Who Gets Help
Design Document / Solo Project / 2025
A solo narrative systems design document about medical crowdfunding, procedural investigation, institutional rules, and long-term consequences.
At a Glance
- Core mechanic / system
- Procedural day-based investigation and decision-making.
- Design focus
- Medical crowdfunding systems, institutional constraints, and branching consequences.
- Player experience goal
- Show how rules, visibility, time pressure, and social networks shape who receives help.
- My contribution
- Solo design document, flowcharts, dialogue script, and narrative systems design.
- Available materials
- Case-study PDF, large flowchart PDF, and dialogue/flowchart folder.
Project Summary
Who Gets Help is a narrative-driven game design project that examines how medical crowdfunding operates as a system rather than a purely moral act. The game follows a linear, day-based structure in which players take on the role of an offline investigator for a medical crowdfunding platform.
Each day, players move through urban environments, conduct home visits, verify documents, and advance cases through a phone-based app interface. Instead of focusing on traditional gameplay challenges, the project centers on procedural decision-making.
Design Intentions
Player actions are constrained by platform rules, limited resources, and irreversible time progression. Choices rarely lead to immediate rewards; instead, they affect long-term outcomes such as case approval, financial stability, and narrative endings.
Inspired by real-world crowdfunding platforms, the project explores how visibility, social networks, and commercial incentives influence who receives help. Through mechanics, pacing, and interface design, Who Gets Help uses systems as the primary storytelling language.
Personal Contribution
The entire design document was completed independently as a solo project. I created detailed flowcharts to map the full game structure, including day-based progression, branching narrative paths, and multiple endings.
I also wrote the complete dialogue script, defining character interactions and decision points to ensure narrative consistency and systemic clarity.