Judge
Overview
Judge is an interactive puzzle-solving novel set in the fictional dystopian 1980s nation of The New Republic of Chiu. Players step into the shoes of Yao Bang, a government investigator serving the Committee of Justice.
Narrative themes lean on dystopian and totalitarian thought — inspired by Orwell's 1984 and Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem — translated into mechanics the player performs rather than reads.
Contributions
- Refined iteration on a previous investigation prototype.
- Narrative enhancement — deeper branching and dossier writing.
- In-game computer system redesign — GUI plus console hacking.
- Real-time progression — evidence evolves as the shift continues.
Gameplay Loop
Investigation loop — overview
The shift
Every case is a shift at the Committee desk. Files arrive, the clock runs, and the player must read, cross-reference, and commit to a verdict before the day ends. Mechanics — not text — carry the moral weight.
Hack email (left) · Cross-reference evidence (right)
Read · connect
Players hack a suspect's email to extract threads, then cross-reference those threads against dossiers already on the desk. The mechanics are simple; the judgments are not.
Submit evidence — verdict window
Commit the verdict
Submission is final. The player stamps the dossier knowing the file they picked becomes the state's version of the truth — complicity built into the interface.
Desk Interactions
Computer interface — GUI
01 · Computer interface
A simplified GUI handles navigation while a console handles email "hacking" — added after playtests showed the original text-only interface was too opaque.
Office manual — diegetic help
02 · Office manual
A diegetic manual lives on the desk — a discreet onramp for players who need help without breaking the investigator fiction.
Board — evidence workspace
03 · The board
Players print, drag, and annotate documents before submission. The physicality reinforces the investigative loop — it turns reading into acting.
Tutorial Design
Tutorial progression (left) · Email interface (right)
Day one on the job
The teaching should feel like day one on the job, not a tooltip. Players understand the core loop and mechanics in a seamless, diegetic manner — a step-by-step walk through examining files, working the board, and submitting evidence.
Evidence submission — annotated walkthrough
Annotated walkthrough
Playtests revealed difficulty grasping the investigation workflow. A guided first shift runs the player through each mechanic in the order they'd discover it naturally — no menus, no overlays, just work.