Link to a PDF of the pitch document: http://tinyurl.com/yl5py3c
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Results of some thinking:
A fundamental problem:
1. If the primary conflict for the player-character is finding a way home, then the player has to do something to get home. They need a way to gauge their progress, to understand how their current actions fit into the whole.
2. I have to create a strong reason for the PC to want to go home. This means either something has to be pulling him home (family) or something him has to be pushing him there (the world is dangerous, hostile). There needs to be a sense of urgency. This is sort of the polar opposite of the mentality I started with, which was one of exploration.
3. If there is some sort of known formula to get home, that breaks a lot of setting and characters. The first NPC idea I came up with, and one I want to work into whatever I finally do, is a pious man who thinks that he is being punished by God for some transgression, and he will be free when he has atoned. I want it to be believable that he could be right. If getting home is just collecting some number of MacGuffins then he knows that he is stuck because he cant kill the dragon and take the magic ring or whatever.
He could persist in his belief, but he would be less sympathetic and more... crazy.
An even more fundamental problem, now that I think about it:
-Predictable gateway behavior clashes with the the overall shape of the narrative and world.
-Unpredictable gateway behavior clashes with all the smaller scale stories and elements.
By unpredictable I mean, you can't tell the player "Go through that portal and get me 10 rat tails" when the story is built on the foundation of not knowing when or where a specific portal (namely the one home) will actually show up.
There is a solution for this second problem if you can come up with a satisfying reason for some portals to behave differently than others.
1. If the primary conflict for the player-character is finding a way home, then the player has to do something to get home. They need a way to gauge their progress, to understand how their current actions fit into the whole.
2. I have to create a strong reason for the PC to want to go home. This means either something has to be pulling him home (family) or something him has to be pushing him there (the world is dangerous, hostile). There needs to be a sense of urgency. This is sort of the polar opposite of the mentality I started with, which was one of exploration.
3. If there is some sort of known formula to get home, that breaks a lot of setting and characters. The first NPC idea I came up with, and one I want to work into whatever I finally do, is a pious man who thinks that he is being punished by God for some transgression, and he will be free when he has atoned. I want it to be believable that he could be right. If getting home is just collecting some number of MacGuffins then he knows that he is stuck because he cant kill the dragon and take the magic ring or whatever.
He could persist in his belief, but he would be less sympathetic and more... crazy.
An even more fundamental problem, now that I think about it:
-Predictable gateway behavior clashes with the the overall shape of the narrative and world.
-Unpredictable gateway behavior clashes with all the smaller scale stories and elements.
By unpredictable I mean, you can't tell the player "Go through that portal and get me 10 rat tails" when the story is built on the foundation of not knowing when or where a specific portal (namely the one home) will actually show up.
There is a solution for this second problem if you can come up with a satisfying reason for some portals to behave differently than others.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Entry 1: The Setting
The setting came first: a uniquely video game 'behind the scenes' place. This setting arose from, and is tied tightly to, my personal enjoyment of exploration.
Entry 0: Introduction
Why I am doing this:
I find that the act of explaining something to someone else is the most effective way for me to organize my thoughts and almost always leads to further introspection, understanding and insight.*
A side effect of this process is that people can read it and ask questions or tell me what they think! I understand that most of these journals are going to be longer than most people are willing to read, so I will try to provide a short, clearly identified synopsis of ideas before each paragraph/section.
Even then, this is mostly for my own benefit so don't feel bad for not reading it.
*I've just spent like 10 minutes thinking about what makes this system work so well for me, highlighting one of it's flaws.
What this is about:
The majority of my grade in my Computer Game Design class is our semester long project that culminates in a 30 page full fledged 'game design document' about a game of our own creation. I have been thinking about this quite a lot, and I have decided to write a series of journals to organize things mentally, keep track of how my ideas change, and to provide something people may find interesting.
Note:
While some aspects of this project will be rather impenetrable for people who aren't gamers, a lot of it will be about the themes and characters that I am planning on working with. Many of these ideas are universal, so I will try to indicate which parts of these journals might interest you.
I find that the act of explaining something to someone else is the most effective way for me to organize my thoughts and almost always leads to further introspection, understanding and insight.*
A side effect of this process is that people can read it and ask questions or tell me what they think! I understand that most of these journals are going to be longer than most people are willing to read, so I will try to provide a short, clearly identified synopsis of ideas before each paragraph/section.
Even then, this is mostly for my own benefit so don't feel bad for not reading it.
*I've just spent like 10 minutes thinking about what makes this system work so well for me, highlighting one of it's flaws.
What this is about:
The majority of my grade in my Computer Game Design class is our semester long project that culminates in a 30 page full fledged 'game design document' about a game of our own creation. I have been thinking about this quite a lot, and I have decided to write a series of journals to organize things mentally, keep track of how my ideas change, and to provide something people may find interesting.
Note:
While some aspects of this project will be rather impenetrable for people who aren't gamers, a lot of it will be about the themes and characters that I am planning on working with. Many of these ideas are universal, so I will try to indicate which parts of these journals might interest you.
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