Back   Development In the beginning May.06.2004 - 7:04 pm I plan on documenting this new game idea I have in familiar diary fashion. From the very start to when it is either shelved or completed. What I want to do is make a game that exploration and discovery is actually fun again. First game I played that accomplished this for me was Kings Quest 2. The storyline was simple and the world was scattered in design but I loved it. You had no set point from the start, many people disliked this but I latched on to it. You just ended up in a strange world with one thing on your mind "Get some hot medievil booty!" After walking about in the world, checking out a cave, an oddly closed store, a canyon, swimming in ponds, running into a clepto elf, dwarf, lepurchaun, whatever he was. Finding items, slowly putting together the bigger puzzle you may finally find THE DOOR! The entire world and purpose came down to finding a way through this door BUT! you were given the chance to fully explore the world around you and just look around. Nothing was shoved in your face. Most games I play now clearly present a problem to you and just say "Fix me" and then let loose in a linear mostly sequenced order storyline that doesn't give you much freedom or things to check out other then the greater picture. They don't let you discover the problem on your own. To examine it again.. in Kings Quest 2 you are told 'Find a bride! Peace I'm out of here' So you end up looking around in this world trying to find ms. right and all of a sudden a greater challange makes it's way. BAM! A door. You get this feeling like the only thing stopping you now is this one little bottleneck. A great feeling considering you are left in such a 'big' open world. After wondering around a bit unsure of what you are doing finally your path becomes clear and your ultimate goal has reared it's ugly wooden magical head. That said.. On to my idea. I battled in my head for nearly two days straight on a setting. I am a stickler when it comes to setting. I feel everything in the game gets built around where it is taking place so to me setting is the first and most important step. I considred the modern urban city setting quite a bit. Being thrown in a city and told 'good luck' is quite an overwhelming experience and I thought it would be great for the type of game I wanted to create however a setting kept tugging at me and wouldn't let me go. [Flash back] My mother became friends with someone she worked with when I was younger. Work friends developed into a good and long standing friendship between her and my family. I would go with my mom to their house and of course 'play with the other kids'. The thing that I loved about their house however is it was built by a huge wooded/farm area. They didn't live in a farm house but more next to a farm on a big hill so you could overlook what felt like half the earth. I later went and explored much of that area with my other friends.. swimming in a stream that ran through, building forts, eating berries that we probobly shouldn't cause they could of given us rainbow poops ar death or who knows what else. Either way it was exploration and discovery at it's best. Those images burn so brightly in my head I know I have to make the setting a secluded farm house in a rolling hills foresty type world. Boundries are easy to enforce because a person only owns so much land. Nature is basically limitless so I could throw anything from wild animals to fantasy creatures to strange connected caves. The setting is just beautiful and too perfect for me to pass up. The main character will be strong, male, highly imaginative and more then likely pre-teen but very close. Eleven or twelve is my thought but I am still not sure. He will of course have brothers and sisters and the family although not poor by many standards. Live off the land and don't exactly have much need for flashy items. My thought is that the main character will be allowed for the first time to explore the land around his home. His father feels he is old enough to handle himself out in the 'world' so after he is finished with his chores in the morning he will spend the afternoon wandering around out in the woods. As long as he is home in time for supper, of course. Development Day 2 May.07.2004 - 7:59 pm Along with documenting this game I want to document myself. Document how I think and work creative ideas out and hopefully find out where things go wrong. They say a good way to get motivated is look back over what you have done. Go back to the person, place or thing that originally inspired you. That is difficult for me at this point considering that farming wonderland I described yesterday is hundreds of miles away right now however I have read that when you feel unmotivated to work on a project it is just a minor road block. If you just start working on it and don't stop, even if what you are typing at this very moment is kind of difficult to pull together and seems to be boring, it is an important step of climbing over that "Ergh, I'd rather be Dancing/Eating/Playing Video Games/Reading/Drawing" feeling and focus on what you want to accomplish. To reinstate, I want to create a video game that encourages exploration. I have been thinking about this quite a bit the past few days. I have been trying to pin point what exactly about exploration is entertaining. The quick answer I came up with is discovery. Exploring is fun because there is a good chance you will discover something. Big or small when you discover something all on your own, without anyones help, whether it is a cave, a math formula, indian ruins, [ALIEN ATTACK!] Development Day 3 May.12.2004 - 5:37 pm Day 2 I had to leave very quickly so instead of going back and pretending like five days magically didn't pass I am going to start a new day. As I was saying discovery seems to be key in exploration being entertaining. However, even if you don't find anything extremely interesting just being out walking around in nature can be oddly fulfilling. I don't think this exact feeling can be captured in a video game. Sometimes, somethings just can't and shouldn't be simulated. If you really want the exact feeling of exploration.. Go outside! This doesn't mean I am giving up on the idea. Just makes me realize I am gonna need more then just walking around looking at artifacts to make it fun. Plot is an obvious step but not one I am gonna take. At least, not right now. The next thing I am gonna do is look over the setting yet again. The farm house with beautiful lush forests and caves and lakes to explore is nice but really.. no matter where you live you can do this very thing within a couple hours drive from nearly anywhere. I am not a fan of extremely realistic games. I respect what the creator is trying to do but in my ignorant and hummble opinion if something is possible I would rather do it in real life then in a video game. Space shooters are fun. Flight simulators are educational. They can be entertaining but they are not solid fun for me. So to create a game that in the end I will be happy with and that I would want to play I have to give it elements that you can't just walk otuside and do (regardless if it requires training or expensive equipment). So again I have to look at the setting. I can, and will, use the same exploration concept but perhaps using an alien world. An alien teenager on an alien farm. Not an extreme Sci-fi make over with 14 eyed beasts and completely untangible areas and characters but make it obvious enough that we aren't in kansas anymore. Then again that feels played out. Why not medievil setting but more fantasy. What better of woods to explore then if a magical dragon is cruising around scaring the bejeezus out of you every now and then. Meh.. Underwater? Nah. Futuristic? Nah. Cavemanish? Nah. This is where a, in reality, small design desicion because a major rift in production. I know what I want but not how to get there.