Possible Directions

Generally, I think that our group wants to do a puzzle adventure game. The main protagonist: some sort of wildlife/natural researcher, is out somewhere researching something. He wakes up one day to find the entire camp inflicted with some sort of curse, and the player will find clues in order to release them of this curse. Currently, the curse is just everyone has been put to sleep and cannot wake up. The player will explore the neighboring research huts, more specifically the one by their more historian – oriented friend, and they will find a book open to ancient folklore of the area, detailing a similar event from the past, and the rumor of a ancient temple/structure that is said to hold the cure. However, doing so will require the player to undergo a series of extremely difficult trials

I had a few ideas regarding how this general story framework can work out, as well as overall fun mechanics and things

1. We move to the arctic (this was scrapped)

• It is somewhat of a deviation from our original idea, but I think it still fits. The researchers are located somewhere in the Antarctic continent and are researching the ice caps there (if that seems too isolated for the ‘folklore’ clue, we can also move it to be the northernmost regions of the americas ex. Alaska or the northmost canadian provinces and have them research the local wildlife and fauna). Same things with the curse and finding the temple (or maybe it can be something alien in origin?). 
• My main reasoning for this is somewhat practical and also to tell an interesting story. Practically, this will make development slightly easier: building the flat plains of the northern prairies or of barren snow blanketed Antarctica will be fairly easy compared to a dense lush jungle. In addition, we can play around with fog and atmospheric climates to build even less around the main map. The setting also contributes more to an isolated feel: these researchers are likely days away from any other humans, which will place a greater toll on the main protagonist. Lastly, the possibility of intense snow storms/blizzards can also add for increased environmental obstacles to overcome. Maybe the protagonist will need specific clothing in order to proceed, or the advent of a storm may force our protagonist into the temple to find the cure, even if they had wanted to return later and gather more information
• We can also take advantage of the few towns located in the Arctic Circle to add more eerieness

1. Game subgenre: Platformer

• It seems as though our main genre will be some sort of point and click. The player interacts with objects yada yada
• We can have the game be a bit of a platformer in some areas. More specifically in the temple regions, perhaps some puzzles will have our protagonist have to jump over obstacles and hazards. It could be an easier way to implement puzzles, since the most we would have to do is create some sort of jump mechanic. Although, this also might mean bringing in ‘death’ as a sort of punishment, and we have to take into account how that might effect gameplay. It could be kind of a meta experience: maybe the protagonist does actually die and respawn and feels everything, so a greater toll is placed on the player and protagonist to avoid dying because that isn’t very fun.
• In this case, this mirrors a lot of the Indiana Jones video games that had came out in the past: avoiding obstacles, booby traps, etc…
• This may be easier now that we are working in 2D

1. Game subgenre: mix with escape room

• An old idea we had was that some information to solve puzzles will be provided through analog means, kind of like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. Much of the exposition could take place digitally, but we can provide some analog things (like the pdf from the game above) that a player must physically retrieve in order to assist the protagonist to finding the cure. 
• It can also be tied in narratively. Maybe the player’s voice and solutions to a puzzle can be represented by some sort of handheld radio. Somehow, one of the sleeping researchers is able to speak through the radio, and that is how we know of their predicament. Despite being asleep, their brain is still awake, and they can feel themselves stuck in some sort of room, with various strange things at their disposal (our analog digital items). They don’t make much sense yet, but their meanings and usage becomes clear the further you descend into the temple.
• I was also partly inspired by Oneshot for this, because in OneShot many of the puzzles are only solvable outside of the game. The player physically has to search their game’s files, or check their desktop wallpaper which changed to some sort of symbol, or physically manipulate the game’s task window in order to solve puzzles in game. Here, the player is depicted as the ‘god’ or the ‘saviour’ who for whatever reason talks to and guides the child Niko to save the world.
• At the very least, if we decide to incorporate analog elements, we have to make it tie into the narrative somehow. Why do we have these and the protagonist doesn’t? How do we communicate what we know to the protagonist? Are we the same person as the protagonist, or are they their own person?