Awake

[Highwire4]

WHAT MAY YOU ASK, IS THIS GAME YOU CALL "AWAKE"?

So you guys have been seeing the concept art for a thing called AWAKE for the past few weeks now. Now as much as I like to keep this project mysterious, I think its time I told you guys just what AWAKE really is.

Lets start from the beginning.

AWAKE started out a year or so ago as an experiment in Little Big Planet. The experiment was to see what could be achieved aesthetically with the cheery and childlike charm of the game.

The experiment was a success. I managed to make something that felt pretty desolate and dead. The project isn't done yet, but I managed to complete the first level. I had also determined the basic premise of the game at that time.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when this semester started.

I'm taking a Game Development course this semester. The class is basically teaching us how to make enough evidence of a game (Concept art out the ass, screenshots, etc) that we'd have enough to show to present to a producer or put up on kickstarter to get money to actually make the game. So I needed a game idea.

I went with my AWAKE project. Little Big Planet is a great platform to experiment with things and just being creative in general (So is minecraft. I'll sometimes build 3D spaces in that game to try things out.)but the limitations of the game (which are very few I may add) meant that I couldn't do what I really wanted to make out of it. So I decided to work on it for class.

At first, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it. I had recently read a bunch of articles regarding game design that had really got me thinking (I get a Game Designer magazine every month. It's pretty awesome.) about things like how story and game play constantly intertwined along with how aspects of a game should be centered around the player rather than a set vision for a world and story that the player just plays through (Which I agree with to a certain degree.). I had also read other articles that picked apart games like Megaman X and Super Metroid and talked about every aspect that made those games so great. Super Metroid's level design is what makes the entire experience what it is. The psychology involved in that game is ridiculous and very inspiring. I was also doing my own thinking about how games like Minecraft and Journey tell their story. Something I noticed about both games is that the story is mostly dependant on the player's interaction with the world. In Journey, you're going toward the same goal and you find the same story elements every time you play. But the "story" of Journey is mostly just a history lesson. The real story of the game is what happens to you along that specific journey. Each time you play you get a new experience that usually holds a special place in your heart. This kind of experience is very rare and its also very powerful.

Minecraft actually does have a story believe it or not. The only dialog in the game is after you beat the final boss; The Ender Dragon. Its very deep and really makes the player reflect on all they did through out the game and even makes the player reflect upon their own life a little bit. This kind of self reflection after beating a game is a very powerful aspect of a game's story since it's centered around the player and their actions. Another part of Minecraft's story is very similar to Journey's in that the story of the game is really your adventure. The game never becomes the telling of a pre-determined story that the player is given the privilege of acting out. Instead the player is thrown into a world and their actions alone dictate the game's story. The story at this point becomes more like a story you'd tell around a campfire or the kind of tales that adventurers and heroes share with each other. Journey does this as well, but the key factor in it's story is the player's experience with another player and how they interact with each other.

Either way you get a very unique and intimate experience that is hard to come by these days. The story becomes yours, something personal that leaves an impression on you.

This method of story telling really fascinates me and the more I thought about it the more I wanted to experiment with it. I started thinking about games I would love to play as well as concepts that I haven't seen implemented in games before. This is where I got the idea for how AWAKE's story works.

I really like the concept of a game not having a set story. A game where the story changes and evolves with the player's actions and choices. I know games like Mass Effect are centered around this concept, but its so dictated and restricted to multiple choice answers that the player has to pick from. This is cool and all, but I'm not too keen on this method. I kind of have a problem with games that have different paths for a story, but the way those paths are portrayed and implemented are so obvious that they break immersion completely. Its even worse when you have a very strict and obvious good/evil story but both stories lead to the same out come. It renders every decision the player made pointless and its a really jarring feeling. (I'm not saying these kind of games are bad. Hell I love games like this, Infamous is a good example. I just don't think its the best way to do a story that is influenced by the player's actions.) So I got to thinking about how a game could achieve such a goal without limiting and restricting the player's interactivity.

Then I got an idea.

