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[Eneko Egiluz]

A really nice idea. I like how you introduced the game, you said very little, and my mind made the rest. Looking forward to know more about you.

[Greipur]

Fascinating concept for a protagonist! Interested to see how it develops. And congrats on the mention of this on RPS, that's where I found it.

[Ludipe]

I registered only to this site to be able to post here. I loove the concept of the game. You had me at Majoras Mask sidequest  Smiley They are my favorite part of the game and a game only centered around little stories like this would be great. I am especially looking forward to see and discover connections between the people in the city.
But I think, you should have puzzles. Make the city the puzzle.

Hey Candacis! Glad you liked our post as much as to register. When we say the game won't feature puzzles we don't mean there won't be challenges or things to interact with

Wow!

I'm really liking where this is headed from the story alone.  Can't wait to see more

Thanks!

A really nice idea. I like how you introduced the game, you said very little, and my mind made the rest. Looking forward to know more about you.

We didn't want to flood you with information. We'll release small updates with more information in less than 2 weeks

Fascinating concept for a protagonist! Interested to see how it develops. And congrats on the mention of this on RPS, that's where I found it.

Thanks! It was an awesome surprise

[Ludipe]

Update #1 - F.A.Q.

Hey guys!

We want to keep you posted, so you can expect small updates from time to time. Our plan was to wait a bit more before the first update, but we are quite overwhelmed by all the attention our little project got, lots of people reached out for us, asking about a lot of things.

So here we are, ready to answer some of the most common questions we got.

Why is there so little information about the game?.-

We didn't want to flood you with all the info right on the first day, but our plan is to keep you posted and have a kind of open-development. We'll keep releasing small updates once a month(AT LEAST). The next one will be released before December ends.

I read on RPS that I can control the city, but I've also read that's not the case somewhere else.-

Yep, that's our fault, let me explain this. In "A place for the Unwilling" you'll control a single person, but we said that "the city would be the actual protagonist" because it's the focus of the game(from a narrative perspective), not you as a character, but the city as a whole, and we even gave it a voice.

Thing is that a few websites thought we meant you would control the city (which is perfectly reasonable). While all this happened we were away showcasing our games, when we came back a few days later, it was a bit too late to start mailing everyone to change the info. Sorry for the confusion.

So the game is going to be focused on narrative, but it's a three-people team (composer, artist and designer/programmer/PR). Are they going to pay enough attention to the story?.-

Narrative is our main focus, and we really want to write a good story, that's why we have been helped by professional writers from the very beginning. The team might get a bit bigger on the following months (can't confirm anything right now), we'll keep you posted. And don't worry about translation either, there will be someone else doing the English translation once we're in a later development stage haha.

When is it going to be released? Can I have a build NOW? On which platforms?.-

We can't set a release date, but it's not likely to be released before 2017, so no builds for now. About platforms, PC (windows, mac and linux) is the only one confirmed right now. There might be more but we'll have to wait.

So... I read the whole thing but I still have no clue of how gameplay is going to be.-

We'll explain it in more detail soon, but think of an isometric adventure game, no point and click, you'll have direct control over your character. Everyday there are things you need to do (a job), but you're free to do your tasks as you want. You can explore the city and talk to everyone, each day people will have a different routine and there will be several events taking place that you can see or miss. You interact with the world through dialogue and, sometimes, using objects (but not like in traditional point & click games).

Your previous game was a black & white puzzle game with no text, why did you start something like "A Place for the Unwilling"?.-

Even when "Missing Translation" is the only "big" project AlPixel Games has published, we are always making games, lots of them (mostly on game jams), and we like to experiment and try every genre out there. We love adventure game, and we wanted to make something different to "Missing Translation", that's how this new project was born.


And that's all for now, it's a super small update that we felt it was neccesary, we'll post a new one in less than two weeks. Feel free to ask whatever you want :-)

[Ludipe]

Update #2 - Of shadows and people

These are the shadows, you may call them people. They’re all different, but at the same time they look alike to my eyes. Sometimes, if I pay attention I can hear them whispering their names to each other, and once I hear them, I no longer see a blurry shadow, but an unique person with dreams and nightmares.

