Thursday 28 May 2009

Pre-Mortem of Multiple Games

Okay, so I've only completed one game before. I have a bunch though that failed, for a variety of different reasons, and thought I'd showcase stuff from a few of them to give a glimpse of some of the stuff that died long ago and may one day, like a phoenix, rise from the ashes. Don't hold up any hopes though.




(2007) Chris Herring - Private Investigator: Case 2

Oh damn, this was a good one. I was actually working on this for a long time until I ran into a problem with not being able to portray characters. It was actually the second game in a series, but I lost the first game (which had actually been completed, might redo that one some time). So this would've been his second case, and this one was about a serial killer who was pretending to be a ghost. Sorta like Scooby-Doo but more noir.

It was going to be a first-person adventure game, and I was using SketchUp to create all the locales. My issue though was that, at the time I didn't have any actors for doing FMVs, and my drawing skills were atrocious. (More so, at least.) I'd show some more pictures, but there's nothing really interesting.

(2008) Droid


Now, this one was pretty neat. This was a science-fiction third-person adventure game. The story was that humanity had expanded far into space, and that scientists had done this to escape persecution. You played the game from the perspective of Probe Delta-4, a probe in the first line of robots being programmed with AI, and very experimental emotions.

The game actually had an emotions system, where the game's world would "warp" somewhat with your emotions, since they overloaded you so much. Other robots had been experimented with as well, but got stuck in perpetual emotional stages. One robot was even suicidal. The entire ship was run by MOTHER, which stands for Multi-stringed Operating Terminal of Health, Engineering, and Research. I'll be damned if I know what a Multi-stringed Operating Terminal is.

I was working on it with a guy I knew from the AGS forums, but he randomly disappeared. He was doing all the coding, and I just haven't had the urge to pick it up again since.

(2005-2008) Leh Quest

This was another first-person adventure game I was working on. The premise is simple: A magical talking dog (talking dog, not anthropomorphic dog. See: The Chronicles of Narnia vs. The Wind in the Willows.) appears suddenly in your room, kidnapping you for you are apparently the saviour of another dimension, and you must go discover the secret of a magical substance called "Leh".

Yes, it's about as surreal as it sounds. I wish I had some pictures to show, but they're not on my computer. I'll see if I can find some, if you guys want.

It was actually an FMV game though, and my brother and I did a lot of video recordings done out in the nearby woods for when you entered this alternate dimension. There was also a mix of computer-rendered graphics, plus the somewhat odd use of stuffed animals for most characters.

I'd say the best description I could make of it would be a fairy tale for nerds. I would've loved to play something like that as a kid...

Our main development issues were my brother's college work not leaving much time open for working, and my personal disinterest after a while. That being said, we did some surprisingly high-quality work on parts of it, and I wouldn't mind doing something with this again, now that I know more people and could get some really good actors.

(2008) Darkstone Castle

This was going to be my entry for the Commonplace Book Competiton over on TIGSource. It was gonna be a platforming run and gun with a creepy storyline in Lovecraftian manner. What happened? I bit off WAY more than I could chew, and failed completely in finishing it. All I have is this screenshot of a hobo with a shotgun running at a gargoyle. I believe no further explanation is necessary.

(2007-2008) The Mars Initiative

This is what originally brought together me, my programmer in Droid, and my internet-pal Cinfa together. It was a sci-fi adventure game (seeing a pattern?) in which humanity as a last hope was trying to colonize Mars, and then intrigue happens. I would explain more, but recently Cinfa has been expressing passive interest in working on it again, and so I wouldn't want to spoil anything.




There are a bunch of others that I've worked on too, but I don't want to overload you guys all at once. Besides, I need posting material for this blog.

Stay fiesty guys.

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