I'd questioned in the past some of my methods and strategies given that they seemed ineffective though I also realized they were likely going to fail regardless of effectiveness. This was one concept that stood out though as strangely important even though I'd known about it before I hadn't given it the proper credit it deserves. The "elevator pitch" which is how to quickly and accurately convey an idea in the shortest possible amount of time. Now that I'm looking at saving my big title for when I'm more established with a strong background and better talent and throwing out something else I decided now was the best time to consider this. Admittedly I'm reluctant to push my title given that it's nearly complete however I believe it's in the best interest of everyone if my goal is to get it in the hands of many and share the joy and pleasure. I believe that in a year or two I can revisit it with new skills, abilities, methodologies, and tools to make it everything I'd hoped it could be. This simply can't be done the way I'd like it to be with the resources I have now.
Moving forward I'd looked in my little encrypted file of concepts for more mini games that I can make myself quickly and a larger title I could flesh out with ease in a respectively short time frame. What I came up with was a game that would be light hearted and comedic while being entertainingly bloodly and violent while expressing innovative concepts that I'm known for. Though I doubt they'll revolutionize they will get attention which is what I need to get the resources necessary for future games of growing complexity.
So to the point my elevator pitch for the next game was actually how I first came up with it, in a taco bell, at 1am with about 30 people in the middle of nowhere. We were all traveling together and someone said something about you can't come up with a game concept that's any good in a few minutes and I accepted the challenge.
The ferryman of the underworld (cairn) in order to usurp the ruler of the underworld (devil/hades?) hires cyborg ninjas to kill you so he can infuse you with demonic powers to harvest the souls of alien angels invading from another universe in exchange for giving you the power for your revenge.
I then proceeded to rapidly flesh out key concepts of mechanics and gameplay, first and foremost of which was that since you're already dead and half a demon you can't be killed again thus no health or healthbar. Instead the game functions on sanity which isn't effected by bodily damage. They idea being that your mind simply can not handle what you're doing or how you're doing it and thus you slowly go insane by using your demonic powers and your objective is to complete your revenge before going completely insane which inevitably leads you back to cairn since he hired the ninjas in the first place. The game strikes balance between using your magic and relying on traditional weapons. As you use your powers your demonic infection spreads and starts creating blood pearls which amplify your abilities also making you go insane quicker thus you can harvest them and use them to infuse your weapons or use them as currency. Weapons infused with blood pearls/crystals when used against an enemy cause them to crystallize and shatter into weaker blood crystals which can be used similar to blood pearls only to less effect. These crystals can also be used in minor ways to focus specifically on a skill or ability. That is to say a blood pearl evenly amplifies all skills and abilities where as if it's targeted it can greatly increase one ability. With proper alignment and training you can slow the rate of your insanity in general or from the use of a specific spell or ability allowing you to use them more often or to greater effect without any additional consequences. For example casting many spells rapidly can spike your insanity where as over time they're less but you can be trained to do them without causing a spike as though they were done over time and in this way they may also be amplified to do much more damage. Training in basic levels carries through higher levels to great effect making it important to focus on core skills.
I actually have this far more specifically drawn out and I can see that it's hard to explain without completely revealing it in specific detail but I will say that I believe most gamers would appreciate the concepts once they get their hands on it. Right now I'm finishing up an early prototype of the magic menu and investments tree to see how well balanced everything is. As for mini games while I have the ideas I haven't laid any groundwork yet as I'm still back working on the first game, while it's probably ready to go I just feel that there's more to add and a little tweaking to be done but I am shopping around all the same for distribution methods. So I'd be interested in hearing how you'd like to get the mini game and what price you'd want to pay. I know you all want it free on a torrent or something and it'll probably happen but keep in mind my future is based on what I make from these first games if you want to see more games you'll have to make an investment in them.
If it wasn't obvious already, this is where I've been spending most of my time in the silent month of june / july. I still am working on both other titles but I needed a prototype of this to copyright it properly so that's what I did. I'm not entirely sure if I want to shift any real focus on it though as I stated above I am basically finished with both games and would rather push them, but the larger title could ever so easily be greatly expanded and revised to be so much better, specifically in the storyline simply because I'm still looking for a good script writer. The one volunteer I've had wasn't substantially better than me it was more of a lateral movement to a different type of writing I guess but around the same level of quality.
Just one last re-iteration on the importance of a 60 second or less pitch, I had chance at funding twice so far and missed out both times because I didn't have a simple elegant way of explaining the game in a way that commanded more time and attention. If I'd been able to just say something like it's a sci-fi fps zombie game with a focus on destructible environments and laser guns I might have at least been able to get a few more minutes to explain the key concepts more. While that's a vaguely accurate explanation of my game I suppose it's not quite the flourish you'd want to use because it comes out sounding generic, I'd want to delve more in on the story and characters in a way that might relate to who I'm pitching to. A scientist in an experiment gone wrong flinging him into an alternate apocalyptic dimension where he must gain allies and fight his way against a corrupt corporation to find his way home. Still not quite polished but it sounds better yes? actually that would probably be the pitch for half life, but you get the idea.
Thanks for reading the enormous pile of text. I promise a picture in the next post. and less text.
No comments:
Post a Comment