Awake

[Highwire4]

@DaHog: I wouldn't even call it an engine right now. It is far from what I need it to be right now. Very much a work in progress. I'd do it in 3D but 2D provides more challenges and limitations which has been forcing me to get more creative with my game design.

As for the stories, I'm actually having a big problem with them at the moment.

I have all of the neccessary story-telling elements needed to tell the stories of the game, I just don't...well..have any stories to tell.

I mean...oh boy this is complicated. Each story is told through gameplay and visual ques not through cutscenes or voice acting. There is some text but it is in the form of newspapers or files. Its basically the player going through this world and picking up the pieces to uncover what happened AND moving toward a supposed evacuation area to where survivors might be.

Heres where it gets complicated.

I already have the causes for the apocalypse. Nuclear war, you're in a coma, a monster killed everyone, some piece of science equipment broke the laws of physics or some shit.

I've got that. But its not all there is. In accordance to that I want an underlying message, like all of the levels and gameplay in that story are one big alagory for something else. Like, I dunno, a love story. Or maybe even a political stand point on something. But I need that kind of underlying message so the story is more engaging, it makes you think about it, reflect upon it, and make you want to go back again to try to understand what you just played through.

Its kinda like song lyrics or poems, but instead of words I'm using gameplay to write my sonnets and ballads.

And that is what I am missing. I have no clue what any underlying message could be, so its kind of holding back the game right now. A little bit frustrating.

I'd be so grateful for any ideas or help with this aspect of the multiple stories of the game. Put your name in the credits for sure.

[Clouder]

@DaHog: I wouldn't even call it an engine right now. It is far from what I need it to be right now. Very much a work in progress. I'd do it in 3D but 2D provides more challenges and limitations which has been forcing me to get more creative with my game design.

As for the stories, I'm actually having a big problem with them at the moment.

I have all of the neccessary story-telling elements needed to tell the stories of the game, I just don't...well..have any stories to tell.

I mean...oh boy this is complicated. Each story is told through gameplay and visual ques not through cutscenes or voice acting. There is some text but it is in the form of newspapers or files. Its basically the player going through this world and picking up the pieces to uncover what happened AND moving toward a supposed evacuation area to where survivors might be.

Heres where it gets complicated.

I already have the causes for the apocalypse. Nuclear war, you're in a coma, a monster killed everyone, some piece of science equipment broke the laws of physics or some shit.

I've got that. But its not all there is. In accordance to that I want an underlying message, like all of the levels and gameplay in that story are one big alagory for something else. Like, I dunno, a love story. Or maybe even a political stand point on something. But I need that kind of underlying message so the story is more engaging, it makes you think about it, reflect upon it, and make you want to go back again to try to understand what you just played through.

Its kinda like song lyrics or poems, but instead of words I'm using gameplay to write my sonnets and ballads.

And that is what I am missing. I have no clue what any underlying message could be, so its kind of holding back the game right now. A little bit frustrating.

I'd be so grateful for any ideas or help with this aspect of the multiple stories of the game. Put your name in the credits for sure.

I've got something.

The year is 2113. 100 years ago, the world was thrown into nuclear war. The city of Mecropolis was bombed by coma gas. Kyle, an ordinary guy, was one of the victims. Now Kyle, waking up from his coma in this Post-Apocalyptic world has to find the Keys of Time to change the past, stop the person who did all this, and find his lost love.

Will elaborate more if you like it. BTW, have you tried MMF2?

[Highwire4]

lol I'm making this in MMF2.

Another thing I forgot to mention, the character has no name nor ever speaks or is addressed by a name. It's identity is anonymous.

The main idea behind this was that the apocalypse could happen tomorrow, or the day after and you wake up as the only survivor in a hospital bed a day after everything went to shit.

There aren't any other characters either, except for the environment itself, a monster, and green hooded person who you never ever directly interact with and is only in certain stories (may or may not keep this character. Generally exists as an emotional ploy or symbol).

I'm trying to keep the story has vague and open ended as I can so the player has room to peice it together themselves in their head based off of clues they find. Not dictated, but suggested, much in the way song lyrics or poems work.

Regarding the story idea, I like a few things that one of the stories could focus on. That bit about finding his lost love, I think there could be a story that hints at a past relationship of his and focuses on the emotional stress that he went through? Thanks for your contributions by the way, srsly appreciate it.