The new year is about to start, but we couldn't let the old one go without publishing a new update.

Today we are going to explain what are those shadows that you've seen before (though if you've payed attention you might already know everything ).

We want every character in the game to feel deep and unique, so every one of them (so far we have only introduced one) is hand-drawn, animated and has a personal story behind. We're going to have a big cast of characters, but not as wide as a whole city. You have seen this thousand of times, think about the big games like GTA or Skyrim, where only a few characters are important, the rest of them are just simple dummies, they'll react if you attack them but little else.

We don't think that's fair, the game is telling you who is important and who isn't before you get a chance to decide. You find somebody who is more detailed than the rest of the villagers and you realize he is going to play a major role in the story for some reason. When you see someone who looks kind of generic you don't think too much about him, because you know he's just there as decoration. That's not very nice.

In "A Place for the Unwilling" everyone starts out as a generic shadow, you don't really care about them because they are just random people wandering the streets. You'll be able to interact with them in the same way you would do if you were talking to a stranger in real life.

If by any chance one of those shadows becomes important to you (due to one of the many events taking place in the city) the dark fog will fade out and you'll no longer see that person as a stranger. The game isn't telling you who is going to be important, you'll discover that on your own. "A Place for the Unwilling" is all about you and a whole city full of mysteries to discover.

We're trying to craft a narrative adventure where you can get lost and be part of the story, and we're doing our best to avoid old point and click puzzles, minimaps or dummy characters.

Welcome to our city 

Keep an eye on our devlog, you'll be hearing from us again in a couple of weeks.

Happy new year folks! 

[Eneko Egiluz]

Ok, this is slowly taking shape. About the character we play with, is she/he/it a shadow, ethereal,... or is a real entity?

[kraed]

This is brilliant,my type of game, always loved town driven games.Very creative and amazing art, obviously. Really inspiring thread. Sounds like it has all the elements i need to never stop playing it.

[TonyManfredonia]

I agree that having each and every individual holding some importance will be beneficial to the game's success! It's a unique quality that isn't used too often; you'll absolutely stand out amongst the crowds.

You tease us so with all of the mystery behind the city!!!

[Candacis]

Thanks for the updates! I like the idea with the npc's being all shadows first, representing the anonymity in a big city. Think about it, when you go through a big crowd. Rarely I could remember a person afterwards unless I know them or I talk to them or they are (or do something) visually interesting.

When you say each day people have routines and events will take place, how big a role has time in the game? Is there a day/night circle? How will time pass by?

[Ludipe]

Ok, this is slowly taking shape. About the character we play with, is she/he/it a shadow, ehtereal,... or is a real entity?

He won't be a shadow or a stranger, he'll be your avatar in the world, an extension of yourself, that's why he won't have an extensive background, so the player can define who he becomes.

The game starts when he arrives to the city, so everything (and everyone) will be new, both for the player and the character.

This is brilliant,my type of game, always loved town driven games.Very creative and amazing art, obviously. Really inspiring thread. Sounds like it has all the elements i need to never stop playing it.

Thanks a lot! It's the kind of game we'd love to play :-)

I agree that having each and every individual holding some importance will be beneficial to the game's success! It's a unique quality that isn't used too often; you'll absolutely stand out amongst the crowds.

You tease us so with all of the mystery behind the city!!!

We'll keep releasing new information once or twice a month, but most of the mysteries won't be explained here, we don't want to spoil the game

Thanks for the updates! I like the idea with the npc's being all shadows first, representing the anonymity in a big city. Think about it, when you go through a big crowd. Rarely I could remember a person afterwards unless I know them or I talk to them or they are (or do something) visually interesting.

When you say each day people have routines and events will take place, how big a role has time in the game? Is there a day/night circle? How will time pass by?

