Ember of Rest

Ember of Rest is a decision-based 2D game where you play as the king of Burs, a town facing four years of calamity. You must oversee your town's resources to prevent its destruction.

Working with a restricted theme (Burs Folklore) and a restricted timeline, it was crucial to nail down a gameplay loop fitting the theme.
This was done by using The MDA framework as a guideline which progresses to choosing a genre, narrative, and most importantly a game design system.

My role: Designing the resource management system, while tying it into the self-set guidelines.
This was developed with the aesthetic of "moral dread" in mind, which is the feeling of knowing the need to sacrifice one of many resources to save the town in the long run.
I was also co-responsible for the narrative pacing of the game, writing responses for each decision made and making sure that it is contained within the desired aesthetic.