From the IGF 2022 website: https://igf.com/unpacking

Gameplay videos (disclaimer: it is not mine, and the person presented in the video is not me either)
Part 1: https://youtu.be/kZZXGdzkTVU?t=2m17s
Part 2: https://youtu.be/DF7ZHBzPFMc?t=3m10s

Game Description

Unpacking is a single player game where it simulates a person moving houses and having to unpack his/her items in the house. The overall storyline presents a person who has to move houses several times in his/her life due to various events, then the player would have to unpack his/her items in the house each time. The items can include a huge variety, from daily necessities, to toys, to books, to decoratives, and many more. The game is expected to be able to be completed within 5 hours, so it is a pretty short game. While the game looks very open-ended in terms of the possible places the player can place various items, there are certain rules that are bound for each item, which prohibits the item from being placed at certain places. For example, the photo of an ex-boyfriend cannot be placed in plain sight, and the player is supposed to stuff it into a cupboard instead of hanging on the wall (at that time, it was a result of a breakup).

Screenshot (taken from https://youtu.be/2hFS54C3Vy4): https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/707571615365464124/1066303274745082017/image.png

Let us examine how the Elemental Tetrad is applied in Unpacking.

Mechanics

The goal is to unpack everything and place all objects at their appropriate places in the house. Since it is a game that is played purely by using the mouse/cursor, the main player action is to drag and drop items to adjust their positions in the house. The environment is basically just the interior of the house itself. The rules are extremely simple, which is basically the same as the goal, with certain exceptions where each item has their own appropriate places to be placed. For example, as written above, the ex-boyfriend photo cannot be placed in plain sight, so it should be hidden from sight, such as inside the cupboard. When an object is placed inappropriately, it will be outlined in blinking red. As for the physics, objects cannot float, and the game ensures that all objects must either be hanged on the wall if possible, or must not be floating.

Story

It presents a girl from young who goes through various phases of her life, which would cause her to shift houses. In particular, when her family moves houses as a whole, when she enrolled into a university, when she moves into her boyfriend’s place, when she breaks up with her boyfriend and moves back to her old house and when she moves into her husband’s house. It is very linear and the story actually does not affect the gameplay. It is mostly storytelling with no interactions needed by the player basically.

Aesthetics

The music and visual effects are very calming in general. It is a relaxing game afterall with nothing much that is happening during the gameplay itself. The gameplay is very simple with not much special mechanics. There is also an ending song when the player finishes all the levels to describe what the girl in the story has experienced in summary. Also, the book also represents the diary of the girl in the story, and it is used to save pictures of each house at the end of each level. In fact, when the player starts the game, it even labels the book with the player’s input name, which enhances the flavour of the story as the story is about a girl living her life through the years.

Technology

The art is fairly simple (looks like pixel art) but they still look aesthetically pleasing and makes sense. It is played on a computer, preferably with a mouse, but touchpad is possible too. The keyboard is not needed other than to type the player’s name at the very beginning of the game, even then on-screen keyboard exists. There is also an ending song as mentioned earlier, which meant that some sort of song writing ability is needed, as well as the tools to create the melody of the song itself. Also, the animation of “writing” the year number and the “unpacking” logo probably also requires a screen recording device, but it could also be animated directly since the font looks too consistent to be handwritten (using the year numbers as comparison).

Now that we have analysed Unpacking against the Elemental Tetrad, we will now look at some other lenses of game design.

Lens of Problem Solving

This game is very simple, which is to place all objects appropriately. Essentially, the problem solving required is to complete the level. It is not competitive and there are no scoring systems of any kinds, so it is very relaxing.

Lens of Venue

It is a game about moving houses, so it makes sense for the game to be in a house. It is a simplified version where only the interior of the house matters. At the earlier levels, the player only needs to settle a few rooms instead of the whole house (based on the story, the girl is very young too, which means that she should have less responsibilities too. The exterior of the house is left untouched by the player, and it is inaccessible.

Lens of Judgement

There are huge judgements needed for this game to determine where should each object be placed. Most of the time, it is common sense as to where to place each object, but some objects are more tricky as they are more bulky, and players do not know exactly what is in each package (players draw a random item in the package). There could be many books to be placed on the shelf, and players would have to find a way to squeeze all those books in.

Lens of Imagination

Players take on the role of the girl in the story to place objects in the house. It is essentially up to the player on how to place each item appropriately. In fact, the “room” to enable such imagination in the game is pretty big.

Conclusion

It is a very cohesive game concentrated on the idea of moving houses, and also giving the relaxing vibe to the player through various art and music.