Narrative Design
My main role was to deal with everything affecting the game’s narrative. This included creating and implementing the whole story and its context, as evident in the following design documentation:
Timeline of information reveals, organised by story sections (black notes) and devices. 
First pacing graph, flow mapping, and mood collection for the mountain pass level. (in German) 
Character net displaying relations and correspondences to the underlying symbol net, connecting characters with themes. 
A graph depicting the intended group dynamic as it evolves over time. 
Listing of the most important storytelling devices used in Ocularis. 
Vision statement regarding the game’s narrative themes. 
A storybible excerpt containing a worldbuilding text. 
Another storybible excerpt containing a worldbuilding text.
Besides finding formats and approaches to depict aspects like a group dynamic, I also developed my own character sheets based on a variety of resources; they are now my starting point whenever I want to make a more sophisticated character. Below is how I designed the main character, Leonora, on paper.
The first section contains a character’s biography. 
The first of a few tables contains a character’s key data. 
The second table is about a character’s appearance on the level of social dynamics. 
The third table shows inner aspects of which the character is aware. 
The fourth table shows inner aspects that lie deeper and of which the character may not be aware. 
The last table contains meta-information on the character’s involvement in the story.
Scripting
My scripting activities focused primarily on the dialog system. Inspired by Cyberpunk 2077, it features, e.g.
- regular features: text/speech, (timed) choices, nonlinear paths, a facts database, ..
- interruptions and dynamic management of concurrent scenes
- seamless scenes blending into gameplay
The system is designed using standard software engineering principles (loose coupling, simplicity,…), allowing me to migrate it to other games like Snacoon and make it available to colleagues.
Open World & Level Design
My third important contribution was to define visions, designs, and coordination plans with our level designers and artists and to participate in the execution of those plans myself at various points in production.
The slideshow below shows the evolution from
- a preliminary idea for the placement of various sites, based on the not-yet-terraformed map
- a developed sketch of the map with all major elements roughly placed (we later moved e.g. the entrance to the upper part further to the right to achieve more of a balance between forest and seaside)
- a late map featuring a connectivity analysis for the so-far implemented map
(the player starts at the bottom)
Scriptwriting and Voice Actor Management
Next to the actual design work, I have been writing all the mono- and dialogues for the game and working with our voice actors to produce them. This included
- introducing them to the game and their character
- sending out recording requests at regular intervals
- keeping track of recording and implementation status
- reviewing voicelines and preparing them for implementation
- implementing voicelines
Below, you can see some writing samples and a custom Google Sheet (based on a colleague’s format with some major modifications) for tracking progress.
Key Learnings
- gathered a lot of new experience on how team dynamics work and need to be openly reflected now and then
- consciously developed a narrative language for the first time: how to use timed choices, heuristic dialog lengths, level art, and character movement to make scenes more interesting
- got to apply the principle of a feature matrix by reusing my dialog system for world interactions and connecting it to combat states
Gregor Sönnichsen 