[Serephim]

I'd be so grateful for any ideas or help with this aspect of the multiple stories of the game. Put your name in the credits for sure.

Well, I can offer a personal thought: drop the Post-Apocalyptic motif. Its just become way too common. I'm no writer, but i'd guess this theme is used so often because the idea automatically instills some sort of emotion in the viewer/player. Or maybe it's the ease of writing them? There's just something about a crapsack world that draws people in these days.

What i'm trying to say is, you don't need a post-apocalyptic setting in order to make the player to feel lonely or curious about the environment. You simply need a curious or lonely environment. Removing people, machines and civilization doesn't require a world-wide catastrophe to set up. You just need to be creative. A planet is a massive thing. There are so many environments or settings you can think of to start your story off in. Maybe he is just in an old, deserted, isolated area?

I particularly loved Cave Story for doing this. *Spoilers if you never played it*

The game is called "Cave Story", you play around in underground caves. You're a piece of old technology from a past war. You get messages from an old guy on a computer in a dark room. Everything seems to suggest an overall lonely time period. And then the game reveals that you're really on an island, floating in the sky. For all you know, the surface world could look like modern-day New York. But for the sake of the story, those specific details are kept vague, and IMO it gives the ending of the game a completely different feeling. It's unclear if Pixel INTENDED for that to be derived from the overly-simplistic storyline. But that simple touch made the Outer Wall area of the game so much more enticing and the story that much more interesting. It subconsciously makes you question things, and as a result, everything feels a bit deeper.

As for searching for a lost love...Curly Brace was a character that was introduced midgame and had very little screentime. But she's given an emotional connection to the player simply by 1) helping you in combat, and then 2) being killed protecting you.

The only time you find out Curly had a past connection with Quote is if you don't allow her to die....and in MOST cases, it's the guilt of her sacrifice that intrigue players into finding ways to save her in another playthrough.

Regardless if Pixel intended for it, it managed to establish an emotional connection with the player without deliberately trying to force it through elaborate writing gimmicks; in fact most of the story is dumped on you towards the very end of the game, and with the exception of Sue you barely even interact with the characters.

Saving Sue was the main objective, but empathy was driving force in the extended game. And if for some reason you didn't feel any...you can just ride away on the dragon and end the game, and without any sort of "TRY AGAIN" robotnick poster at the end. IMO I think that is what made Cavestory such an overall brilliant game.

Edit: (Oh wait. Yeah it did try to make you feel like a dick in the worst ending. But the most natural ending didnt.)

[Chaos-Fusion]

That was a long read but an interesting long read to say the least.

Anyway, the idea you have behind this would work really well if you can pull it off and from the looks of it, you probably could + The concept art and atmosphere seem to be shaping up really well so I'll be watching this project to see where it will leads.

Also, I not sure if you're building your game around a story or building the story around mechanics because the way you described your game reminded me of what Extra Credits said about building game stories around mechanics first.

[Ayling]

I must say... This is really an interesting-looking game.

What're you planning on doing music-wise for it? The track that's in the video sorta fits but I don't know...

[Highwire4]

@Serephim: I share your sentiments completely. Post apocalyptic stuff is overdone to death. But I haven't seen one where you are completely alone and has a story structure like this. Plus this is also for a school project, along with how long and how much the game has progressed and evolved since it's beginning, a change of setting of that magnitude would mean a complete redesign. Which I don't have the time for, so the post-apocalyptic thing has to stay.

You did bring up an excellent point with that cave story example though regarding how the world interacted with the player and the story. It's got me thinking and I'm currently reanalyzing the structure of the world of AWAKE. Definitely made me realize something I need to work on and improve. Thanks for that

@Chaos Fusion: Thanks for the support! Glad to see you're interested

As for the story. I had a vague idea/theme for the story/world and started to build the game from that at first, but it kinda just evolved into something that I want to accomplish more from a game design stand point, so I guess yeah, I'm making a story centered around game mechanics. A link to what you're talkin about though would be appreciated if you can find it again though.