Instead of picking dialog choices or choosing between two missions that make it obvious which way the story goes, why not make a game that changes the story based on where the player goes through out the game? Then another though crossed my mind; I always hate it when a game wont shut the hell up with dialog or text and its pretty annoying when a game is constantly telling me what to do or how to play the game like as if I'm an idiot. So lets make the game never tell the player a single thing. Lets make a game where the player isn't bombarded with text boxes and un-skip-able cut scenes that draw attention away from the player and more to someone's telling of a novel. Let's make a game where the direct input and interactivity of the player comes first above all other aspects to make an experience totally unique to any single person playing.

And that's how AWAKE was born.

So basically AWAKE is a game that is centered around the player's choices and input. Their is no set story. There is no set canon story line or ending. The story is determined by where the player goes and what the player encounters and finds as they play the game which means you won't get the same experience you had when you played it for the first time your second time around. The only set part of the game's story is it's premise. Which is the idea that the events that happened to the world could happen tomorrow, or the day after that, or even a week from now. The apocalypse seems to have happened over night and you appear to be the only survivor so now you have to go out and explore to find out what happened.

Each path you take and each clue you find will lead you to a different explanation as to the cause of what happened, and the story could radically change half way through the game depending on what the player finds. This means that the story is influenced not by multiple choice answers, but by whether they choose to jump onto a platform that takes them one way or continue walking on their marry way. The way the story is told is not through dialog or text boxes, but through vague clues in the form of newspapers and files that merely suggest a story rather than dictate one which leaves most of the story up to the player.

Each story may offer a radically different experience. For example, one story has levels that have creepy monsters that the player needs to hide from while another story may have the player escaping from collapsing skyscrapers. There are even points in the game where these two different stories could actually merge together and create a whole new story.

That is the main focus of the game, and I think that is what is going to draw people to it the most.

Its a basic 2D platformer that focuses on the standard running and jumping, but is also focused on the use of power-ups. This is where the game gets a little bit metroidy. The player can use power-ups/items that they have to find on their own to access new areas that they couldn't get to before, opening new story lines and new experiences to the player.

I'm pretty excited to be working on this, and I can see this turning into something I'd actually put up on Kickstarter to get money to make it and sell it.

Thats pretty much what AWAKE is.

---------------------------------

LBP version:

AWAKE is a series of levels created in Little Big Planet 2. The project is more or less a personal experiment of mine to see what can be achieved in the realm of atmosphere, mood, and immersion using something like Little Big Planet.

The "game" ( I know its not really my own game but I'm treating it like its one) takes place in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic world. You awake inside one of the ruined structures and you must go on a journey to find clues as to what happened to the world while you were asleep.

This 'game' is very Journey inspired and I'd appreciate any constructive feedback on the project.

Here's a video:

[Serephim]

Nobody's posted yet. I think this looks awesome. Reminds me of a game called knytt.

I recently bought LBP2 too.

[Duckboy]

So it's LIMBO in Little Big Planet

[DimensionWarped]

Visually impressive, but boy does it look boring to play. This is a problem I have with most things I see made in Little Big Planet.

It's a game. Things need to happen and the player needs to do things. Simply trudging along through a cave with no real challenges is not something I see myself doing, even if you do have one section with a grappling hook (which loses some of the effect since it's not like you are doing anything special with the grappling hook and it's not like this is something you had to do programming for or anything like that).

[Highwire4]

@Serephim: Thanks for the support glad to see some interest in the project.

@Duckboy: I guess? But I've never played LIMBO so I dunno.

@Dimension Winnie: I completely agree. Having any sort of challenge to the game has been one of my biggest worries regarding this. I've been super iffy about that elevator shaft bit but I'm not sure what to do with it honestly.

The game needs more things happening besides walking around but keep in mind this is not supposed to be a challenging game.

The problem I'm having is that I'm not sure how to implement things like challenging level design without that breaking the flow and mood of the game. I certaintly can't have any deadly traps since dieing in Little Big Planet is an instant mood killer, and I'm worried that any kind of player frustration would ruin the immersion and atemosphere I'm trying to go for. Consequently, I feel like the water and the grapling hook sections feel out of place and I'm not sure what to do with them atm.

I've hardly done anything like this before so any ideas to how to improve would be super awesome. Thanks for the critique

[Highwire4]

A bit of an update in terms of where this project is going.

