meandering creativity, symbols and emotion

Friday, January 7, 2011

Creating a Video Game on a whiteboard


Game Prototype
Originally uploaded by shiitake
Every year or so my friend Jon and I talk about making a video game. We decided to actually take some action starting this month. I think we're probably going to use something ridiculously simple to make the game. And I think our friend Todd might help also.

I firmly believe it could be very easy for us to get caught up in the technical aspects and completely miss the game aspects.

This happens with musicians I know all the time. You can get caught up in buying new guitar gear and trying to get a certain tone or delay. But of course the song is pretty horrible so nobody wants to hear your perfect tone on your awesome gear.

Our game might be something like Trine (PC) vs Adventures of Lolo (NES); several characters with unique abilities have to work together to solve puzzles.

Here's a map I drew in my cubicle of how the game could work.

Each stage represents a different character with a unique power/skill and each lettered box (A-C) represents a room containing a puzzle they have to solve to move into the next room. This helps the player understand that character's power. The square in the middle represents the three characters finally teaming up to tackle bosses.

It's just an idea.
Nothing revolutionary or unique about it.
But it's one step closer to actually making something.

3 comments:

  1. consider me in.

    can we roll out the initial concept completely text-based? (possibly as a MUD in phase two?) that would certainly keep us away from some of the shiny, distracting stuff while we focus on actually making the game.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am excited to see what you guys come up with!

    ReplyDelete

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