In Heart. Papers. Border., you are a traveller set to experience everything planet Heart has to offer. As you travel from country to country and from landmark to landmark, you gather hashtags that you can use to write a blog about your travels.
When I started designing Heart. Papers. Border., I wanted to make a cute little game that conveys the idea of travel and discovery. I do believe there is a correlation between the number of countries one takes the time to visit and understand at a more profound level, and that person's tolerance and love towards another. And this is a feeling I capture whenever I read or watch travel logs. No wonder digital nomadism is so popular nowadays.
That's what I tried to capture with the blog feature - but its something very hard to design in fun abstract ways, and - fast forward to now - I thing the blog system is the worst gameplay feature in HPB. It has to change. If the blog is fun, the entire game becomes fun, because the blog is the reason you travel in the world of Heart.
So here's what's on my mind....
Instead of having quests and earning hashtags, you are now a Photojournalist on a Quest to "complete the picture". In practical terms, this means we are creating one puzzle image per country, and your task is to discover all the puzzle pieces, put them together and publish photos.
From this puzzle view, you can Take Pictures, and the Publish them. This essentially becomes the Blog and I will illustrate how it looks in the next Design Sesh.
What do you think?