...
I was just remembering way back in the day that I had written an Aliens vs. Predator fanfic. It was an epic 36 chapters long, and the story was told from 3 different perspectives: a troop of colonial marines, a hunting party of predators and the Bad Blood they were trying to find, and an alien that was touched by one of the Space Jockeys. At the time it seemed pretty awesome, and it was one of the few large projects I've ever actually finished. I was also in my mid teens at the time, and it was extremely poorly planned out (a.k.a. wrote on the go) and quite poorly written (although I guess it was decent enough for being as old as I was). It was hosted and featured on PlanetAvP, and got quite a few props from quite a few people. It looks as though the first chapter was published on March 8, 2001, and the final chapter was apparently published on April 26, 2003. I know this because I'm looking at it on the site right now and cringing a little bit. So I basically wrote it when I was 15. I guess it's bound to induce cringes.
No, I'm not about to share it with you. It's kinda like my first compositions; they were awesome at the time, but now.... just, no. It's really bad.
I was just thinking about how video games really are my favorite medium of expression. You can provide narrative, visuals, music, acting, and interactivity all in the same package. No other medium really allows that level of immersion like a video game. That might be why I'm obsessed with making one. I've got this one video game project I keep working on. I've started it up while I was in high school, and the game has kept evolving ever since, from a poorly written and designed Final Fantasy 6 clone to an action adventure game with standard keyboard controls to mouse only input to an Xbox 360 controller... It went from sprite based to 3D model based back to sprite based. Initially the sprites were just Final Fantasy 6 edits, but now have become original creations in a similar style to Secret of Evermore.
The biggest hiccup I was having was with the story. I had a number of outlines and plot points (one of which was turned into another poorly planned and written webcomic that was never finished), but mostly just kinda vague ideas where I wanted the story to go and who the characters were. I'm still trying to evolve the characters beyond their initial stereotypes (the hardened merc with a past who doesn't like to remember has turned into a treasure hunter for hire with a sense of justice until it might get him hurt and a generally apathetic attitude) and figure out motivations and such (why is the main villain so evil? why turn to anarchy and try to destroy peaceful governments?). I'm still kinda having that hiccup, which is partly why I got a bit hung up on progress.
My current plan is to ignore the story for a moment and just try to make the world the player exists in. All the towns and cities and landmarks and things, the indigenous peoples and creatures and cultures. My hope is that once I set the rules for the world, I'll be more inspired and have more direction with the story, plus I should be able to have plenty of options for side story and player exploration. One of my favorite things about most RPG games like Zelda and Fallout and Final Fantasy and Morrowind is that simply beating the game through won't show you all there is to see. I'm also influenced by the mmo Star Wars Galaxies, where basically the game just drops you into a giant sandbox, and one of my favorite things to do in it (besides flying starships!) is to just explore the planets and see what's there. I want to recreate that.
I also want to get my genres real flexible. I'm trying to get some steampunk influence in on some of the technologies and cultures in the game, but my pal Andrew also convinced me to find some diesel punk influence in it as well, and I plan on mixing it with plenty of fantasy things like different races of people and crazy looking creatures. Kinda like my own Star Wars universe. Although goggles and gears will be restricted to the people and machines that would actually have a use for them (i.e: engineers looking to protect their eyeballs from sparks while working on giant steam powered robots).
My biggest impediment though, bigger than the story, is my constant restarting of the project. I almost restarted it again the other night, thinking maybe I'd go 3D with it using the Unity 3D engine/toolkit rather than 2D topdown SNES style using Construct Classic. I've gotta actually commit to it in order to see it through if it's gonna get done. Gotta stop with the "ooh, shiny!" thoughts.
I'm also thinking of maybe asking some pals when I get the world done if they'd like to maybe help out with some side stories (or even the main one!), to help flesh out the game. I dunno, just thoughts, thoughts, thoughts... Not a bad one though.
No, I'm not about to share it with you. It's kinda like my first compositions; they were awesome at the time, but now.... just, no. It's really bad.
I was just thinking about how video games really are my favorite medium of expression. You can provide narrative, visuals, music, acting, and interactivity all in the same package. No other medium really allows that level of immersion like a video game. That might be why I'm obsessed with making one. I've got this one video game project I keep working on. I've started it up while I was in high school, and the game has kept evolving ever since, from a poorly written and designed Final Fantasy 6 clone to an action adventure game with standard keyboard controls to mouse only input to an Xbox 360 controller... It went from sprite based to 3D model based back to sprite based. Initially the sprites were just Final Fantasy 6 edits, but now have become original creations in a similar style to Secret of Evermore.
The biggest hiccup I was having was with the story. I had a number of outlines and plot points (one of which was turned into another poorly planned and written webcomic that was never finished), but mostly just kinda vague ideas where I wanted the story to go and who the characters were. I'm still trying to evolve the characters beyond their initial stereotypes (the hardened merc with a past who doesn't like to remember has turned into a treasure hunter for hire with a sense of justice until it might get him hurt and a generally apathetic attitude) and figure out motivations and such (why is the main villain so evil? why turn to anarchy and try to destroy peaceful governments?). I'm still kinda having that hiccup, which is partly why I got a bit hung up on progress.
My current plan is to ignore the story for a moment and just try to make the world the player exists in. All the towns and cities and landmarks and things, the indigenous peoples and creatures and cultures. My hope is that once I set the rules for the world, I'll be more inspired and have more direction with the story, plus I should be able to have plenty of options for side story and player exploration. One of my favorite things about most RPG games like Zelda and Fallout and Final Fantasy and Morrowind is that simply beating the game through won't show you all there is to see. I'm also influenced by the mmo Star Wars Galaxies, where basically the game just drops you into a giant sandbox, and one of my favorite things to do in it (besides flying starships!) is to just explore the planets and see what's there. I want to recreate that.
I also want to get my genres real flexible. I'm trying to get some steampunk influence in on some of the technologies and cultures in the game, but my pal Andrew also convinced me to find some diesel punk influence in it as well, and I plan on mixing it with plenty of fantasy things like different races of people and crazy looking creatures. Kinda like my own Star Wars universe. Although goggles and gears will be restricted to the people and machines that would actually have a use for them (i.e: engineers looking to protect their eyeballs from sparks while working on giant steam powered robots).
My biggest impediment though, bigger than the story, is my constant restarting of the project. I almost restarted it again the other night, thinking maybe I'd go 3D with it using the Unity 3D engine/toolkit rather than 2D topdown SNES style using Construct Classic. I've gotta actually commit to it in order to see it through if it's gonna get done. Gotta stop with the "ooh, shiny!" thoughts.
I'm also thinking of maybe asking some pals when I get the world done if they'd like to maybe help out with some side stories (or even the main one!), to help flesh out the game. I dunno, just thoughts, thoughts, thoughts... Not a bad one though.