Section8
Cipher
Your world is a womb.
The enveloping warmth eclipses <i>everything</i>, and your mind gazes into a gently pulsing void, occasionally pushing shapeless but pleasant images into the nothingness. An almost casual sense of alarm sweeps through you - the pulse is quickening, becoming more urgent. Before despair can tighten its constricting bonds, you're awake.
With entirely too much effort, you peel back your eyelids, and then blink. Repeatedly. Doing so fails to wash the image of your surroundings from your eyes, a fact surprising only to the newly wakeful. Not that your surroundings are unpleasant, just completely unfamiliar. You turn to your brain, hoping for some insight into the situation, It simply shrugs and regards you with the cautious eyes of a stranger.
It has a point.
Wait, what?
You could have sworn you had some kind of self-awareness yesterday, maybe even a whole identity. This thought bounces around inside your head without really sinking in. It simply defies comprehension within these walls which are strange enough in themselves. Something about their geometry, their texture is unsettling. Or perhaps it's the dawning realisation that you're not just seeing these walls. You can almost hear the subtle nuance of the wallpaper and taste the pristine finish of the wood paneling.
Rather than let these perverse thoughts gnaw at your fragile psyche for too much longer, you throw back the bed covers that might be <i>too</i> comfortable and swing your feet onto the carpet that feels almost as red as it looks. Outside of this room there's bound to be someone or something with a clue as to what's going on. You stand up and try to push back the horrific thought blazing a bloody crimson riot through your grey matter:
Your world is a tomb.
___________________________________
The world you've woken into is the gameworld of <i>Synaesthesia</i>. What is <i>Synaesthesia</i>? It's a tl;dr word that makes for a cumbersome game title that will inevitably be colloquialised into something much shorter. Literally, it's a condition where your senses get their wires crossed, with effects ranging from perceiving letters or numbers as colours, to being able to taste or see music. It's a common theme throughout the game itself, and marries with the interface to form a <i>numberless</i> RPG, with colours and shapes taking their place.
So how best to talk about it? Answer questions nobody has even asked yet!
<b>What is the game?</b>
Synaesthesia is a horror-themed RPG focused on an ensemble cast and the evolution of a narrative created through the player's actions and the supporting cast's reactions. It's <i>Lost</i> meets <i>Silent Hill</i>, with thirteen strangers imprisoned inside a twisted nightmare world, and relying on each other to survive and possibly escape. The game is presented as a digital graphic novel, and focuses only on significant/enjoyable content, keeping downtime "out of frame".
<b>Why create this game?</b>
This is the game I was born to make. It's the outlet for my passion of game development, with the freedom that being an indie developer can provide. It is born out of over twenty years of gaming “research” and countless discussions of design. That and a very big part of me wants to prove that a game can take advantage of the strengths of the CRPG medium without straying from P&P roots, and without insulting the intelligence of the end user. Synaesthesia is an attempt to be a CRPG done right - nothing too wildly unfamiliar, just a collection and evolution of the high points of the genre.
<b>Where does the game take place?</b>
The game takes place in a "broken" facsimile of the real world. Imagine a tangent world, split from the early 20th century, but continuing to imitate progress using the existing technology of the time. In that way, the world is full of familiar objects, nearly all of which are perverse replicas - the fantastic science of Wells or Verne shaped to look something like our own 21st century world. The "smaller picture" sees the player within the well-appointed hamlet of Wardenclyffe inside this twisted gameworld.
<b>What do I control?</b>
The player controls a single character who they initially define, and continue to develop as the game progresses. They can also influence the NPCs of the game through social interactions, though they never take active control of them. The collective activities of the community are important, and the character has varying degrees of control over the choices the community makes and the moral compass of the group.
<b>What is the main focus?</b>
The main focus of Synaesthesia is for the player and their companions to tell a notable story. Ideally, this involves survival, and some resolution to the dilemma of their imprisonment. In essence, the player should enjoy the minute-to-minute aspects of the game, and not merely be chasing a predefined storyline. They should approach all choices with curiosity as to how the game will respond and adapt.
