Words Day

I haven't written a blog for a while. I'll start with GDD.

Well, we had to hand in our first document last week. It was story overview, characters and script. Unfortunately, I got carried away with the story and happily rambled on for a solid 9 pages. Some overview. It's cutdownable, but I wish I hadn't waffled so much. I always write too much or too little.

It needs more pictures, but I was able to do a couple of them and all of the writing. I did pages and pages of mechanics, with proper stats and everything. Hopefully the effort will pay off!

I started a new level today: Deluge. It's a water type world, mostly things like sewers and aqueducts. I really want the puzzles to be sort of lateral rather than the typical gamey 'push these buttons in this order' or 'put all the pieces in the right place'. I was looking at Half Life videos for some help. They're really clever; like, what you would do in real life rather than what you'd expect to do in a game puzzle.

I also want puzzles to be solved in different ways if possible. This is really hard to design because it requires not only thinking of a unique puzzle, but thinking of one that has enough depth to it to be doable several times. It's like combining 3 different puzzles into one.

I came up with one puzzle so far. I won't bother trying to describe it now, because without a picture it'll be hard to understand. Basically it's to do with water levels. I hope I can make at least 2 more good puzzles for this world.

... Levels are hard.

Reworking the mechanics

I had some problems with my GDD in that the different tier abilities were too similar. I have found a way around this (I hope) and I've changed one of them.

At the moment, they are as follows:

TIER 1: High-jump/Glide

Similar to the common double-jump, Don can jump several times mid-air and then glide for a limited time. I'm thinking there could be a disadvantage to this, like being exposed to something in the air for too long while gliding will pull you wildly out of control and you'll have to land to be safe.

TIER 2: Gravity change

This one used to be inverting the level, but that would be both too similar to the high-jump in its advantages, and undoable outside. Now, Don can change the gravity, which moves loose objects in the desired direction, though it could hurt you. I think restoring gravity to normal would send all the objects back to their origins.

TIER 3: Corner jump

This needs a better name to describe what it is. Basically, there will be some corners, edges and walls that Don can fit through and travel to the other side. It takes time though, and it can leave him exposed to danger or send him hurtling into it if you don't know what's beyond you.

On a side note, I feel ever so paranoid when people look at the work I've pinned up. It's not dazzling and amazing like some of the stuff people have done and it makes me worry that people are laughing at me behind my back.

Not much news,

But I felt like I should write something because it's been quite a while.

I spoke with Rhoda about the GDD today and I definitely get to do ViDys (hooray!) so there will be more from that, and not so much anything on the other two. I do like some ideas from them though, especially the glitch one. I'm thinking of adding a mechanic that's inspired from both a dream and a common glitch. In some levels, Don might be able to jump through particular corners or walls to progress. I think it'd be fun watching him inexplicably squeeze through an impossible space.

Though that may be too hard to do visually.

For example, here's a video from Donkey Kong 64 of corner-jumping:

I'm getting on a little better with my Futures, though I'm really finding the non-verbal part hard. I'm not finding that much on it other than a lot of people saying that humans use it a lot. IP is especially hard.

I think one problem is that all three topics are similar and there's a lot of stuff that crosses over. I'm not really sure what to put where. After all, representing colour with emotion and using symbols are both forms of nonverbal communication.I think I should focus more on the body language side than simply the umbrella term of "non-verbal communication".

Clear Delusion

+Sanity, -Sanity.

Piercing Loss

Today has been really bad work-wise. For the majority of it I was completely lacking ideas and motivation and was pretty much just staring at a blank sheet of paper. Thankfully I finally got something done. It's only a minor change, but... It's something.

Instead of choosing from a selection of items to determine stats, Don chooses from pictures. I think that'll make it easier to design something a) less cryptic and potentially hard to understand, and b) a lot less tacky. I mean, what does he choose for a speed boost? Trainers??

Anyway, I've made a start on them, which should set me up for getting them done smoothly. Here are the ones for +Attack and -Attack. They're pretty messy, but this early on I don't think I need to have it spangly and perfect. Just a draft for a concept will do.

Long Post leads to BoreDom

Naming Mechanic

I wanted to make the game feel personal to each player; to give it something unique to make it special. So, I came up with the idea of a sort of file naming system. Each game playthrough has its own adjective and noun randomly assigned to it (for example, "Crappy Blog" or "Pointless Mechanic") that the player keeps through the game. If they start a new file, they get a different combination. It serves as a way to keep track of which file's which, as well as making it feel like you have your own special name.

This comes into play when Don looks at his sketchbook after waking up. it basically looks something like this.

Blankety Blank

leads to

ViDys

I thought about giving each word a stat too. Allow me to demonstrate it in the most exciting way possible: A CHART

For example, if your 'name' is Piercing Decay (i.e. 'Piercing Decay leads to ViDys'), Don will have +Attack and -Stealth. If it's Fleeting Loss, he will have +Speed and -Attack. In the case of getting two of the same stat - such as Clear Delusion (+ and - Sanity), they cancel eachother out and Don is unchanged.

This system was going to be random, but I asked Jack and he said he hates when the player doesn't get to choose such things. So, there will be some sort of area in which the player chooses 2 of 12 items - one they like and one they dislike. They will be asked a question, such as "Would you say you're quick-witted (+Speed) but reckless (-Defense)?" or "Would you say you're balanced (+-)?" If they say yes, they keep their stats. If they say no, they can choose different items.

As for the Special words, these will only be unlocked after completing the game. When the player is at the item select area, there will be a bang at the door (or something similar). If the player picks the items as normal, the same rules apply. However, if they go to the door and open it, they are automatically assigned the words "Vigil's Dysphoria". This is pretty much just unlocking Hard Mode. However, you get the bonus of an extra enemy:

This is meant to be the physical representation of the vigil's dysphoria: Don's confusing and distressing entrapment in both reality and dreams. If you stay near this guy for too long, the scene tends to fill with black. If it completely fills, you die - so run away!

He won't be around too often - lest the game become too difficult - so just think of him as a little bonus.