@Ayling: Thanks a lot man

Music wise...I'm currently using pieces of tracks from Valtari by Sigur-Ross. Their music is pretty zen and atemospheric and fits the kind of mood I'm going for. As for how the music is going to be implemented is a bit complex. I'll be splitting up the tracks I want to use into different individual sections and save those as seperate files. I can then use those files to create a diverse and adaptive music system that will change which track is playing depending on where the player is in the level. I've seen this used in a few games, (I.E. JOURNEY) and the emotional impact it has on the experience is immensely powerful. Making this system work right is going to be a huge focus of mine after I get the other main mechanics done. Best example I can provide to better convey this is Falk's "Be Cool, Be Wild" video:

A laughable try at this kind of system is already in the engine. Its the orange horizontal bar the player falls through in the gameplay vids I've posted.

Also links to some of the songs I'm going to be using:

I could really only use these tracks if I plan on only having this as a free to play game; which I do lol.

If for what ever reason though I'd have to sell this game, I'd have to come up with some kind of original soundtrack that sounded something similar to this. I'd probably start a kickstarter or something to fund something like that.

Or somehow convince the massively talented people here at SFGHQ to help, but I'd rather not do something like that unless I absolutely have to.

[Ayling]

Gotcha. I did hear that system. Idk I looked at the pictures and musical ideas popped into my head... something like this:

http://cl.ly/1t1s3l1i1C2x

It's hastily thrown together but this is what i heard in my head Idk. If you get a bit of work done on this and like this kinda sound let me know.

[Highwire4]

Holy shit you actually made something?! My heart is touched in ways I cannot describe omg.

I do like it, quite a lot actually. Its got a lot of tension in it, like shit's about to go down and it's right around the corner or something. That constant bass is my favorite part, oh man. The final cut of this would need a lot of work before I'd use it but I like the sound of it.

xD Oh man I still can't get over the fact you put this together for my dumb little game. A mere "Thank you" can not properly express my gratitude and flattery to you sir.

[Chaos-Fusion]

@Chaos Fusion: Thanks for the support! Glad to see you're interested

As for the story. I had a vague idea/theme for the story/world and started to build the game from that at first, but it kinda just evolved into something that I want to accomplish more from a game design stand point, so I guess yeah, I'm making a story centered around game mechanics. A link to what you're talkin about though would be appreciated if you can find it again though.

Here you go:

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/how-to-start-your-game-narrative

Their videos are quite interesting as they go into depth with Game development.

Funny thing is that I've learnt similar info from these forums as well xD

[Ayling]

It wasn't much... When I get a composition idea I have to do it or I won't remember. And that took me like an hour to make maybe. But yeah especially if the strings weren't me randomly trying things it would work. Idk when I have time I can play around with this. I just liked what I heard in my head.

[Highwire4]

@Chaos Fusion: Oh wow thats pretty cool, thanks for linkin that.

Got some more work for ya'll that I made a few weeks ago but been too busy to post ololol.

New game mechanic:

Pretty much super mario bros 2. Adding in a little bit of a platformer puzzley element.

Also concept art:

This is where the game is starting to get weird

[GamerZ1]

Sakura? XD

and that puzzle element is pretty nice.... =D

[Highwire4]

@GamerZ1: Thanks man

So I'm putting a bit of a hold on making new content for the game right now due to school reasons. I started this project as a school project, and while I intend to continue it well after this semester is done, I still have requirements I must meet. So I'm going to be focusing on those for the next few weeks.

[Highwire4]

This is what I've been devoting my attention to:

1 out of 12 or so concept pages about AWAKE. I need at least 10 of these in order to pass the class so I'm pretty much set, I just have to make sure I have enough content for each aspect of the game I'll be featuring.

This kind of thing is something I'd print out and put together into a little book of sorts that I'd give to producers to keep for reference when they consider whether or not to fund the game.

Thoughts? My biggest concern is composition and clarity of the artwork shown in regards to the background.

[Highwire4]

This is the last piece of concept art for the game that I'm releasing publically.

The game has undergone yet another overhall, this one to go along with my crap coding skills. Levels are being designed and put into the engine. Maybe I'll get a demo out by SAGE.

[Highwire4]

I've got some kinda sad news regarding AWAKE. The game has been put on hold for a while. I don't know how long, but its going to be a while.

I'm not skilled enough as a game developer, a coder, or an artist to make the game I want to. So I'm not going to make it.

Yet.

Instead I'm going to be making a bunch of short games for practice. I don't know when I'll get back to AWAKE, but I certaintly plan to again.

Thanks to every one who has shown your support for the game so far, and I hope you'll show it again when I start work back up on it.