DON'T HANG UP

OBIDOS GAME JAM

TITLE: "DON'T HANG UP"

By: Tusher and Temitope

Game Production Medium: 

• Unity Game Engine;
• Text-to-Speech tool;
• Telephone as controller;

GAME OBJECTIVE

The main objective is for the player to connect successfully with the person they are trying to call. 

Back story: The player is trying to call someone. However, they don’t know the correct area code that matches the person’s phone number. Nevertheless, they have a list of 5–15 area codes (depending on the game difficulty level), and only one matches correctly with the person’s phone number. The player needs to try each of these numbers one after the other until they successfully connect with the person.

HURDLE(S)

The game's hurdle is that the player does not know which of the area codes is correct, so they need to dial the codes one after the other until they successfully connect to the right code.

When the player dials a code, they have to endure about 10–15 seconds of annoying music or sound before the call can connect and the player can get to talk to the person on the other end; They can’t hang up; otherwise, they will lose the game, so they have to exercise some patience and wait for the annoying music/sound to finish until they finally get connected to the person on the other end of the call. 

In some cases, the player may not get a successful connection (cued by sound effects) and thus, they may either need to try the same code again or try another code; In case they try again, it may not connect successfully on a second time as well, and they may either try the same code again or try another code; In a scenario where the player tries the same code for the third time, they may finally get a successful connection, and it may turn out not to be the right person (or it could also be the right person);

A similar hurdle to the above is when the player finally gets connected to the other end, they may not hear the person clearly because the line is breaking, and then the call may eventually disconnect. The player may need to redial (because they are unsure if that is the right person ) or try another code. 

WIN

The player wins the game if they connect with the person they are trying to call.

LOSE

The player loses the game if they hang up out of anger, run out of patience, or do not complete inputting the code within the set time limit (in which case they will lose the call connection and it will be game over);

GAME PROGRESSION

• Game starts;
• The player reads a backstory on the screen, telling them that they need to call someone.
• The page flips, and on the second page, the player sees the phone number of the person whom they need to call (XXX-95321), however, they don’t know what the area code (XXX) is.
• On the third page of the narration, the player will be presented with a list of different area codes (about 5–15 of them depending on difficulty level);
• Another screen will show up, prompting the player to start dialing the first code of their choice from the list. Then the player will hear a beeping sound, cueing them to push the buttons corresponding to the code on the telephone within a time limit. Once they do this successfully, they will be redirected. If they input the wrong code, they will hear a ‘fail’ sound, and an instruction will show up on the screen prompting them to try again.
• While the player waits for the call to be picked up from the other end, the player will have to endure about 10–15 seconds of waiting while listening to very annoying music or sound in the background;
• Then the person on the other end picks up the call and starts talking by first introducing themselves and mentioning their name(s), this is how the player can know if they are indeed talking to the right person;
• If it is the right person, the player wins! But if it’s not the right person, there will be a short conversation between the person and the player before the person drops the call (the player cannot drop the call; otherwise, they will lose connection and also lose the game!);
• Then another screen will pop up, asking the player to dial another code, followed by a beeping sound; Then the whole process will loop again; This will go on until the player eventually dials the correct code, and they will win the game!
• If the player dials the correct code on the first trial, they win! In a different gameplay scenario, this correct code would have been reshuffled, so the player will have no way of redialling the same initial correct code in a different gameplay scenario.

HURDLES ROADMAP 

Each of these roadmap events will last for a certain amount of seconds, and they will be selected at random for different gameplay experiences;

• While waiting for the pickup, the player will have to endure about 10–15 seconds of annoying music (or silly sounds);
• While waiting for the pickup, the player will have to listen to a random conversation.
• While waiting for the pickup, the player will have to listen to a random advertisement.
• While speaking with the person on the other end of the call, they may lose connections during the call; It may not go through, and so the player has to either dial the same code again (to find out if that’s the right person (in a second or third attempt, the call will go through) or not) or try another code;
• In another scenario, while speaking with the person, the line may be breaking, and so they may not hear what the person is saying; It may not be apparent if that is the right person, so the player may need to either dial the same code again (to find out if that’s the right person (in a second or third attempt, the line may become stable) or not) or try another code.