Team
Alina Liu, Amber Huang, Rachel Wang, Stephanie Chen
Project Description
Shouta's Food Adventure on TiaoTong Street is a two-player role-play narrative online escape room based on the Gather Town platform. Players are encouraged to explore different scenes and interact with NPCs to get real-time responses. To solve the puzzles, the two players need to work together synchronously. Remember, different choices can lead to different endings.
Background Story
The area called Tiao-Tong used to be a wealthy residential area for the Japanese during their colonization of Taiwan. After WWII, the area gradually became a red-light district for a majority of Japanese customers.
One of the workers at a bar is Shouta's mother, who first came here to work for a night job 10 years ago, and had developed a relationship with one of her customers, a Japanese businessman.
One day, the businessman appears in Tiao-Tong. He is visiting his son, Shouta, during a business trip. The father has been secretly planning to bring his son back to Japan without the mother knowing due to their deteriorating relationship. He made his kid believe they are playing a secret treasure hunting game...
Storyline & Puzzles
Initial game flow
The players will encounter 3 scenes, a food street, a restaurant (izakaya), and a theater during the game. In each scene, they will explore the surroundings and interact with the NPCs to get hints that point them to the next destination and gradually reveal the story of Shouta's family.
Ending 01 Kidnapped by Dad
If: Players let Shouta participate in the magic show
Then: Dad has the chance to complete the magic show before Mom arrived at the theater. Shouta is taken by Dad to Japan
Ending 02 Stay with Mom
If: Players stop Shouta from participating in the magic show
Then: Dad doesn't have the chance to complete the magic show. Shouta is left with his mom in Taiwan
Ending 03 Sit down and talk
If: Players ask Shouta's opinion if he wants to participate in the magic show
Then: Dad doesn't have the chance to complete the magic show before Mom arrived at the theater. They agree to sit down and talk after players and Shouta's persuasion.
Puzzle 01 Vending Machine & Food Stalls
Count the soda cans that represent different foods to get the right amounts of tofu, shaved ice, and takoyaki from the food stall owners. Every time when the players buy food successfully, they will receive some scraps of a reservation ticket to a restaurant that the father left from the food stall owners.
Puzzle 02 Reservation ticket puzzle
Each player could control some pieces of the puzzle, and they need to work together to complete it. This will lead them to a restaurant, which is their next destination.
Puzzle 03 Paintings & Spot the Difference
This is a cooperative Spot the Difference puzzle that needs two players to stand in front of one painting and describe the painting to the other. After they find out all differences, the next puzzle, a safe box, will appear on the wall behind one painting.
Puzzle 04 Restaruant Menu & Kana Chart
This restaurant is very famous for its yakitori. The next hint is hidden in the restaurant menu. Players need to locate the right coordinate axis of each Japanese character in the Kana chart to get the passcode of the safebox.
Puzzle 05 Interactive Magic Show
The two players will each be an assistant for the actor and the actress. They need to follow the actor's and actress's line, drag the right props into the box to deliver them to the actor and actress on the stage.
Visual Design
Since Tiao-Tong our story happened in TiaoTong in the 80s, we wanted the scene-setting to have a retro feel. So after the first round of rough playtesting, we decided to change our artistic style to pixel art. The color choices are also lower saturated.
Visual Reference
Scene Idea #1 - Illustration by Stephanie Chen
Scene Idea #2 - Illustration by Alina Liu
Final Scenes (Food Street, Restaurant, Theater) - Illustration by Alina Liu
Playtesting & Feedback
Good Feedback
"Love the art style of the settings. It makes me want to walk around and explore the scene."
"It feels relaxed when playing this game, probably because I am not playing alone, so I can always talk to my partner and also the NPCs if I have any questions."
"All puzzles make sense to me. They correspond to the storyline very well too. The more I understand the story, the better I got at solving the puzzle."
Need to be improved
Scene Setting
the door of the restaurant is small
safebox on the wall has a too little interaction area
the ticket inside the safebox doesn't look like a ticket
the son doesn't look like the same resolution as the mom and dad
GM
general hint timing
1) for Shouta, when to give hint to the players and how clear the hints need to be
2) for Food Stall Owners, when to jump in and greet the players.
3) for all GMs, improvised conversation depends on how the game goes
2. players often start exploring the street before the first dialogue ends
Cast
Shouta Nakamura(Son) Alina Liu
Aito Nakamura (Dad) Amber Huang
Mrs. Nakamura (Mom) Rachel Wang
Food Stall Owners Stephanie Chen
Mr. Ono (Restaurant Owner) Rachel Wang
Actor Amber Huang