Offside Dream
— a pixel-art narrative simulation Unity game powered by AI.
Project Overview
Keywords: AI Narrative · System Design · Women’s Football · Pixel Aesthetic
Role: System Designer, Narrative Designer, Art Direction
Tech: Unity, LLM-driven NPC interactions, Lovart-assisted visuals
This project explores how interactive systems and AI-generated narrative can help players emotionally understand the real challenges faced by female football players in China.
2. Story + Characters
The story takes place in a fictional 2000s third-tier Chinese city—grey concrete, faded school buildings, small shops, and a football field barely holding itself together. It’s nostalgic, warm… and painfully real.
3. System Design
How Attributes Work
The game tracks eight core attributes that shape every interaction and narrative branch.
These values are not passive stats—they function as the emotional and strategic backbone of the experience.
Core Loop
Each round follows the same rhythm:
Weekly Action → Stat Update → AI Events → Dialogue → Micro-Ending → Next Round
Actions include:
Study · Training · Rest · Bonding · Media Handling · Matches……
Every weekly action, AI event, and dialogue choice updates one or more attributes.
In turn, these attributes determine:
what events you can trigger
how NPCs respond to you
whether the team succeeds or fractures
how the media frames your story
which endings remain possible
The system ensures the game feels alive:
your path is not chosen—it's shaped by the person you become.
4. AI-Narrative Engine
4.1 Dialogue Generation
Players type directly into a textbox.
The AI interprets tone and keywords, producing NPC responses that update relationship values. NPCs remember what you say—and change because of it.
4.2 Event Generation
Each round includes three AI-generated “major events.”
These combine:
your current stats
NPC emotional states
rule-based event pools
and real-world milestones (e.g., 2008 Olympics)
Events directly modify skill, stress, relationships, and public opinion.
4.3 Outcome Generation
At the end of each round, AI evaluates:
stats + relationships + accumulated past events
→ produces a micro-ending
→ pushes the story toward different long-term outcomes.
The narrative becomes emergent, not scripted.
5. Art & UI
6. Why This Project
Challenging stereotypes around women’s sports
Female athletes in China often experience limited media coverage, gendered framing, resource scarcity, and a fragile professional pipeline. I wanted to build a game world that makes these invisible pressures visible—and playable.
Why a game?
Sports games are proven to spark interest, reduce bias, and increase engagement. A game lets players feel the tension between academics, family expectations, physical training, and media scrutiny—something a paper can’t do.
Why AI-driven storytelling?
AI enables NPCs to react dynamically, remember your choices, and shift their attitudes.
The story becomes messy, emotional, and unpredictable—just like real growth.