<b>What’s different?</b>
A lot. Synaesthesia is intended to fly in the face of mainstream RPG offerings, but not to the point of being inaccessible for most gamers. Rather than opting for the expansive world that is current en vogue with today's RPGs, Synaesthesia keeps the scope to a minimum, and focuses on exploring characters and possibilities as opposed to locations.
Synaesthesia also moves away from the tradition of stat crunching that is prevalent in all RPGs. The player still develops their character, but through different methods, generally directly tied to the narrative. Other statistical information is conveyed through visual cues and textual descriptions.
The setting moves far, far away from the typical. High fantasy and space opera are nowhere to be seen, instead, replaced with haunted mansions, albeit fucked-up, broken imitations of haunted mansions. The synaesthetic elements alter the perception of the world.
Also, the key element of an ensemble cast removes the annoyance of shallow NPCs who either repeat themselves, others, or serve merely as quest dispensing automatic tellers. Instead, the limited number of NPCs allows players to explore personalities in depth, in the manner of traditional "party NPCs", but without rigidly defined personae, and a linear narrative script. In reality, a person spends most of their social time with the people they choose to have around them, so it seems strange that most CRPGs have the character spending more social time with complete strangers in need of an adventurer.
The game also features a fresh twist on turn based combat. Each "turn" is framed as graphic novel "strips" (typically of around 2-3 panels) - showing any significant actions, and their outcome. This keeps turns short and keeps the gameplay flowing. It also addresses the stylistic issues the abstraction of turn-based systems present. There are no drawn out periods of non-interactivity, and the sequential nature is a necessity of the storyboard style presentation.
The AI does not necessarily attempt to be “smart”, but instead strives toward interesting behaviours. For instance, creatures may be hostile toward a certain colour, or thirst for blood. They may be deaf, blind or numb. AI may respond to other AI shouts, actions or vocals of characters. A broad range of variables encourage differing behaviours, rather than an attempt at displaying “intelligence”.
<b>Why graphic novel-style?</b>
In the original concept, the idea was to use a phase-based combat system, with multiple tracks for movement and actions. The player would keyframe a phase worth of action and watch it play out. However, after prototyping the idea, it was clear that the scope of the game didn't warrant that degree of complexity. The system was too cumbersome for simple actions, and planning a phase was unnecessarily time-consuming.
So, having drawn the original multitracking idea from 3D animation software, I stepped back to how animations are conveyed to the layman. Storyboarding. The idea of plotting "key" frames visually and sequentially greatly simplifies the player interaction, but still maintains the complexity of actions possible with a turn based system.
The system overall has many advantages. It's a neat abstraction of turn-based combat. Short turns mean more frequent interaction, less "enemy movement downtime". Irrelevant content can be simply left out of frame, and the sequential nature is more forgivable when inactive participants are not seen. Also, the selective framing of action makes it easier to fudge animations and positioning where required.
Outside of combat, it provides a neat way to present dialogue in pure textual format, since VO is prohibitive. It also reduces the need for lipsynching and transitioning of facial animation, while still facilitating single frame facial expressions. In short, presenting the game as a graphic novel is a way to greatly cut down on animation assets, while also dressing the game in a unique and visually striking style.
___________________________________
That's part of a nutshell. Why am I telling you? Why am I talking about a game that is at this point, nothing more than a concept and an insignificant handful of art assets? For a couple of reasons:
First of all, I've got a heap of design that makes sense to me, but I want to explain and expound the concept, both as a whole and with lower level detail. With a bit of curiosity from you guys, I can better nail down the design docs.
Second of all, I want to sanity check some ideas and bounce them around inside more than just my own head. I think I have a lot of good ideas and a solid concept, but I'm also aware that I'm overly ambitious with the whole thing, and possibly quite mad.
Last of all, I'm looking to get a programmer on board. I can find my way around code, but it takes me a long time and the end results are usually horribly inefficient. So I need some help, and it would also be good to have a second head to nut out various concepts and designs.
So rip into it. Ask me questions, criticise my methods, offer yourself to me, whatever takes your fancy. I'll be steadily discussing the "finer" points of the design as I go along, and might even consider throwing open the doors of my design wiki if people would like to dig through of their own volition.