There's a day/night circle and different events take place everyday. Time never stops, when you're roaming the streets time passes and when you're chatting with another character time keeps passing. If something important is happening it won't wait for you.

(We still haven't decided how long will a day last, it might be about 15-20 minutes)

Time management is quite important, you won't be able to go everywhere and talk to everyone, so learning how to spend the time will be crucial.

[Ludipe]

Update #3 - Meet your avatar

The city of "A Place for the Unwilling" is meant to be explored on foot, wandering the streets and walking to each one of your goals. Today we'd like to talk about the avatar you'll control in this mysterious city.

He isn't a character with a deep lore like the rest of the cast, he is just a white piece of paper waiting to be filled by the player. He is new in the city, so he doesn't know the place or the people, just like you. But the player will be able to choose a few things about the past of his/her avatar through dialogue. This is a technique that we've seen a lot lately; another character might ask you about your last summer (of which the game told you nothing about) and give you different dialogue options so you can define the background as ypu progress in the game.

We have yet to decide if the player will be able to choose a name for him. While working at the office we usually call him Henry, which is just a silly nickname and not his final name in the game, chances are each player will name it at the start

He'll have a job and a motivation that will keep you going from one place to another, after all, we need an excuse for you to explore our world ;P

We'd also like to bring up something that somebody is going to ask sooner or later, the big question, is there going to be a female version? And the answer is that we can't tell right now.

It would be awesome to give you that option. On our previous game, "Missing Translation", we added a female protagonist and we were extremely happy with the results. "A Place for the Unwilling" is quite different from that project and, at this stage of development, we don't know yet how much work would it take to add this feature, specially because it is a narrative game with lots of dialogue.

And that's all we can say for now about your avatar, the only character who will be on screen all the time and through whom you'll interact with the world of "A Place for the Unwilling".

Hope that solved some questions (though not too many of them )

Stay tuned for more news!

[CiroContinisio]

I love the idea that the characters are shadows, and only when you talk with them they are revealed. It's a very good idea to have a city full of moving characters without having to draw hundreds of concepts, and it goes hand in hand with the idea that in a big city, everyone is a stranger...

Fun fact: I saw the gif of the dissolving shadow days ago and I thought "cool animation", but I never stopped to read what it was. Bad me!

[and]

Yeah that shadow concept is amazing (and the animation is  )

It's kind of like when you get to know someone who was once a stranger, they become a face and a person and a part of your life. No longer a shadow passing in the dark.

[TonyManfredonia]

Maybe I'm thinking too deeply into the idea itself, but it's also a great way to promote true-life socialization.  What better way to meet people than to not "judge a book by its cover?"  Too often our world avoids making new friendships because they are off-put by an individual's appearance.  By talking to shadows, only then to see what they look like, you've created a world of no judgment.

I don't know if that's what you intended, but that's my interpretation.

Philosophical Tony, over and out

[Ludipe]

I love the idea that the characters are shadows, and only when you talk with them they are revealed. It's a very good idea to have a city full of moving characters without having to draw hundreds of concepts, and it goes hand in hand with the idea that in a big city, everyone is a stranger...

Fun fact: I saw the gif of the dissolving shadow days ago and I thought "cool animation", but I never stopped to read what it was. Bad me!

Exactly, creating tons of empty NPCs (like most sandbox do) or leaving the city empty didn't make much sense. We still have to come up with a visual representation of the concept, most people don't stop to read what it is, that's on us hahaha.

Yeah that shadow concept is amazing (and the animation is  Kiss)

It's kind of like when you get to know someone who was once a stranger, they become a face and a person and a part of your life. No longer a shadow passing in the dark.

That's what we wanted to represent :-)

Maybe I'm thinking too deeply into the idea itself, but it's also a great way to promote true-life socialization.  What better way to meet people than to not "judge a book by its cover?"  Too often our world avoids making new friendships because they are off-put by an individual's appearance.  By talking to shadows, only then to see what they look like, you've created a world of no judgment.

