Why:
- I have a number of design frameworks to work with, taken from p'n'p roleplaying, literary structuralism and narrative dynamics. For the sort of game I'm attempting, this is solid foundation. The issue of inventing content and making these frameworks relevant to a computer game is a serious one, but now I have (wobbly) legs to stand on, so I can attempt it.
- (What I couldn't and still can't do is just go all in, blindly, аs my motivation simply doesn't work that way. Instead, it actually ceases to, very quickly.)
- The more I learn about inventing interactive stories and recreating them in code, the more curious I am about both. I'm sure I'll learn much more until I actually finish a whole project.
- I like the feeling of being in control of my own creative impulses, instead of running from them incessantly. It's what I've been doing for the past 10 years. I now have a feeling I have a handle on them. Seeing something come into existence from your mind is gratifying and empowering.
- In order to make I game, first I need to play out its every permutation. Invention is a pleasure and it feeds into more invention.
- I'm looking forward to showing whatever I've made to people, getting feedback, engaging them in conversation, both about the game and about my process.
- I believe cRPGs and interactive fiction both have left paths untrodden. I would like to see what those paths look like, even if I get my feet torn and blistered along the way and then turn back. Irrespective of that, I would like to measure up to the good examples of game-making in the story-driven niche.
- At the end, I would like for one or more people to like what I made more than halfway. Or in simpler terms: "Hmmmm!..." instead of "Eh."
What:
What the setting will be: Sword & Sorcery (Howard, Leiber, C. A. Smith, C. L. Moore, F. Leiber, K. Wagner); Fist of the North Star; Glittering spires reduced to glittering ruin, or standing, untouched, empty.
Magic: Animistic, rags and tatters from the Innominate, sucking at sentience's marrow, twisting human and animal form.
Design Inspirations: The two strongest ones – Ron Edwards' Sorcerer and Vincent Baker's Apocalypse World and its recent mini-hack, Apocalypse World: Fallen Empires. I've filched from them shamelessly, and many of the archetypes and game mechanics will be lifted from these games wholesale. (As far as the conversion to code will allow.) But most importantly, I've absorbed from them the RPG design philosophy of Narrativism, a focus on character, conflict and dynamic story.
A cRPG deserves an honorary mention: Planescape: Torment, as well as, by the initial looks of it, its touted spiritual successor, Torment: Tides of Numenera.
How:
I'm going to be using Twine, in its Sugarcube format, brilliantly realized and documented. It's a platform that allows you to do both very simple and pretty complex things. Its learning curve is very small, and its mastering curve – as steep as you want to make it. Also, it's interface is as flexible as providing you with both a visual interface and with the option of simply writing your game in a .txt file. I'm going to be doing the latter, inspired by Jon Ingold's GDC lecture stressing on keeping it simple to work with. Another lecture of his has inspired my general approach to working with text for games.
Will it Live?
I don't know. I have every intention, and when I say this, I don't mean to imply "...of making a great/good/decent/average/passable game.", but "...of making something sorta-finished, that you can sorta-play." At quality, I will most certainly fail. I just wish I get far enough to fail, and do it faster, and more, so I can sorta-not-fail at some point in the future.Finally, here's a fuzzy word-bubble, something of a broad, bare-bones first concept:
Something happened 50 years ago. It was subtle, cataclysmic, irrevocable. The towering empires of the past are no more. Remnants of humanity begin again, fearfully. They scuttle in the shadows of the great empires, drawn in glittering ruin, stilled and silent.
The shadows are alive, and grasp outward.
Sometimes, people hold out their hands.
Why should you play this?
- Conflict. Conflict now. A character in motion, a world in opposition. Not when you decide, not when you're ready, not when you know enough. Now.
- Urgent, personal questions. A drive to see them answered. Don't save the world. You can't save the world. Know your character, even if you wish you hadn't.
- You want your character safe. You can't have your character safe. This game will not let you. Your character is in the crucible, and you can only throw more coal in. Do it. Then see what's left. You will love it and understand and cherish it, even if it's a pile of cracked, scorched bones, brain bubbling out, heart still beating.
