Authoring Interactive Narrative

See that up there? That is an attempt at pixel art. One need I add, took far too long as you can tell by the week silence since my previous post. Regretfully, as it has taken too much time to create, I would have to step away from this direction and attempt something else if I wish to achieve anything at this rate. As such, I've been looking into the previous art style that I had once mentioned in the previous post. The game where I had found it from was known as Sdorica, which came out sometime September.  The style itself was reminiscent of an older online social game which at this point is longer available, TinierMe. I suppose one could call this direction Chibi Anime-esque, but I for one am not sure what it is called. But the in comparison to the time spent on creating the pixel version of my first character, it would be a lot less time consuming.  As you can see here, this is what was essentially made in less than three hours, making this a more suitable style t

The rhythm aspect of the game would be similar to that of Guitar Hero. Buttons would fall from the top of the screen to the bottom and users, at a specific time would then need to tap on a button on time in relation to the in game button. So first off, where do we begin? Now in a post long ago, I had mentioned of a blogger, PhantomBadger, unfortunately after reading through and attempting to recreate the mechanic, it would be discovered far too difficult, not that it is not possible, but that it did not suit the gameplay mechanic I had in mind. The system they would use is similar to that of Stepmania, a rhythm game that took the mechanics of Dance Dance Revolution, an arcade game, if any of you know of it and implement it for PC users. So where is the problem? Is the file system that is needs to be implemented for it to work. A simfile. The problem with an simfile is that it would require a song, and from there, the buttons are made similar to that of a recording.  This is a video

To hit it off with this project, let's start by finding our art style, or art direction. With a number of possibilities let's start off with a style most often associated with 2D games, pixel art. Pixel art to this day still stands strong in game design but finds it self primarily locked in place within the halls of 2D game design. Here are some examples of pixel art in games. The above image comes from a game called Duelyst, a digital collectible card game and turn based hybrid. The reason this became an art of reference is not only because of its amazing detail, one that I would hope to achieve  in my life but also for the fact that there are tutorials made by the same artist,  Glauber Kotaki . His video, from Concept art to Pixel art offers insight into the creation process of these characters that would later be implemented into the game. Other tutorials exist as well, another artist I primarily followed for this project was  Pedro Medeiros  who posts images and g

So, what I have found out thus far, or, what led to the conceptualization of this idea came from a love of both RPGs and Rhythm games. Some examples, for Rhythm games, include Deemo, Voez, Guitar Hero and MaiMai, an arcade game. Examples of RPGs include, Final Fantasy, the older generations, JRPGs, which most games, to date, still utilize the turn based system.  Now, RPGs in of itself have many forms, the active turn based system, or ATB, seen in Final Fantasy games for example, but why have I chosen the turn based system? Well technically the assumption here would be its simpler, but also it pays homage to older games that I would grow up with as a child. Truth be told, with all we have now, it is very uncertain what three months could do for us and as much as there's optimism, a level of realism is necessary to push forward. In regards to Rhythm games however, essentially the concept has always been the same, yet different with each game. Hit the button at the right tim

After a number back and forth with the lecturers, the essential idea agreed upon would be a 2D turn based RPG with rhythm genre elements. As my initial research goes, there would seem to be a lack of said elements, which leaves one to ask. Why? The rhythm genre dates as far back as the early 1970s and the RPG, role-playing game, genre dating the mid-1970s. As far as personal research goes, nothing seems to suggest that both elements could not work together, therefore, let's give it a go. There's no honest guarantee how it will turn up, but here's to hoping I make something successful and fun. Also, to note, while the assignment implies the need to learn new skills, the level of understanding we are presented with in regards to coding, and design, I would say is at its basic level. As such, I would suggest that fine tuning the skills we have been taught in of itself would be similar to "new". Now the next post will be regarding my preliminary research that formed

To start off this post, the first of many I'm sure, I'll start of by writing this. I love game design. Yes, this is where it starts. The purpose of this blog is to record my research, creation and progress of my project, which if you have yet to guess by now, will certainly be a game. On the top of my head, I can count a large number of aspects I lack to fully produce said game. But the purpose of this project is to also hone my skills in those aspect in hopes of arriving to result I myself and pleased with. And to that, my journey into this project begins. The next two or three posts will be about the research and conceptualization of the project.