This is my ongoing project I first came up with the story for about six years ago.  I’ve tried and failed to make it many different ways before, most of the reasons came down to having an immense amount of assets to produce.

Version 1: BlitzMax Pure Point’n'Click Adenture

I wrote the full engine for this including a windows GUI for the editor and a script language you could enter with code highlighting etc. The problem was animation… I could do a walk cycle fairly well, and render characters out of poser and use Max for the backgrounds, but the animation was beyond me in Max.  Left it to simmer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEZ3oLn78Nk

Version 2: XNA Survival Horror

After Soundless Mountain II I hoped I could use some of the apparent popularity of it to launch an indie career with a similarly designed game.  I felt I could adapt Amnesia really well to this style. I had a great like-minded artist to work with, Phil Duncan on monsters and environments, and the mighty Dock (Tumbledrop / Sweatdrop Studios) to help out with portraits.  But I didn’t really know where I was going with it at the time, partly because I still hadn’t fully figured out how it could survive as a survival horror but keep the story in-tact.  But again, it wasn’t so much that but the fact that I felt the need at the time still to make it commercial, and that to me meant writing off a lo-res look we initially mocked up like the one above.  

I learnt XNA and then we decided to use 3D models all because I wanted shadows.  This was at the edge of our skills though (Phil & I certainly as Dock was busy with Tumbledrop - and rightly so!)  Phil’s a great 3D modeler, but not yet that experienced with animation. In the end the prospect seemed too daunting, especially combined with other life pressures.  Put on hold again.

Version 3: Lo-Stress, Lo-Fi BlitzMax Hybrid

I’ve begun again.  I can’t help it. I keep coming back to it even though right now I have a really cool game coming on the iPhone that I really have to finish.

Above is a shot of the new tech I’m using for it - a way of applying a sort of 2D dynamic pixel-lighting. It comes out really organic and it feels more ‘magical’ than doing it by bump/normal-mapping, even if it is quite time consuming.  I keep getting effects I don’t quite expect.

Anyway Phil is excited and has already started putting our main baddie into the new format.  I’m excited too! 

The idea this time is to keep it simple, hence going back to the BlitzMax language.  So I’ll be working on it on and off, and I’m just trying not to consider money or anything like that.

Anyway just thought I’d share the story with you guys, I’ll keep you posted on it…  For now, please enjoy this short video of the new lighting in action (it’s a really poor quality video, I’m afraid):

You can download Rockabilly Head here: Rockabilly Head [PC / OSX Download!]

I thought I’d do an analysis of my own game, as it sprung up so quickly I almost didn’t know what it meant.

I’ll say this right off the bat: I intended for your character to be dead on the train at the end, although I liked the ambiguity of his pose - he could be dead or sleeping behind his glasses!

Early Game

Basically, a lot depends on your first dance.  If you do well, the game will try to force you down the ‘Skill Path’ via persuasive dialogue, if you do horribly, the game will try to make you follow the ‘Strength Path’.

Nothing is set in stone, however, and the player can ignore the dialogue presented and choose either path, by talking more to either the Girl (Strength) or the Skinny Guy (Skill).

Why Rockabillies?

Our character is dying on a train.  Quite possibly from overwork (or ‘Karoshi‘.) I like to think that he simply saw a Rockabilly opposite him, perhaps on the way to Yoyogi park, and began to imagine what his life might have been like if he’d stayed young and rebellious.  Perhaps being a Rockabilly didn’t really mean being a Rockabilly at all … it meant pursuing a creative or artistic dream which he gave up to get married and have a sensible career (note the wedding ring on the final ‘note’ screen.)

Who Do The Characters Represent?

Well, now you know our protagonist is experiencing the point of death, we can then assume his life is flashing before his eyes, and therefore all the NPC’s are people he knows:

The ‘Annoying Guy’ - this represents his boss, his sense of duty, his conforming to the system.  The whole idea of repeatedly doing pointless stuff just so the guy feels in control, is perhaps a commentary on blind loyalty shown by some Japanese employees, the ‘not wanting to rock the boat / lose face’.  So did he stand up to him in the end?  Well that depends on the ending.

The Girl - is definitely his wife.  She always encouraged him to be tougher and stand up to his boss.  Whether he did is sort of up to the player, and their choice of endings.  Whether he ignored her, or gave up his hobbies to be with her also depends on the ending.

