Moodboard
Spotify Playlist
Concepts
General
Key Emotions: Anxiety, desperation/longing, but simultaneous determination. Generally, my ideas lean towards evoking Greek Mythology, specifically that of the Labyrinth. You are trapped in a cruel labyrinth trying to escape, but obstacles stand in your way. Sound-wise, I think strings (harp in particular) would work very well to create that feeling.
1. Dark and Sombre (Exploring blind)
This concept involves the labyrinth being fully underground, with minimal light. Only a slither of light exists in what you have made your camp, taunting you with the knowledge that there is an escape that exists. Creatures live in the labyrinth, and you must fight both them and the darkness to discover what created the labyrinth, and how to get out. Fun would be focused on difficulty of traversing a winding maze, combat/encounter avoidance, and the mystery of the world’s lore, with little nods to Greek mythology making their way but not being prevalent. More exploration-based. Key story narrative would also be embedded, revealed through notes, artifacts left on the floor, context clues from graves, etc.
2. Narrative-Focused (Exploring in the Light)
This concept moves the labyrinth aboveground, and would take more liberties from “established” or well-known Greek Mythology, but establish it as a core part of the game. Suffering from amnesia, you do not know why you are in the labyrinth, and you wish to not only find an escape, but regain your memories along the way. Others you encounter may know more than you do, but information never comes free in this cruel environment. However, the environment varies, with the labyrinth’s landscape/environment changing as you explore deeper (imagine: snowy vs. grassy vs. stony vs. desert, all confined within the walls).
Fun would be focused primarily on uncovering the mystery of yourself and labyrinth, as well as understanding yourself and other characters who accompany you. More information would be revealed through dialogue, locked behind explorational progress and tasks/quests. For now, the concept would revolve around coming to terms with your past, and the narrative concept of nature vs. nurture: is it ever too late for a person to be saved?
3. Relationship-Focused (Finding Light in the Dark)
This concept would be closer to concept 2, with the idea of the player actually encountering a lot of positive creatures/interactable NPCs throughout the journey. Unlike the other two ideas, the concept of escape may be much more feasible/obtainable for you, but would involve leaving behind the relationships you’ve created along the way (Key relationship: a friendly Minotaur, that shatters players’ pre-existing notions of what the maze is, and acts as tutorial guide and friend). This would eventually become closer to an unexpected cozier exploration and relationship simulator, where some might grow content with their fate under the correct company (wow re-reading this makes it seem more like a romance than I was initially imagining), while others may never forge the bonds they could’ve, prioritizing escape over everything else. More emergent narrative faces for this concept.
Other Items
Tentative Map (details to be fleshed out as we decide on scope, narrative story, etc.)
