Game Brainstorm
Fear is cancer's preservative. Cancer's embalming oil. And you, oh Accuser, are fear's oil salesman. You're a snake. A serpent. A dragon with snuffed out coal on his breath. Molting, talons broken from the struggle to free yourself of your own skin.
Research:
That Dragon, Cancer.
It is a 2016 game created by Ryan and Amy Green and the small studio of Numinous Games. It is based on Greens' experience of rising a son who was diagnosed with terminal cancer at twelve months old, and althought he was given very little time to live, he survived for four years, before eventually passing away in 2014. |
| Source: Steam |
I particularly like this project, because it isn't quite a game, it's more of an experience - one that will make you so insanely emotional even if it isn't something that you personally went through in life. I really enjoyed the way it told the story, as it wasn't just plain text at the bottom of the screen that you have to read to understand it. Oh no, the text appears as you go through the stages of the game, and not on the bottom of the screen. It's everywhere, its like its embedded into the actual scene rather than the separate part of it. The graphics are so unique that I'm at the lack of words to describe it. It's like a mix of very blocky style with smoothness... It's one of its type, for sure. Interesting detail is that the child, Joel, has no facial features, while both of his parents have proper faces developed.
At one point of the game, you get to walk around the hospital and read cards from all the people that went through cancer. It's very depressing, but I like that they have included other people into their game.
What I would like to take away from this game are the emotions that the players get as they go through the game - from slight happiness, to sadness, to complete devastation. Maybe not have exactly that pattern and that kind of strength of emotions, but something that will make the player feel certain way.
Another thing that is really nice is adding in the cards I talked about previously. Instead of them, I could make quests or short dialogues that would tell the story of other people.
I would also like to use the idea of the text being part of the scenery, rather than a plain text on a black strap on the bottom of screen.
[I will add in more inspirational games later.]
Interesting links:
Game Ideas:
I still don't fully know the abilities of Unity, so it's really hard for me to decide what game I want to make. How can I do, if I am not fully aware of the program? But I guess those are roughly my ideas.
1. "You pass forward through the tempting portal revealed only with the right elements. A soothing world welcomes you. Warm air touches you gently from the lush and thick forests in front of you. A sense of adventure take hold of you. This world is rich with opportunities!"
My first idea is a RPG-styled game. You start by customizing your character(hopefully), giving it a race, name, maybe also some other interesting characteristics, like abilities or zodiac signs. Then, the game starts, and you either go through a portal that teleports you into another world or, you are already in the world. And so, you travel through the lands, learning more about the history of the world and its people.
I found out that I really enjoy making landscapes in Unity, so I could use that to my advantage to make the player look around and say "wow, this looks nice". I still would have to put in a lot of effort into the plot, as I am not 100% convinced its the right approach.
[Things to consider: How to allow players to customize their character? Interaction with npcs? I guess, that would involve code to give make them have a quest? Adding in a map to allow players to know where they are? How? Monsters? Aggressive or passive? How to?]
2. "Hello, darling. We are long overdue for a chat.
- Don't leave me here with her!
- Why? She's a delight."
I don't even know how to describe this game... but it would involve witches, and plants. And potion making. So, basically, the character is a young girl who is forced to stay with a witch to learn all about the witchy stuff. Plants, potions, spells, rituals. Why is she forced? Hm, maybe because she was causing problems to her family? Maybe she was an orphan? Maybe a thief? Maybe a witch is highly desirable profession in the world of the game? I will have to think about it.
Most of the gameplay would involve doing missions, follow recipes to make certain potions, go out to find the ingredients and so on, so forth.
[Things to consider: Picking up plants - how? Make them like the gem in one of the tutorials? Interacting with npcs? I am guessing it's possible with code? Interacting with objects? Throwing plants into a pot, mortar, etc? Maybe just a click for mixing/pouring? Luck system where some potions don't work out? Wrong order of thrown items could cause the potion to be bad?]
3. "It's time to focus on what matters."
A city building? The story behind it could be that the player gets a piece of land and a group of people from a king for good deeds. Then it is up to the player to build their place up.
You get a small piece of land, and you slowly start expanding from a single building to more and more. You have to get npcs like builders, farmers, fishers, merchants, miners, etc. To build, a player would need resources, money and workers.
[Things to consider: Is this even possible? Making npcs smart enough to do certain type of work and so on? Building up builds as assets and then make them possible to place once the player has enough of resources?]
4. "Telling a story in a futuristic world gives you this freedom to explore things that bother you in contemporary times."
Similar to the first idea, but instead of fantasy world set in medieval times, you wake up in very futuristic place that you can explore. I don't really know, kind of ran out of ideas for now... I really like my first three ideas though, so its a start.
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