The ‘Air Guitar’ guy - represents his friend, and another ‘Rockabilly’ (ie a friend who shared the same creative hobby as our protagonist.)  He was also perhaps something of a rival, and so the initial face-off determines whether our hero was truly talented a his hobby or not, and whether it was worth pursuing against the odds.

The ‘Skinny Guy’ - this guy represents the unattainable - true skill within his chosen hobby / creative field.  A hero of his in real life, perhaps, someone he always tried to measure up to.  Whether or not the protagonist actually did measure up, depends on your final dance!

Endings

Possible Endings

However, as higlighted above, the endings I considered positive were Good Dancing + Skill and Bad Dancing + Strength.

What Do They Mean?

“Good Dancing + Skill Path” - the note says ‘I should have followed my dreams…’

In this ending, the player was truly talented at their creative pursuit.  They never followed it, and only in the moment of death did they realise that it would have been attainable.  Maybe in the next life?

“Bad Dancing + Skill Path” - the note says ‘I never really had it in me…’

In this ending, the player followed their creative pursuit.  They never truly achieved greatness though, and realise that they should have wasted less time trying to achieve something that wasn’t truly in him.

“Good Dancing + Strength Path” - the note says ‘I should make more time for her…’

In this ending, I’m not totally sure if our guy is dead.  It’s more ambiguous to me, as the note is in the present tense.  However, what we do know is that he’s realised his hobby has come between him and his wife, and he should redress the balance.  She is more important to him than his hobby, even though he is skilled at it.

“Bad Dancing + Strength Path” - the note says ‘I did the right thing…’

In this ending, I don’t think being a Rockabilly represents what it does in the other endings. If anything it means conforming to rigidly hierarchical structure of his workforce and not complaining when he was never allowed any time with his family.  The fetch quests are more potent here as he finally stands up to them and actually refuses the dance with ‘Annoying Guy’.  He chooses her over the system and stands up to his boss.

Just to let you know things are ticking over on Amnesia, but the game has reverted to more of a point’n'click adventure format. For this reason we’re reverting to a different language that’s more friendly to cross-platform PC / OSX. It’s also one I’m much more familiar with. The game’s going to take a long, long time and for that reason it’s on-hold for now, at least in the development sense. This gives me more time to think about the script and puzzles I want to include.

The story is really taking shape though, and it’s the reason I still want to make this game. I’ve also got onboard officially my good friend and co-worker in the games industry, Dock, who is also the founder of Sweatdrop Studios, the leading UK manga company. I’m luck enough to have got him excited about the project which really needed someone skilled in Japanese-style art. As both he and Lord. P Duncan live around the corner we have a good opportunity to keep each other motivated!

For another of my projects, I’ve been working on a sort of rhythm-action-dance-music shoot-’em-up game provisionally called ‘Tempo’. It’s a chance to use some of my history as a drum’n'bass producer, and hopefully will wow and excite! ^-^

superflat.

Here’s a mockup, but it already looks close to this in-game:

Amnesia is a game I’ve wanted to make for ages… It’s in a pre-production phase and has changed from being a classic point’n'click to more of a Survival Horror title, partly due to the fun we had making Soundless Mountain II, and the fact that I now have a great artist to work with, ‘Lord’ P. Duncan.  The story is essential the same as the point’n'click I imagined, though - it’s about a Japanese man called Aruku re-discovering his identity through dreams and nightmares, in a recurring Groundhog day.  Solving puzzles ‘positively’ will give you a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that is white, solving them ‘negatively’ will give you a red puzzle piece.  When the puzzle is assembled you will regain your memory, although the ending depends on the makeup of your physical jigsaw puzzle.  

It deals with the theme of isolation from society so present in modern Japan (I lived in Tokyo until recently.)  In fact we hope to really tackle some issues about modem life with this game, the distance and loneliness people can feel even when surrounded by others.
 
Visually we’re using what we call a ‘Moving Mosaic’.  This is our tech term for chunky, grainy, dirty hand-drawn pixels with lots of noise and filtering.  As well as this we have dynamic 3D shadows, so the torchlight will be spectacular!  It still is very self-consciously low-res pixel art, but with a modern twist, scaled up 4 times as in SMII - although it is in a higher resolution than SMII and with no colour restrictions.  We’re using 3D cel-shaded characters, with a slightly Prince of Persia feel to the moment.  There will be a lot of ‘being chased’ in the game, and you’ll have to escape this unkillable antagonist time and again by any means necessary, pulling obstacles in his path, cutting rope bridges etc.  Dreams will range from flying to escaping a filthy prison, and that’s all I can give away at the moment!

superflat.