Moodboard:
- The team was talking about forests and greens and blues, and I loved what I had seen in Hollow Knight but also loved the yellows I saw in the sand from Journey. I also loved the eerie tones of Little Nightmares and Inscryption and wanted it to show a contrast between Inscryption’s pixel art and map that come later in the game to its initial art style.
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ZbMoCfVs0FIAMtBkH0mRZ?si=eb9fca349d074d31
3 Narrative Directions:
- Finding a loved one — The player explores large forest attempting to find the pieces left behind by a person they loved previously. pieces can be found behind monsters, on monsters, behind platforming challenges, behind puzzles… and as the player pieces these parts together, part by part, we find that there is something corrupted with this new figure that seems to arise from the parts…
- Finding a resource for someone else — The player finds themselves waking up on the floor of a purgatory-like area, where many people just like them are milling around and seemingly unable to leave this area. the player, however, wakes up and knows that they have a goal that they have to leave the area for — someone they’re tied to in the “real world” needs them to collect something that is sacred in this purgatory-like area that is filled with platforms and obstacles. The player explores and finds more and more of this sacred material, meeting NPCs like them along the way, but finds that their own body is deteriorating as they collect. What is this material, and is the person in the real world who they say they are?
- Games against Osiris — (this is a bit of a tangent from the others) The player awakens to find themselves before Osiris, who wants to weigh your heart against the feather of Maat to see if you were to go to paradise. Your heart is weighed, and your heart is heavy. Osiris seemed to have taken a liking to you, however, and gives you a chance for paradise — a series of card games (could be any other kinda game). A part of the player’s past life is revealed in each game and we learn more and more about the player’s life. This all accumulates in a final decision— will you be sent to paradise, or have your heart consumed and be sent to mill around in the Underworld forever?
Some Stylistic Directions:
- Card builder — It doesn’t seem like we’re leaning in this direction, but I love cards and I love card builders, especially when designed well and not just in a medieval style like I see in so many card builders (personal preference). This could be a battle mechanic when one meets an enemy or an event occurs. It could also be all against the same enemy.
- 2D map + pixel art or animated graphic style — There’s an element of detachedness that I find comes across amazingly well in this type of style as compared to the first-person perspective. Especially if we make it so that the player has to play without knowing exactly why they are doing something from the beginning, this gives the main character an element of neutralness. A silent, gray main character who is just doing what someone else wants them to… it gives the story a bit of mystery that the player has to go figure out for themselves.
- Acts — As the story forms, the player encounters new arcs in acts. This is to help split up the storyline for the player so that it doesn’t become one big blob, and we could add new mechanics or characters in each act to add to the rising tension and add excitement/stress/novelty for the player.
- A silent main character — I love it when the narrative has already been crafted for me and I don’t need to think about if I am making the right decision at any particular moment. Player choices, especially moral choices, are often difficult for me to make and usually deter me from games if there’s too much of it, but I’m also willing to step outside my comfort zone to try out more games that test player agency.
Signing off,
Annabelle
