This is the original design/pitch document for Kirsten's Experience reformatted for easier consumption in Itch.io.

Kirsten Experience 2023 Documentation

Goal: Our general goal this term is to build on what came before and make a more polished version of Kirsten’s experience based on the one from 2022. Our goal when it comes to the experience itself is to make an experience that embodies ‘fantasy’, ‘curiosity’ and adventure, some of the core aspects of the current plans for Kirsten’s level in the main game. 

Core Narrative Concept

The ‘narrative’ of our experience has the player taking control of Kirsten herself as she prepares for a tea-party in her own mind palace. The main themes/vibes that we plan to parallel from the current iteration of Kirsten’s Level are “curiosity”, “adventure” and “whimsy”; we plan to incorporate these themes through the structure of the experience. Players will start on one central island, and will be able to explore any of the branching paths in any order that they want. At the end of each path player’s will find one of Kirsten’s favorite toys and invite them to her party. Once all of the guests have been invited, players can return to the central island to enjoy a fantastical tea-party set piece with all of the toys and a fireworks show (dependent on their performance throughout the experience). As players progress, they will be able to pick up “sparks of magic” in order to brighten up the world around them. The level will heavily lean into fantasy elements—as Kirsten is the only naturally-magical member of the family—but will not go so far as to reveal Kirsten’s powers. It will be up to the players to piece together the idea that Kirsten’s Experience is similar to Aurelia’s Mind Palace, and then infer from there that Kirsten might be magical as well. This experience will also not dive into the reveal that Kirsten saw Tobi’s soul get taken by the Fae, as that will be hinted at in the Tobi Experience/the main game. One of our core intentions with this experience is to remain lighthearted and fun, as Kirsten is very young and optimistic. She understands that something is upsetting her parents, but isn’t sure what that is or how severe things are. She’s a happy kid, and we feel that should be reflected in her experience. We also think that the player should get the chance to enjoy a more happy and silly experience, as a lot of them are very serious, bleak or dark.

Core Gameplay Concept

The original vision behind this version of Kirsten’s Experience seems to be an open sandbox that players can jump around in and explore in first-person. Players can interact with objects to play music or build parts of a floating island. Players can also enjoy the more fantastical visuals of the island they’re on, such as the giant floating sweets, the milk swimming pool, and the giant castle in the center. Past that there isn’t much gameplay; the version of the experience we’ve inherited seems to mostly be a tech-demo/proof of concept for Three.js.

Pictured Below: Screenshots from the [relatively] old version of the Kirsten Experience.

For our crack at things, we plan on leaning into the platforming aspect and transforming Kirsten’s current experience into a full on 1st-Person 3D platformer akin to a Minecraft or Sea of Thieves parkour challenges (but way easier). Players will spawn on a large central island, and will be tasked with going down each of the various platforming challenges branching off from it. Some of the obstacles in these challenges will include: moving platforms, disappearing platforms, climbable walls, slowing-surfaces, obstacles that knock players off, and more. The vibe we’re going for with these challenges is “Wipeout” or “Fallguys”. Along each of these pathways, players can pick up sparks of magic; the more they pick up, the more vibrant, colorful and whimsical the world will become (mainly in the background and sky). Some of these potential changes will be: removable fog, a brighter sky, stars and planets in the distance, doodles and squiggles in the sky, floating butterflies, etc. Once the player has completed all of the challenges, they can enjoy the fun visuals of the level and a large tea-party set-piece at the end as their reward. There will be no “hard end” to the experience, so players can continue to jump around and look at stuff as long as they please.

Core Visual Concept

The visual aesthetic that we’re planning for this experience is like that of “Elmo’s World” from “Sesame Street”. We want everything to look like it was either drawn or colored-in by a toddler both because Kirsten literally is a toddler, and because we think it will add to the trippiness and fantastical elements of the experience being in her mind palace. 

Another core aspect of the visuals is that they will slowly become more bright and cheerful the more sparks of magic the player picks up. The experience will start very foggy and dark; picking up enough sparks will lift the fog, color in the background, and add a variety of floating elements (described above) to further brighten the mood.

To cut down on the production-time for this experience, we plan to re-use a lot of the assets already in the game (mainly from Angela’s level), alongside some of the archived/unused ones from previous years. With the art team’s approval (or at their request), we might also take it upon ourselves to re-texture some of the repurposed models (as they would just need to be scribbled over to fit our aesthetic) in order to further speed up production and alleviate work from the art team.

Core Audio Concept

Because we are planning for this experience to be a 3D platformer, we need more audio-work than the previous ones. To cut down on the scope of this experience, we plan on commissioning just one long packaging track from the audio team. That track will be something akin to “Clock Towers Beneath the Sea” from “A Hat in Time”; something slower, lighter and relaxing. A song like that might not necessarily be what Kirsten would hear in her mind palace, but the “nostalgic vibes” that sort of song provokes would make the player think of childhood whimsy. A slower more ambient track will also not get old as fast as a more defined one. Ideally, this track will also have some elements of the currently planned Kirsten Level Track if the audio team has started on it yet. We also plan on asking for a few additional SFX (jumping, climbing, potentially sounds for the toys like dinosaur roars and engine noises) to help the level seem more alive and to further break up the monotony of a backing track.

Concept Art

Included below is some concept art/proof of concept screenshots to get a better understanding of what our experience will look and feel like, as well as a written explanation of each.

Image 1 & 2: Here are some simple concept sketches for the look/feel of the experience. I’m by no means an artist, but if it looks like it was drawn by a kid that was intentional. When imagining the experience, I think of something very eclectic and out there, similar to Aurelia’s mind palace. Nothing matches and everything is randomly placed around like the Mad Hatter’s tea party from “Alice in Wonderland”.

Image 3: Here are some concepts for some of the doodles and squiggles that will appear around the experience as the player collects more sparks of magic. For some reason it’s very 90’s in my mind.

Image 4, 5 & 6: Here is our chosen aesthetic applied to some of the models we are planning to repurpose. It should help give a better idea of what we are going for with our experience.

Image 7: Here is an in-engine peek at what our experience will look like (based off of the previous Kirsten Experience layout. Everything will have that rough crayon look to it, though probably with more contrast/better color choices once the art team gets their hands on things/gives us their feedback.

Concept Level Design & Description

Included below are some rough concept sketches for some of the platforming challenges we plan to make for this experience, as well as a brief description of each.

Challenge A: This section is themed around toy airplanes (represented here by the carrot with a line through it). Players will progress from jumping on still airplanes, to moving airplanes, to airplanes doing loops in the air.

Challenge B: This section is themed around the ball-shooting mechanic leftover from the previous incarnation of Kirsten’s Experience. Players will throw balls that stick to special platforms and to each other in order to bridge themselves to each platform. This section will probably end up being more of a stretch goal unless we feel ourselves running out of ideas with just standard platforming.