The enveloping warmth eclipses <i>everything</i>, and your mind gazes into a gently pulsing void, occasionally pushing shapeless but pleasant images into the nothingness. An almost casual sense of alarm sweeps through you - the pulse is quickening, becoming more urgent. Before despair can tighten its constricting bonds, you're awake.
With entirely too much effort, you peel back your eyelids, and then blink. Repeatedly. Doing so fails to wash the image of your surroundings from your eyes, a fact surprising only to the newly wakeful. Not that your surroundings are unpleasant, just completely unfamiliar. You turn to your brain, hoping for some insight into the situation, It simply shrugs and regards you with the cautious eyes of a stranger.
It has a point.
Wait, what?
You could have sworn you had some kind of self-awareness yesterday, maybe even a whole identity. This thought bounces around inside your head without really sinking in. It simply defies comprehension within these walls which are strange enough in themselves. Something about their geometry, their texture is unsettling. Or perhaps it's the dawning realisation that you're not just seeing these walls. You can almost hear the subtle nuance of the wallpaper and taste the pristine finish of the wood paneling.
Rather than let these perverse thoughts gnaw at your fragile psyche for too much longer, you throw back the bed covers that might be <i>too</i> comfortable and swing your feet onto the carpet that feels almost as red as it looks. Outside of this room there's bound to be someone or something with a clue as to what's going on. You stand up and try to push back the horrific thought blazing a bloody crimson riot through your grey matter:
Your world is a tomb.
___________________________________
The world you've woken into is the gameworld of <i>Synaesthesia</i>. What is <i>Synaesthesia</i>? It's a tl;dr word that makes for a cumbersome game title that will inevitably be colloquialised into something much shorter. Literally, it's a condition where your senses get their wires crossed, with effects ranging from perceiving letters or numbers as colours, to being able to taste or see music. It's a common theme throughout the game itself, and marries with the interface to form a <i>numberless</i> RPG, with colours and shapes taking their place.
So how best to talk about it? Answer questions nobody has even asked yet!
<b>What is the game?</b>
Synaesthesia is a horror-themed RPG focused on an ensemble cast and the evolution of a narrative created through the player's actions and the supporting cast's reactions. It's <i>Lost</i> meets <i>Silent Hill</i>, with thirteen strangers imprisoned inside a twisted nightmare world, and relying on each other to survive and possibly escape. The game is presented as a digital graphic novel, and focuses only on significant/enjoyable content, keeping downtime "out of frame".
<b>Why create this game?</b>
This is the game I was born to make. It's the outlet for my passion of game development, with the freedom that being an indie developer can provide. It is born out of over twenty years of gaming “research” and countless discussions of design. That and a very big part of me wants to prove that a game can take advantage of the strengths of the CRPG medium without straying from P&P roots, and without insulting the intelligence of the end user. Synaesthesia is an attempt to be a CRPG done right - nothing too wildly unfamiliar, just a collection and evolution of the high points of the genre.
<b>Where does the game take place?</b>
The game takes place in a "broken" facsimile of the real world. Imagine a tangent world, split from the early 20th century, but continuing to imitate progress using the existing technology of the time. In that way, the world is full of familiar objects, nearly all of which are perverse replicas - the fantastic science of Wells or Verne shaped to look something like our own 21st century world. The "smaller picture" sees the player within the well-appointed hamlet of Wardenclyffe inside this twisted gameworld.
<b>What do I control?</b>
The player controls a single character who they initially define, and continue to develop as the game progresses. They can also influence the NPCs of the game through social interactions, though they never take active control of them. The collective activities of the community are important, and the character has varying degrees of control over the choices the community makes and the moral compass of the group.
<b>What is the main focus?</b>
The main focus of Synaesthesia is for the player and their companions to tell a notable story. Ideally, this involves survival, and some resolution to the dilemma of their imprisonment. In essence, the player should enjoy the minute-to-minute aspects of the game, and not merely be chasing a predefined storyline. They should approach all choices with curiosity as to how the game will respond and adapt.
