Part(s) of the plan

So I am still split on the game perspective. If I go isometric gameplay will be very maze based exploration. If I got side scroller, more linear platform based. Right now I'm leaning towards isometric.

Anyway I have been working on and off of this project for about a year now, it's lay dormant for the better part of the past 8 months or so. This is where I was at when I stopped working on it.

Using various assets from old projects, as well as some new I mocked up what I imagined a level to look like.

Using these parts:

I made this

The top of the tower

I'm still torn on perspectives, but my biggest fear is that I don't think I have the level design chops to make compelling gameplay for a side scroller.

A matter of perspective...

So being that I am choosing to tell my story through a video game, one must think about how that game is played. There are two perspectives that I am thinking of using. The traditional side scrolling style found in games like my all time favorite:

Out of this World

And OddWorld

Or I could go with another of my favorite game perspectives, the isometric view. This has been used in games like Metal Gear Solid and Vagrant Story. It gives an above the character view and is more condusive to non linear exploration.

Metal Gear Solid

Vagrant Story

Now based on the camera perspective I use, the gameplay will likely have to change.

If I go with the side scrolling camera, gameplay will be very based on platforming (jumping to different areas) and lock and key puzzles which will require pulling switches to open doors or move obsticles. Bacially the gameplay of Out of this World or Oddworld Abe's Oddysee

If I go with the isometric perspective I imagine the game to be much more maze like and exploration based. All interactions with enemies would be about stealth and avoidance.

I would love to hear suggestions in the comments!

Something about the longest journey and a step.

So a few things occurred to me, some have been gestating for a while, others fairly recent. I just finished Papo & Yo last night. A cool but very flawed game, made relevent by it's concept; it is a parable. CreatorVander Caballero used this game as a vehicle to tell the story of his abusive alcoholic father. This is the first game I've played that strives to have a deeper PERSONAL message. When I completed the game I was left with a lot of criticisms on how the game could be improved to make me care more about the relationship of Quico and Monster. Ultimately though I thought to myself.... this is the story Vander wanted to tell about his personal experiences. Who am I to tell him how to do it. Granted the nature of game development probably saw to it that he had to make MANY compromises. But I digress.

The other thing that occurred to me was that I don't make video games. What I do, and do well is create ART WORK for video games. I'm ok with that. I enjoy my job immensely. But I do have a yearning to tell my stories and share my experiences with an audience.

So that's what this is. This blog is meant to be a chronicle of sorts as I work on a game to tell a story of a personal nature to me. Now I must stress this is COMPLETELY independent from ANYTHING I do for Retro Studios and should not be read into as such!

All artwork and images on this blog are created in my spare time!

With that said I figured I'd start this off by going back to the beginning, and create an inspiration map for my project.

Here are some concepts of the Hero in my story N-hoj

I hope to have more concepts in the coming weeks but this is meant to be a therapeutic project for me and I don't want it to become an obligation.