Developer Diaries 2
December 3 by John for Red Conquest
Given that I think nobody reads this, I'll be sharing an intimate inside view of my creative process tonight.
I'm having difficulties properly ending the plot of Red Conquest. I mean, the framework has been there basically since day 1 of the project, or rather since day 1 of the plot creation (which happened sometime after a proof of concept of the art style and basic game logic), but in the end I'm not a world class writer. In fact, that's one of the most enjoyable parts of making Red Conquest to me - pushing my own creative boundaries, and seeing what I can come up with!
I've come up with a few wonderful story arcs, each of which I've scrapped in favour of telling a different story in Episode 4. (I want to fully flesh out Episode 4 before finishing off Episode 3, you see)
The problem is every time I find an interesting set of conflicts, levels, and emotional turmoil leading up to the final events in Episode 4, I realize that I've managed to ignore something crucial.
Examples:
-one plot arc almost completely ignored Ashley
-one contained no real motivation for any one character, they all just existed to advance the events
-one unravelled events through a more cinematic experience, to the point where so much exposition was needed that the gameplay suffered (think MGS4, only low budget)
So yeah, I'll get it done, but right now I need to really cut down the exposition and bring Ashley in more. Her character is very interesting to me, and she and Gideon are, for better or for worse, the only two people who understand each other - and for that matter, the state of the universe. They are both important, so why do I always want to factor her out? Maybe plots are easier to write when there's only one character, who just has an inner monologue, until the end of the game. :p
*direction change*
Speaking of the creative process, it all started in a friend's house - the man of the hour being Sinan Baltacioglu. This was before Henry, the brains behind Fastar, had joined the team - so we had Me, Victor (art guy for Red Conquest), Sinan (music for Blue Attack), and Tyler (who never fully joined Cat in a Box), sitting in Sinan's living room, playing with Lego.
Seriously, Lego.
A lot of the work had previously been done by Victor and myself, the sort of framing of the story - but Sinan and Tyler helped shape the course of the universe. Sinan gave deeper reason to the red assault on the planets, giving Gideon his signature tragedy background... Victor, as I recall, inserted the underlying logic of telepathy through the universe - basically setting the stage for the awesome ideas we all brainstormed for the Green forces' culture.
And the Green background story is seriously awesome. :) Sadly, it is waaay out of scope for Red Conquest. You'll just have to wait to get even a glimpse of it. ;)
---
What will happen to Blue? How will Gideon choose to lead the red forces? Just how badass is this Alpha character, anyway? And will John's creative process ever conclude?
Stay tuned for more dev diaries, coming at you until Red Conquest episode 4 is done! :)
I'm having difficulties properly ending the plot of Red Conquest. I mean, the framework has been there basically since day 1 of the project, or rather since day 1 of the plot creation (which happened sometime after a proof of concept of the art style and basic game logic), but in the end I'm not a world class writer. In fact, that's one of the most enjoyable parts of making Red Conquest to me - pushing my own creative boundaries, and seeing what I can come up with!
I've come up with a few wonderful story arcs, each of which I've scrapped in favour of telling a different story in Episode 4. (I want to fully flesh out Episode 4 before finishing off Episode 3, you see)
The problem is every time I find an interesting set of conflicts, levels, and emotional turmoil leading up to the final events in Episode 4, I realize that I've managed to ignore something crucial.
Examples:
-one plot arc almost completely ignored Ashley
-one contained no real motivation for any one character, they all just existed to advance the events
-one unravelled events through a more cinematic experience, to the point where so much exposition was needed that the gameplay suffered (think MGS4, only low budget)
So yeah, I'll get it done, but right now I need to really cut down the exposition and bring Ashley in more. Her character is very interesting to me, and she and Gideon are, for better or for worse, the only two people who understand each other - and for that matter, the state of the universe. They are both important, so why do I always want to factor her out? Maybe plots are easier to write when there's only one character, who just has an inner monologue, until the end of the game. :p
*direction change*
Speaking of the creative process, it all started in a friend's house - the man of the hour being Sinan Baltacioglu. This was before Henry, the brains behind Fastar, had joined the team - so we had Me, Victor (art guy for Red Conquest), Sinan (music for Blue Attack), and Tyler (who never fully joined Cat in a Box), sitting in Sinan's living room, playing with Lego.
Seriously, Lego.
A lot of the work had previously been done by Victor and myself, the sort of framing of the story - but Sinan and Tyler helped shape the course of the universe. Sinan gave deeper reason to the red assault on the planets, giving Gideon his signature tragedy background... Victor, as I recall, inserted the underlying logic of telepathy through the universe - basically setting the stage for the awesome ideas we all brainstormed for the Green forces' culture.
And the Green background story is seriously awesome. :) Sadly, it is waaay out of scope for Red Conquest. You'll just have to wait to get even a glimpse of it. ;)
---
What will happen to Blue? How will Gideon choose to lead the red forces? Just how badass is this Alpha character, anyway? And will John's creative process ever conclude?
Stay tuned for more dev diaries, coming at you until Red Conquest episode 4 is done! :)
Comments [2]
Never underestimate the power of doodling with Lego.
My biggest gripe with the games on the iPhone is that original games that utilize the platforms strength are deeply buried beneath carbon copy knockoffs of free Flash games.
Keep up the good work.
My biggest gripe with the games on the iPhone is that original games that utilize the platforms strength are deeply buried beneath carbon copy knockoffs of free Flash games.
Keep up the good work.
This is good to hear from you. The online gaming simply ceased last spring and I haven't seen anyone online in ages. Hopefully this update can kickstart the online aspect as it was when it first came out.
I have to say that I have enjoyed the game from when there were only 2 factions. And multiplayer made the game much much more enjoyable. I think people gave up on the multiplayer because there were few to no players on at any given time.
I certainly hope that the new chapters will show up on the the app updates and spark the fire that I was a part of last spring.
All the best to you game devs and have fun with the creation of this game.
Ps. I have also played fastar and it's pretty cool keep up the good work :)
I have to say that I have enjoyed the game from when there were only 2 factions. And multiplayer made the game much much more enjoyable. I think people gave up on the multiplayer because there were few to no players on at any given time.
I certainly hope that the new chapters will show up on the the app updates and spark the fire that I was a part of last spring.
All the best to you game devs and have fun with the creation of this game.
Ps. I have also played fastar and it's pretty cool keep up the good work :)
Copyright © 2009 Cat-In-A-Box. All rights reserved.