Prototype

After peer review of my design document, I realized there was one very pressing issue for Eternal Consumption …

Scope!

Making a game that alters genre depending on your choices is a very daunting project. Normally when making a prototype for a game, I would immediately go into the game engine, develop the core gameplay loop, and start on the systems that I believe would be most difficult to create. However, for this game, the core gameplay loop is pretty big! Engage in dialogue that gains unique abilities, then explore the map using your own unique playstyle. Furthermore, I am not as terrified of making a top down game that emulates a game like Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past as I might be with another project. For this prototype, I let my scope get the best of me and I was too scattered! I tried to do too much, finding art assets, building tilesets, a level, making animations, and adding dialogue.

I sat for a minute and tried to figure out what was most important about this game and to showcase for future design jobs! I realized that for this vertical slice, I could probably get away with clunky combat or mediocre code. However, what makes or breaks this project is the dialogue and game feel! The player must want to explore, engage with the world, and be invested in this narrative. So for this prototype, I wanted to establish how the narrative would be given to the player and how the intro level would feel.

To do this, instead of focusing on the actual game in-engine, I tried something new! I wrote the dialogue script for the npcs in the intro area, created a level map based around game feel, and wrote a list of gameplay goals for this starting area. Furthermore, I got some art assets online to help establish a tone for the game. I did this because it is absolutely necessary that the player enjoy interacting with the dialogue system. I wanted to workshop this dialogue and make sure that people enjoy the story, before I make a whole game showcasing this subpar narrative.

Design

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-0zcmv8W53YAsXwPOwqWoA6qEmzl8ktBzB4_TraeHTk/...

Dialogue

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1e9DBeT_kVO99Lgm8dLBRo1FoinFZ71NoIUPg-3eQ...