I needed a game idea to work on for my game dev class and this one was my most interesting, so I'm going to be working on AWAKE as a class assignment for the rest of the semester.

This is both good and bad news but its going to be a fun challenge regardless.

I basically have to start the game over completely from scratch. Have to pretty much make everything my self. Graphics and coding. Which kind of sucks since I'm not too good at coding.

I'm also currently restricted to using gamemaker since thats what they have at school. I might be able to use MMF2 though, I just have to talk to my proffessor about it.

Basically this game is going to suck. If I can even get a game done by the end of the semester.

The good side to this though is that I'm no longer restricted by LBP2's limitations. I now have full artistic flexibility and I intend to take full advantage of that.

The entire focus of the game has shifted from atmosphere to gameplay and story telling.

The game play is going to be kind of different from what you've seen. Yes you'll still be running and jumping, but I plan to implement more flexibility in how the player can traverse the terrain. Things like grabbing and climbing up ledges.

Now that covers how you're going to get to places, but where are you going to be going and why?

Well you're looking for any insights into the reason behind what's happened. This game is going to be centered around exploration. As you traverse through the world, you'll come across newspapers, posters, and who knows what else; all of which will give little bits of info to the player, leaving it up to them to piece it together into a story.

Its kind of like how Journey tells it's story. It never tells you anything, but it shows enough visual information to convey to the player an idea of whats going on, but it never sets it in stone.

This method of telling the story and teaching the player is what I'm kind of most excited about exploring at this time. I want to make the game about the player, not to force an idea or novel onto them, but I want them to discover it on their own with out the game shoving it down their throat.

So expect to see a lot of updates for this for the next few months.

Any questions? Concerns? I'm all ears

[Highwire4]

Ok, I've started drawing stuff for the game, starting with the character. Now the hard part about designing who the player is going to be playing as, is that I think it'll have to be one that any one who is playing can easily identify with for the sake of immersion. This also goes into what the game is centered around, which is the player, so I need a character that respects and reflects the player for maximum immersion and emotional effect. Here's my attempt at that:

ANY feedback on this would be helpful, even a simple "looks masculine" or a "looks feminine" would be massively helpful. I'm thinking of using the center one.

[Serephim]

It doesn't really look either, but there's no way i'd mistake it for a girl.

You could try slimming down the legs or hands in order to make it a bit more feminine.

[Highwire4]

@Serephim: Tried it out:

I'm going to be working on the character for as long as I need to so please don't think of that as a final version. I've received a lot of comments about it so I still have a lot of work to do in regards to it's design. It was apparantly too masculine, anyone have any thoughts on how to fix that?

I've also drawn up some art of the environment:

[Highwire4]

New attempt at a gender neutral character. Last attempt was a bit too masculine, so I tried adding in so feminine bits.

Based upon what people have told me (including my professor) the gender of this new design isn't really obvious which is pretty awesome. What do you guys think? Too Masculine? Too feminine?

[Serephim]

Now I wouldn't mistake it for a guy.

[TailsSena]

Hmm... It looks pretty neutral, but there are the hips...

If one where to try and think of a gender for them, they'd come up with female.

[Highwire4]

Drat.

Well I tried messing around with some things.

This one better?

Also a thought occured to me regarding gender. Animation is going to be playing a big part in determining the gender of a figure. If it seems a little masculine, yet moves more like how a woman might move, it'll throw the player off of any assumptions they had about the character's gender.

I also doodled up a title screen:

[Highwire4]

Drew up a new background

Looks like the player may have found a clue?

[Highwire4]

The in-game Title screen.

The actual title of the game will show up after a few minutes of gameplay. This bit is an important part of the game because this is the first time the player is introduced to the setting of the rest of the game. This is also where the player gets their main motivation at this point as well.

[Ark-E]

@Highwire4: Now that's neat on what you did there. I like it.

[Highwire4]

Got some footage of a prototype game engine that I've crafted from scratch.

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=UJzn86cK3Cc

[Core]

The link to the video doesn't work for me. This one works:

[Highwire4]

Oh, sorry about that. Thanks for fixing that

Also got a few more things to show off.

New level:

Sketches/Notes for level design logic:

Teaching logic

Story and level design logic

Story division logic

[Highwire4]

Oh man it sure has been a long time since I've updated this thread.

