How can I help you?
a game (demo) by Em MadeiraHow can I help you? is a sci fi RPG about things you can't do and people who don't listen to you.
Take on the role of artificial intelligence JIF, who can only accomplish her goals by convincing the crew of her space station to take her advice. And occassionally reshaping the flow of time!
Nothing could go wrong.
Nothing will go wrong.
You can play it <here>!
About the development! (Learning how to write a time loop game without losing my mind)
HCIHU originated as a few pages of a script, then became a Twine game, and then migrated to Unity this year, where I’ve been developing it since. A significant portion of development has been dedicated to learning how to come up with creative ways to work more efficiently without sacrificing the vision of the game.
With help from Unity’s Probuilder, Pixel Crusher’s Dialogue System, and an ungodly number of royalty free sound effects, HCIHU aims to create an atmosphere that feels engaging and polished, even as solo dev on a tight deadline.
It also turns out that writing time loops has a steep learning curve.
Figuring out HCIHU’s narrative required extensive research, trial and error, late night phone calls to writer-friends, and testing. This story remains a work in progress, but has been incredibly fulfilling to develop, even if the dialogue trees look like this:
Thank you to everyone who has helped this game along with ideas, feedback, debugging, testing, and support. It wouldn’t have been possible without you!
HCIHU will continue development after the semester and will eventually release on Steam, stay tuned!
Em Madeira is an independent game developer, writer, and weird game enthusiast.
She feels very lucky to have found such a supportive community of cool interesting people through the IMM department and wouldn’t trade her experience here for the world.
If you’re ever interested in collaborating on a game in any capacity, you can reach her at emkmadeira@gmail.com