<b>What’s different?</b>
A lot. Synaesthesia is intended to fly in the face of mainstream RPG offerings, but not to the point of being inaccessible for most gamers. Rather than opting for the expansive world that is current en vogue with today's RPGs, Synaesthesia keeps the scope to a minimum, and focuses on exploring characters and possibilities as opposed to locations.
Synaesthesia also moves away from the tradition of stat crunching that is prevalent in all RPGs. The player still develops their character, but through different methods, generally directly tied to the narrative. Other statistical information is conveyed through visual cues and textual descriptions.
The setting moves far, far away from the typical. High fantasy and space opera are nowhere to be seen, instead, replaced with haunted mansions, albeit fucked-up, broken imitations of haunted mansions. The synaesthetic elements alter the perception of the world.
Also, the key element of an ensemble cast removes the annoyance of shallow NPCs who either repeat themselves, others, or serve merely as quest dispensing automatic tellers. Instead, the limited number of NPCs allows players to explore personalities in depth, in the manner of traditional "party NPCs", but without rigidly defined personae, and a linear narrative script. In reality, a person spends most of their social time with the people they choose to have around them, so it seems strange that most CRPGs have the character spending more social time with complete strangers in need of an adventurer.
The game also features a fresh twist on turn based combat. Each "turn" is framed as graphic novel "strips" (typically of around 2-3 panels) - showing any significant actions, and their outcome. This keeps turns short and keeps the gameplay flowing. It also addresses the stylistic issues the abstraction of turn-based systems present. There are no drawn out periods of non-interactivity, and the sequential nature is a necessity of the storyboard style presentation.
The AI does not necessarily attempt to be “smart”, but instead strives toward interesting behaviours. For instance, creatures may be hostile toward a certain colour, or thirst for blood. They may be deaf, blind or numb. AI may respond to other AI shouts, actions or vocals of characters. A broad range of variables encourage differing behaviours, rather than an attempt at displaying “intelligence”.
<b>Why graphic novel-style?</b>
In the original concept, the idea was to use a phase-based combat system, with multiple tracks for movement and actions. The player would keyframe a phase worth of action and watch it play out. However, after prototyping the idea, it was clear that the scope of the game didn't warrant that degree of complexity. The system was too cumbersome for simple actions, and planning a phase was unnecessarily time-consuming.
So, having drawn the original multitracking idea from 3D animation software, I stepped back to how animations are conveyed to the layman. Storyboarding. The idea of plotting "key" frames visually and sequentially greatly simplifies the player interaction, but still maintains the complexity of actions possible with a turn based system.
The system overall has many advantages. It's a neat abstraction of turn-based combat. Short turns mean more frequent interaction, less "enemy movement downtime". Irrelevant content can be simply left out of frame, and the sequential nature is more forgivable when inactive participants are not seen. Also, the selective framing of action makes it easier to fudge animations and positioning where required.
Outside of combat, it provides a neat way to present dialogue in pure textual format, since VO is prohibitive. It also reduces the need for lipsynching and transitioning of facial animation, while still facilitating single frame facial expressions. In short, presenting the game as a graphic novel is a way to greatly cut down on animation assets, while also dressing the game in a unique and visually striking style.
___________________________________
That's part of a nutshell. Why am I telling you? Why am I talking about a game that is at this point, nothing more than a concept and an insignificant handful of art assets? For a couple of reasons:
First of all, I've got a heap of design that makes sense to me, but I want to explain and expound the concept, both as a whole and with lower level detail. With a bit of curiosity from you guys, I can better nail down the design docs.
Second of all, I want to sanity check some ideas and bounce them around inside more than just my own head. I think I have a lot of good ideas and a solid concept, but I'm also aware that I'm overly ambitious with the whole thing, and possibly quite mad.
Last of all, I'm looking to get a programmer on board. I can find my way around code, but it takes me a long time and the end results are usually horribly inefficient. So I need some help, and it would also be good to have a second head to nut out various concepts and designs.
So rip into it. Ask me questions, criticise my methods, offer yourself to me, whatever takes your fancy. I'll be steadily discussing the "finer" points of the design as I go along, and might even consider throwing open the doors of my design wiki if people would like to dig through of their own volition.