I've been working on the game almost non-stop (cept for last week spring break~) and my life's been getting pretty crazy lately with college and all.

Plus most of the progress isn't really worth showing. Its mostly notes and scrapped webcharts and I just really haven't had the time to update every website I post the game's progress on.

THINGS THAT I DID SINCE WHENEVER I LAST DID THE THING WITH THE POSTING:

= I've worked out and mapped out what stories I want to use in the game

= I've come up with a multitude of power-ups and items and how they'll be used

= I've started designing levels, focusing mainly on the intro stage, tutorial stage, and level hub stage.

= Made more concept art and I've solidified the beginning of the game (its a hospital)

= Been doing immense research on IRL locations similar to those in-game

= Been doing immense research into different aspects of game design like Metroid-vania game, classic platforming games, and horror games.

= Resolved the issue of death being in the game. Death will not be in the game or any enemies except for The Searchlight.

= Started a vlog to document the day by day progress of the game as well as my though processes and ideas.

Sorry about the lack of updates. I'll post up the level designs I have later when I have the time. Heres some concept art for the beginning of the game; a hospital:

EDIT: I NOW HAVE TIME TO UPLOAD STUFF; HUZZAH.

Intro level design: Unlit & Actual lighting

(WIP)What I have of the 'tutorial' level: Version 1 & Version 2

(WIP)3rd level: Hub world/level select: 2nd-3rd stage transition & Grand Central Terminal (Level Select and Other Things)

CURRENT LIST OF POWER-UPS/UPGRADES/ABILITIES:

MOVEMENT BASED:

=Wall Jump Ability. (Ability)

=Zip-line Ability. (Item)

=Rail Grind Ability. (Item)

=Rope Swing Ability. (Item)

DISCOVERY BASED:

=Upgrade-able Flashlight (Item)

= Cigarette Lighter (Story Exclusive Item)

Here's how they work: Movement based upgrades are mainly used to allow access to previously un-accessible pathways and story lines; basically metroid. You'll retain what ever movement based power-ups you had gotten after beating a story when you start a new game. This is to help the pacing of the game. This is a game that has multiple endings so the player is going to be playing through it multiple times. It would be a horrible and tedious mess to have to spend a half hour collecting all of the power-ups you knew about for the 8th time just so you can gain access to a new story line.

Discovery based upgrades on the other hand are mainly used to help the player explore the world and discover secrets. Co-incidentally you have to actively hunt for them and they are the only power-ups that can be upgraded as the game progresses(The Lighter is an exception to this rule). Flashlights start out pretty weak in the first stages; they hardly light any thing up, but they're better than wandering around in total darkness. As the game progresses you'll get better flashlights that are brighter, have a wider cone of light, and have a longer reach than lower flashlights. Flash lights do not run out of battery power and is the power-up the player is going to be using the most.

That isn't all of the progress I've done but its a good chunk of it. Thoughts?

[Highwire4]

Updated the engine a little bit. Glitchy flash light is glitchy

[Based LiBi (JoeyD)]

Updated the engine a little bit. Glitchy flash light is glitchy

Things that would be nice:

(just ideas)

- Animations for going through doors

- Incorporate the flashing flashlight glitch as a flaw in the flashlight, but instead of a blackout, a brownout . If you wanted to add in a battery for the flashlight, the flashing would signify when it was going to go out soon.

- Footstep sounds?

[Highwire4]

I've had thoughts regarding having things like batteries, but due to a huge list of reasons regarding game design that I don't even know how to start listing, that won't be happening.

Flashlight stays on forever, no flickering or dead batteries.

Also give me time to animate stuff xD this isn't even alpha yet. All of that stuff will get added in AFTER I get the game working.

[Clouder]

Looks cool. I have several ideas/nitpicks about the Engine. It's impressive that you made this from scratch, but I think of 3d environments for this game, not 2d.

I'm willing to make a story for you unless you already have one.

[Based LiBi (JoeyD)]

@Highwire: xD Oh I know it's early on. And the way you just phrased it, it seems like your gonna do some DLC... Do I have to pay for that?

@Dahog: He previously said, like in the previous update, that he mapped out what stories there will be.