Okay, I realize that I only have a little more than a month to finish the game… o.O

So it’s time to be realistic and de-scope.

The MVP according to my lecturer is:

• 3 rooms (yes, I originally, ambitiously planned on 12), so there is a beginning, middle and end.
• there should be an evolution of the puzzles
• integrate sound and music ASAP

So for the rooms, it’s going to be Bedroom, which I’ve already done, Bathroom, Kitchen and Foyer (yes, I added one).

Between each room is a door that can be unlocked based on a happiness-sadness meter, based on kmarushige‘s suggestion on HitRecord.

As for your game, my gut says to have a “happiness/depression” meter as the scoreboard. As the player moves through a typical day, they are presented with choices that will either shift them towards happiness or depression. These choices could be actions, mental choices/interpretations or interactions, including being receptive to help from others.

And the evolution of puzzles and interactions will be from the mundane to the surreal. You start of with normal day to day interactions like waking up, putting a smile on your face, making food, then it shifts to the surreal.

The surreal, like when a shadow of yourself appears from the closet (I call her anti-character, like Anti-Helena from “Mirror Mask”), and she starts following you around and these whispers of “you’re worthless and no one likes you” plays, but you can fight her, you can win, but you can also lose.

 

 

Also note to self: I need to buy more IRL Post-Its.

The foyer represents the ultimate (yes, ultimate) door that is standing between you and the outside world.

And thanks to the lovely people at HitRecord, I have a lovely background music for the game.

Continue reading “Making a Video Game: MVP”

Also keep contributing on HitRecord: https://www.hitrecord.org/projects/32… Continue reading Making a Game: Video Update 2

Best part of doing a Masters degree in video games? Research is playing games… What can you do with a head? Apparently a lot. You mess about with the head, removing its nose, its eyes, opening up the head… Quite surreal and a little Dali-like. Totally my thing. Each room in Windosill is self-contained, but the objective is always the same, find the cube and … Continue reading Competitive Analysis: “Windosill” and “Feed the Head”

And going down the TV Tropes rabbit hole… Please forgive me if I use some of these… Links: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PuzzleGame http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockVideoGamePuzzle http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockPuzzle http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ControlRoomPuzzle http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SimonSaysMiniGame http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SetPiecePuzzle Continue reading Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles

“What can you learn about a person through a screen? What can you learn about a creator through their work?” – Boen Wang As someone who had tried so many times to write, short stories, poems, novels, one of the first things that people tell me is “write about what you know”, the second thing is “show not tell”. But what about making video games? … Continue reading Write about what you know… What about making video games?

It’s a rabbit hole that makes you lose track of time, kind of like sleep, except you don’t get rested, just more tired, even though you didn’t really do anything.

 

How should a computer in a game look like? Also how deep into this rabbit hole should I allow the game and the player to go into? And how meta should it be?

Continue reading “Challenge 2: The Computer…”

Ahhhh~ With only 2 months of dev time, production needs to be really tight. But it can be difficult as I am not the type to have entire GDDs written out before actually coding anything. I’m a strong believer that GDDs can only do so much, but you actually need to play the game to tell if it will work. That means coding, rapid coding … Continue reading Making a Game Part 4: Production onwards…

(Yah I decided to shorten the title thing.) One of the hardest things for me is getting up in the morning. I can’t really give a reason why. Wait, actually I could, I just can’t find a reason to get up. So that is the first challenge: Getting Up in the Morning. By fixing your alarm clock…     Continue reading Challenge 1: Getting Up in the Morning

First some gifs… (Note: Art is only first pass and subject to change) “Some days are good, while some days are bad, and you don’t really know why…” The product is a game that explores the topic of depression, with aims to promote mental health awareness. It will be a point-and-click puzzle game that simulates the everyday life of someone living with depression, where even … Continue reading Making a Game Part 1 Iteration 12: Putting it all Together

I finally have a character! (At least a first pass) Hallelujah!

Her hair is made from clouds that can rain down on her anytime. She is wearing a hospital gown, because she is sick and she wants to get better.

This is her walking…

The process that got me to some semblance of a character was painful though…

Continue reading “Making a Game Part 1 Iteration 11: Character”

Just to expand a little more on what the black and white silhouette style that I established previously.

Continue reading “Making a Game Part 1 Iteration 9: Even More Aesthetic Styling”

So I’m going to take a look at some characters from other games, as well as really think about how the character in my game should look like.

A little girl or a monster? Or a little girl that turns into a monster?

Continue reading “Making a Game Part 1 Iteration 8: Character”

It’s been two weeks and I still can’t really nail down what the game mechanics are. It’s frustrating and it’s making me feel really unproductive. But that’s what exploration is about, right?

But I think (I think), I’m closer to a breakthrough…

Continue reading “Making a Game Part 1 Iteration 7: Can’t Get Enough of Gamey Bits”