I don't know if that's what you intended, but that's my interpretation.

Philosophical Tony, over and out Tongue

It was kind of intended, but we didn't take it as far as you said hahaha. We just wanted to stop NPC discrimination, no more telling who's important and who's not by their looks, we didn't think of it as a tool to promote true-life socialization, though that would be super cool :D

[Cranktrain]

How lovely! It's got a very pleasant art-style, plus I'm a big fan of the isometric projection, which makes it even better.

You're clearly focusing on the environment and the narrative, but I'm still hazy on what the actual gameplay is.

[Ludipe]

How lovely! It's got a very pleasant art-style, plus I'm a big fan of the isometric projection, which makes it even better.

You're clearly focusing on the environment and the narrative, but I'm still hazy on what the actual gameplay is.

Glad you like the art :-)

Gameplay wise... it's a game where you control your character directly(using the keyboard or gamepad) and move around town. You'll be able to interact with some objects, talk to everyone and store some items (more RPG-like, not like in most point & click games). Each day you decide where you want to spend your time and there will be events that trigger everyday and in which you can participate.

Apart from the events and the exploration you'll have a job which will keep you busy and will involve walking from one place to another and talking to certain people.

Next week we'll publish a new update talking about gameplay :D

[Pseudavid]

I love the idea that the characters are shadows, and only when you talk with them they are revealed. It's a very good idea to have a city full of moving characters without having to draw hundreds of concepts, and it goes hand in hand with the idea that in a big city, everyone is a stranger...

Fun fact: I saw the gif of the dissolving shadow days ago and I thought "cool animation", but I never stopped to read what it was. Bad me!

Exactly, creating tons of empty NPCs (like most sandbox do) or leaving the city empty didn't make much sense. We still have to come up with a visual representation of the concept, most people don't stop to read what it is, that's on us hahaha.

In the original Pathologic, when you enter a dialogue with an NPC, a real-life photo of the character appears on the screen. Named NPCs all have individual photos of different actors. Unnamed NPCs like children, bandits, etc., who all have the same 3D models, have the photo of a doll. Something that ends up having an special narrative sense.

It is like this:
http://thefripandthedead.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Game-2011-03-06-00-12-33-59.jpg
http://thefripandthedead.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Game-2011-03-23-21-45-53-70.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YexxgYGXyKQ/TmBbV5WBibI/AAAAAAAAAWw/8TWGn87Z2PY/s1600/Pathologic+Day+207.jpg

[Ludipe]

In the original Pathologic, when you enter a dialogue with an NPC, a real-life photo of the character appears on the screen. Named NPCs all have individual photos of different actors. Unnamed NPCs like children, bandits, etc., who all have the same 3D models, have the photo of a doll. Something that ends up having an special narrative sense.

It is like this:
http://thefripandthedead.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Game-2011-03-06-00-12-33-59.jpg
http://thefripandthedead.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Game-2011-03-23-21-45-53-70.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YexxgYGXyKQ/TmBbV5WBibI/AAAAAAAAAWw/8TWGn87Z2PY/s1600/Pathologic+Day+207.jpg

"A Place for the Unwilling" will feature a dialogue system with detailed portraits, we haven't posted screenshots yet because we are still testing different styles for that. Pathologic has always been a great inspiration

This looks great. After reading about the whole shadow thing I was disappointed to see a predefined male character tho, especially it it's just an avatar. Just like every other game. I'd love it if you would give this some more consideration. Perhaps remain a shadow all the time. I don't know. Something.

The shadow represents a stranger you know nothing about, therefore, displaying the main character as another shadow would be confusing and wouldn't make much sense. As we explained on our update about the main character, it's just an avatar because we don't want him to be that important, he is just the way you interact with the world, but the game is heavily focused on the city and the rest of the characters (not on your story)

We also said we would consider adding more characters, like a female protagonist, as long as it's possible, it's just too soon to estimate the time it would take.

[MereMonkey]

This is looking great, can't wait to see more!!