Can we write story and concept document now?
So we can make Assets and game items / story but can’t make any finished game levels tail the timer has stopped?
The crawl
Three kids who live at a old bombed out orphanage on an island.
The government collapsed from poor decisions,
The childrens “Matron” dies, of natural causes in her sleep
They really only stayed there for her,
The greenhouse windows were all broken in a hail storm,
The kids must get a old steam boat working with an alternate power supply,
And head off into the rough ocean to try and make a way in life.
Perspective isometric
Gameplay interaction method ( click to move party, similar to diablo)
Atmosphere = Dark and stormy low poly chibi
If someone will pull art I have the code.
The kids will have to crawl the island for parts, and use the ability to each carry 1 large item each to solve small puzzles. You can swap between controlling the different actors, and telling them to stay put, follow etc.
Yes, you can plan and document, but you can’t begin creating the game until the countdown finishes
You are only allowed to plan/document.
You can’t build anything for the game until the countdown finishes.
While the competition is running you may use open source assets (from blendswap or the resource forum).
ok so tell a stroy? was already thinking atmosphere was the theme. So what exactly is tell a story? isnt this what games do already? do do we have to have a cutscene that states the plot of the game? or reiterate the plot in the game? i 'm kinda confused as this theme sounds redundant.
From first post:
Inspiration:
hahaha even I can’t believe this it’s almost disheartening, I was actually hoping for atmosphere as what I voted for. I’m an artist so naturally I can’t look at that theme as even a challenge but more an opportunity of more artistic control do to relevance of the theme, were at the same time story would have been the second choice for me do to what I stated about the theme I had voted for…
I mean seriously whats so difficult about story? I mean all ya need is a peewee bits of imagination and this theme is no problem, think about it for a 5 seconds it doesn’t necessarily mean cut scenes or that you need to write some big novel, but simply signify that game play must tell some what of a story. Is our theme so complicated? I mean really?!!
ough gosh! competition is all about competing, how could you want it so easy?
If it’s too easy you could try increasing the challenge for yourself?
How about a non-linear story? You could give the parts of the story and see how the player interprets them.
Another idea, have you ever seen the film Memento? It starts at the end and works back.
Procedural generation is very popular these days. How about a procedurally generated story?
The board game “Cluedo” is a good example of that, a cast of characters, a set of items and locations, and then they are shuffled to create a new story every time. Was it Miss scarlet in the ballroom with the lead piping?
IMHO Story is a great theme, since it is something that usually gets tacked on at the end of development. It’s interesting to make a game where the story is the most important part.
My personal favorites for inspiration:
My dream is to make a game like that someday.
it doesn’t necessarily mean cut scenes or that you need to write some big novel, but simply signify that game play must tell some what of a story.
Actually making a story game is one of the hardest games to make. It is relatively easy to technically make “Life is Strange” but gameplay and technical achievements in this game is the least important things. That is why they call that games Story games, because most important in them is the story itself.
Just saying? Just assume that any game made “has” a story of some sort behind it. Just vary vague.
Ofcourse any game has a story behind. But that is like saying Counter-Strike is a real time strategy game instead of first person shooter, because there is strategy in the game.
A game gender is defined by the game focus. That is why CS is FPS and SCII is RTS and a story game should focus on the story.
PS. Now while I’m writing this…I think, actually there is no story at all behind CS. It was a mode of HL and the settings is just Terrorists - Counter terrorists battles.
Not every game has a story. What is the story of Candy Crush? Or Tetris? Unless someone says “You’re a jedi, you control blocks with the force, match a entire row of blocks to get points”
Yeah, I think the “tell a story” theme is interesting in that sense. Sure, you can make Tetris and then give it a shit story afterwards, but I feel like you wouldn’t be winning any competitions with that.
The focus on story and gameplay afterthought really encourages a different type of game. I think that’s fun!
Just over 3 hours to go!!
If you are struggling for story ideas you could always take a simple fairytale (like jack and the bean stalk) and add a plot-twist to it!
I don’t expect someone to come up with a story like “life is strange” or “firewatch” with only 7 days.
Even a simple story or life lesson would work just as well!
Would like to have +1 more day? My design doc is not ready.
Unfortunately I can’t extend the countdown as people voted for 23rd - 30th of January so that is the date that must stay.
You still have about 2 hours.
Planning the game shouldn’t take too long, all my games take less than 30 minutes to plan. The rest is improvised as I build.
Just to be clear you don’t need to submit any documentation, planning and documentation should be for your own benefit but is not a requirement.
Ok, i just make design docs so that i dont forget my ideas.
12 minutes! yay! my hair is standing on my tingling scalp! PS haven’t finish design doc either crap lol
It started)
Good luck everyone!!