of the software something happen to the robots that made them malfunction and even become aggressive. The humans had to flee the unstoppable robots that started to see the humans as a threat.
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A vacuum going crazy in "Automated Customer Service", Love Death + Robots.
The protagonist is an older version of R.O.L.F. After being scrapped for the newer version the robot wakes up in this hostile world with the only hint of its purpose being a note left in its hand.
Story Delivery
MEMORIES
The main narrative is told through flashbacks that the protagonist trigger while advancing through the level. All the flashbacks follow a similar pattern:
1. The player trigger a scene to play out by simply advancing throughout the level.
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2. A short cutscene play out, for instance the camera zooms in on an object of interest or looks around the room.
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3. While the cutscene plays out, a conversation from the past between the robot itself and a girl can be heard.
CUTSCENES
Intro
The intro sequence shows the robot waking up in the staff area of the city mall. You see the robot looking around not really understanding where or what they are. The only clue is a post-it note written in a squiggle, childish handwriting:
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Rolf, hitta mig när du vaknar upp
in english
Rolf, find me when you wake up
Walkman
The first memory is given to the player directly after leaving the tutorial area. In this flashback the player hear both the robot and the girl talk for the first time. A hint is also given, telling the player to continue restoring the robots lost memory.
Cinema lobby
In the lobby to the cinema a second flashback will trigger. Here you can hear the girl being eager to get into the cinema hinting that it the way forward.
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This scene is suppose to give the player the impression that Rolf and the girl visited the mall together and is also a piece of the puzzle explaining the relationship between the two.
Cinema
When leaving the cinema a third flashback triggers. Rolf turns around, looking at to seats in the cinema where the two possibly sat together when visiting the cinema.
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The voice line tries to lean in to the idea that the robot and girl shared a bond as the players learn that Rolf promised to never leave her.
Shoes
When entering the shoe boutique the forth flashback is triggered. This showcase the wholesome moment when the girl buys shoes to Rolf for them to match.
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This also hints that the girl not only gave Rolf the shoes, but might also be the reason why it wears human clothes.
Ice Cream
The final memory is triggered when the player enters the final room. The scene showcase a café on the first floor where Rolf brought ice cream with the girl, who's name they now learn is Ronja.
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Rolf response to the flashback also give the impression that it now finally remember where "Home" is and that that's where it must go to look for Ronja, the girl Rolf promised to never leave...
Outro
A final cutscene show Rolf walking toward the stairs leading down to the metro while taking a final look behind before looking at the post-it Ronja left in its hand.
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Rolf is now leaving the mall with the purpose of finding its way "Home".
COLLECTABLES
Beside the main story the player can learn more about the world by collecting cassette-tapes with recorded news and commercials. These optional collectables are adding more to the worldbuilding and are there for those who want to learn more about this world. It is heavily inspired by games like the Metro series where the player can collect more information if they just stay and listen, but also have the option to run past those segments and play the game purely for the gameplay.
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All the voice lines for the pickups are voiced by a dear friend of my, Rasmus Wanneby, and edited by me to sound like real news readings and commercials.
News Recordings
"Robots have become part of everyday life. Worldwide, the so-called robot helpers have become an increasingly common sight. According to a SIFO survey, 2 out of 3 families in Sweden today own an aide."
"Two young men in Uppsala claim to have been chased by a cleaning robot the night of Saturday. It is said to have gone so far that they had to jump into Fyrisån."
"Ericsson's CEO is said to have boycotted the company behind the revolutionary robot aide. The reason is said to be that a Securitas robot threw him out of his own office."
A father-of-two in Västerås is seriously injured after being attacked by his robot helper. The reason for the attack is still unclear. We advise the public to turn off ROLF robots until further notice.
Commercial Recordings
"The future is now! Buy your robot helper today!"
Time is money, get your robot helper today!
"Rolf, when you have more important things to do!"
Environmental Storytelling
The game is set in Sweden during the 90s. To make the player feel that theme we used typical Swedish brands, signs etc.
For instance the brands MF bio (SF bio), GB (ice cream), Lätta (butter). In the cinema posters of movies that came out in the 90s can be seen.
To give the impression that the mall is abandoned for some time we added thrash laying around, missing tiles in the ceiling, closed storefronts and fallen over vending machines.
Features for the Future
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More environmental story telling in the form of VHS, TV, posters and commercials
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A continuation of the story leading the protagonist outdoor similar to the first idea.
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In the end our hero will find the girl, but to Rolf's surprise the girl has now grown up to a scarred and tough woman with her old tree house rebuild to a survivalist home.
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R.O.L.F
Rolf, or Roffe as Ronja call it, is the main protagonist of the game. The name comes from the brand of robot it is, R.O.L.F. short for RObot for the Lively Family.
Before Rolf lost its memories it served the Svensson family, Ronja and her father. Besides taking care of daily chores such as taking the thrash out, cleaning the house etc Rolfs main purpose was to take care of the Ronja when the father was working overtime, which was almost every day.
LOOKS
Rolf has a puffy jacket and sneakers which hints to the player that Ronja dressed her babysitter up to look more friendly and human-like. It is also stated in one of the flashbacks that Rolf and Ronja bought the shoes together to have matching clothes. Also, if you take a close look at Rolf's face you can find a child's drawings on it.
RONJA
The player never gets to see her in the game, but Ronja is the girl that speaks to Rolf in the flashbacks. She and her father lives in a house in the outskirts of the city in a typical Swedish home. She is also the one that Rolf in the final cutscene leave the mall to find.
SECURITY BOT
The security guard is the first enemy the player stumble upon in the mall. Before the humans disappeared they worked as security all over the city. They mostly kindly reminded people about closing time or dragged drunks out of pubs, but sometimes they even took care of petty thieves or shoplifting kids until the police or parents took over.
LOOKS
The colors and looks of this robot is inspired of the the Swedish Securitas uniform, also in yellow and black. The patch on the upper arm is also inspired by the coat of arm used by the Swedish police and security overall.
CLEANER BOT
The cleaner bot is an enemy that we had to scrap for the time being. It was planned to walk around in the mall, not attacking but instead warning other enemy robots close by.
THE CLOWN
Before the fall this robot was every kids dream. Programed to please and make every kid close to it happy with its ice creams, hugs, and colorful paint. Nowadays it seems to have lost all it ability to speak and only play a corrupted version of the once so friendly tune of the Swedish ice cream truck.
LOOKS
The clown robot is inspired by the mascot of the ice cream brand Glase Bolaget. The mascot called GB- Glassgubben which translates to the GB- Ice cream man is a face known to most Swedes.