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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsFaceless [WIP]
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mirosurabu
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« on: February 07, 2009, 04:01:47 PM »

Faceless
by sir Miroslav Malesevic

LATE APRIL EDIT: All posts older than April 2009 are providing obsolete information on the game. I don't want to delete them though. So stick with this rule.

My first attempt at making "art game". It is supposed to be done within short period of time, so I don't lose track of my other (larger) project.

How about some screenshots (not mock-ups)?



Minimal vector art, you see. Though ultra simple, artwork is not consistent through game. The same goes for gameplay. The only consistent aspect is branching storyline.

The storyline. A lonely man. He has no identity. He has no life. He's depressed. He has no reason to live. All he has is you. Can you guide him to happiness?

Kyle Gabler says (or maybe he doesn't - I'm not native English speaker, so it might be that I misunderstood him) that you shouldn't be afraid to feel spectacular when you make something. Well, I decided to feel spectacular. So, I feel spectacular.

Details will be kept for now. I want it to be surprise. All I can tell now is that deadeye's "Platform School" tutorial helped me a lot at prototyping the game rapidly. Construct is really a nice tool.

Feedback is appreciated. Any kind.

EDIT:

I'll list you few games which influenced this (art)work. Just so that this topic has some sense. The ordering is random.

Tombi, Rayman, Mondo Medicals, Indigo Prophecy / Fahrenheit, Braid, Increpare's Lacrimosa (yes), Portal, You Have To Burn The Rope
« Last Edit: April 28, 2009, 04:54:13 PM by Miroslav Malešević » Logged
mirosurabu
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« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2009, 10:46:37 AM »

I came up with some basic structure for storyline today. I've noticed I am slowly falling into "it can be much better" trap. I don't want this to happen, since I've been the victim of it so many times before, and whenever I thought "it could be better" I never finished a thing. But it's hard to resist, considering there's so much space for innovation here.

The storyline structure would consist of following story beats. (The branching points have not been determined, yet.)

> Depressive rumination (entry beat)
> Childhood memories (followed by; about his dad)
> Scoffed at work
> Arguing with boss
> A pleasant dream
> Ecstasy - depression relief
> Emptiness
> Suicidal Ideation

Where each story beat corresponds to one "level" which allows you to control given situation. However, control over situation is not obvious. Instead, all possible interactions are represented symbolically.

Further, the artwork and music are used to denote the state of mind of your character, rather than to denote the state of environment.
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One of the Beatles
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« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2009, 02:29:50 PM »

Looking good! I really like the art style you've got going there.
Also, it seems like quite an interesting experience, with all the moods and stuff happening inside the guy's head.

I wonder how the possible interactions will be represented symbollicaly... hmmm...
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mirosurabu
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« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2009, 02:03:58 PM »

Just switched the direction. Initially I was aiming for portrayal of "sad person". Now it's about portraying "clinically depressed person". I have spent some time trying to come up with decent script. I've done some digging on uncommonforums.com (googled some psychology forum) and god how hard is to read all those posts and then make a game about it. And I had to retype the script completely few times, thanks to Construct.

Anyways, slow progress today. The first level (rumination level) is complete, though. To celebrate this here's one screenshot:



I'm thinking about replacing "childhood memories" levels with simple text explaining what happened to his father. If "childhood memories" level was allowed to leave consequences (as do all other levels), it'd break that "I'm there to help him" illusion. If, however, it wasn't allowed to leave any significant consequences then, it'd basically have no point, other than being ordinary mario-like level with story over it.

Quote
Looking good! I really like the art style you've got going there.

Thanks Smiley
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mirosurabu
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« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2009, 06:57:03 AM »

I realized I fell into "can be better" trap. For this reason I decided to cut some things out, like branching plot and voice-overs (was also part of my plan). But even these didn't seem to help. I really do have problems with game design, obviously. It doesn't seem I ever get proud of whatever I come up with despite having high hopes initially.

Anyways, to cut the rant - I instead decided to go with "Memories of Faceless" which will feature the second stage (childhood memories) of the game. And only the second stage. Depending on how it turns out I'll decide whether to give some more time to "Faceless" or not.

The second stage was supposed to be interactive narrative with minimal interaction, interaction which does not shape the background story. This is much contrary to supposed overall feel of the "Faceless", but I can't care less now. The protagonist (narrator) recalls of his past. This process is then represented partly verbally and partly using elements of typical side-scrolling game. The goal of the game is then to move the avatar of narrator to the right. As you move to the right, the time passes, the avatar grows and you experience the story. I plan to make use of game situations which usually cause certain emotions in gamers (weird and hard-to-solve puzzles come to mind, sudden change in game rules, fake glitches and bugs, asset changes, music changes, and few other), and shape those emotions using verbal narrative so that chances I'll provoke the kind of reaction I want to are greater.

Phew. This wasn't supposed to be a worklog right? Huh?

Anyways, I want to introduce you to some peepz.



Protagonist and narrator. He's called Steve and he's faceless. You are in control of him.



John, Steve's father. You can read from his face that he's not really cheerful guy.



Annie, Steve's mother. Nothing fancy about her, except that she used to argue a lot with John. After John's death she had nervous breakdown and was locked in psychiatric yard since then.



This is a guy whom Steve met in high-school. He was Steve's first true friend, mainly because they were both faceless.



But one day, he forgot about Steve. For he has got the face. And he became popular. Steve was alone again.

And I think I should start a blog.
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Hajo
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« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2009, 07:58:12 AM »

I like the minimalistic, yet expressive style of your graphics.
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Per aspera ad astra
mirosurabu
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« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2009, 05:12:46 PM »

Oh boy, when I look at this topic I feel as if the game is under development for more than 2 years. And it's been less than three months. It has changed so much.

Anyways, I am working on this again (actually I've been working on it constantly, but the productivity has raised significantly in last few days). Several things were changed. Artwork in particular. Graphical inconsistency is now gone. I spent good amount of four hours working on this today and most importantly - I enjoyed these hours. It's probably me the indiest I can get to be.

If you are wondering what this game is about, disregarding misinformation from previous posts, it's my attempt to make an interesting storytelling device. I make use of some simple rules to build mini-games which are supposed to represent the actions and reactions of the protagonist. The rules are rather symbolic and not so obvious for several reasons. Rather than providing a "proper gameplay" I choose to make an interesting storytelling experience where the goal is to "get into the story" or more precisely "get into the character" by playing and replaying mini-games. Mini-games are not fun per se. They are intentionally boring, annoying, obscure, scary, vomit-inducing, patience requiring, contradictory, expectation-challenging, buggy, metaphoric, interaction lacking and so on. Some mini-games are non-interactive, some have minimal interaction and some are puzzling. Mini-games alone, out-of-context would probably make no sense. (and that's the beauty of the experimentation I think - I try to build fun experience using what's traditionally considered bad; something like mondo medicals)

I'm finished with chapter one. Currently scratching my head and thinking about SIMPLE BOSS.
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Titanium
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« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2009, 12:41:17 AM »

OMG ROFLMAO WTF BBQ

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made a game with the same name.

http://www.yoyogames.com/games/download/70995?code=78c7cffd1bbe7dd07a4343c7b8cf6b441534d0f6

Yeah... Good times. Your game totally kicked mine's in the rearend 10 times over though.  Good work.
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