I find it a lot harder to write this than I do making the game. If you want someone to make ridiculous jokes about cocks and Islam I am your Imam. If you want someone to sensibly document the progress of a project I am probably not your man. Ah well, here goes.
The main problem with writing the Dev Diary is that it's been started mid way through the project. It's like when your missus puts Hollyoaks on, you don't really give a shit, but you keep asking who Freddie is and why he has such shit tattoos.
The main problem with writing the Dev Diary is that it's been started mid way through the project. It's like when your missus puts Hollyoaks on, you don't really give a shit, but you keep asking who Freddie is and why he has such shit tattoos.
I thought I would tackle this issue by starting from the start, without giving too much away about the story and whatnot. Read on to find out more!
The first place we started was by deciding we were going to make an RPG, which in terms of first video game projects, is fucking stupid. Most people start with a guess my number text game then a space invaders clone or something, no, not us. A huge, story driven complex bastard is our first port of call. The bare bones of the story were outlined, but nothing was set completely in stone. This fast and loose style of story writing and development of the game may seem utterly stupid, but in hindsight it is almost using the agile methodology of software development. I didn't know that at the time but, as my skills and knowledge have developed it is something I have come to realise. It also fits very well with our title, because the way the characters speak has changed from the early days of the demo.
Finding Voices and Character Inspirations
That was the first real progress I noticed. I found I wrote dialogue for the characters much better if I got into a particular mindset for them. It may seem obvious, but that was a game changer for me. The words flowed quicker and the story progressed much faster, it became easier to push the story forwards because the characters did things for a reason, not just because I wanted them to do it. The story changed probably ten times within two months, for the better. It does help that one of the characters is based very heavily on a real person so I generally just think what they would do in that situation and that is exactly what I make him do in the game.
Finding Voices and Character Inspirations
That was the first real progress I noticed. I found I wrote dialogue for the characters much better if I got into a particular mindset for them. It may seem obvious, but that was a game changer for me. The words flowed quicker and the story progressed much faster, it became easier to push the story forwards because the characters did things for a reason, not just because I wanted them to do it. The story changed probably ten times within two months, for the better. It does help that one of the characters is based very heavily on a real person so I generally just think what they would do in that situation and that is exactly what I make him do in the game.
I found out very early that the main character himself, is as dull as fuck. Jary, his sidekick however is very entertaining. To you, the reader this may seem like a stupid admission, but it isn't. I should tell you why now really. In a lot of RPG games, the protagonist is a silent avatar for you. He says little, and his dialogue is often left completely open to the players interpretation. That is the first reason why it doesn't matter that our protagonist is boring, the second reason and in my opinion the main one is thus, him being so devoid of personality both makes the other characters seem so much more interesting and he acts as a straight man for them. You can't have everyone being an excitable jack-in-the-box of over the top jokes and ridiculousness, someone has to be sensible and tie everything together. That is why your parents didn't sit down in the 70s to watch “Morcambe” followed by “The One Ronnie”. Without “and Wise” and plus one Ronnie, there isn't a show worth watching.
The original inspiration for a main character who constantly bitches and moans, for me personally, came from various real people I see on popular social network sites. It seems to me that some people’s lives appear to be so rife with misery that maybe if they stopped complaining about their hardships for once then they could probably find time to do something about them. This is when we took the concept of bitching and begun to elaborate. Could it be used as a form of magic? Can we take the idea and weave it into the plot of the game? Can we use it as a mechanic somehow? This is when we suggested the concept of somebody complaining so much that they unknowingly resurrected the dead. We ran with it and it seemed to work for us.
The original inspiration for a main character who constantly bitches and moans, for me personally, came from various real people I see on popular social network sites. It seems to me that some people’s lives appear to be so rife with misery that maybe if they stopped complaining about their hardships for once then they could probably find time to do something about them. This is when we took the concept of bitching and begun to elaborate. Could it be used as a form of magic? Can we take the idea and weave it into the plot of the game? Can we use it as a mechanic somehow? This is when we suggested the concept of somebody complaining so much that they unknowingly resurrected the dead. We ran with it and it seemed to work for us.
World Building
I am fucking awful at art. Anything arty makes me come out in hives. Which pisses off the bee keepers no end. The first version of all of the towns were typical examples of “programmer art” which is generally code for “that will do until a weed smoking hippy can come and make it look decent”.
I am fucking awful at art. Anything arty makes me come out in hives. Which pisses off the bee keepers no end. The first version of all of the towns were typical examples of “programmer art” which is generally code for “that will do until a weed smoking hippy can come and make it look decent”.
This is where I come in. Despite being straight, I found myself to be naturally artistic in the way of interior and exterior design. Luckily, I have recently begun living on my own which helped a lot towards the logistical creation of towns and cities. For example, I keep most of my clothes in the living room because that’s where I’m naked the most. I took this notion and applied it to our little world. I.e. the gypsies have set up camp near a river, a brothel in an empty town is going to have a very undesirable clientele, the gravekeeper would definitely have a generous stash of jazz magazines in his shack.
Next Time
We’ll be talking more about why me and variables often fall out, and we’ll meet our two main characters.
Next Time
We’ll be talking more about why me and variables often fall out, and we’ll meet our two main characters.
By The Cunt
Email The Cunt
A hidden face of the crew, The Cunt is main coder for the Foul Entertainment Gaming department. He is currently documenting the progress of our game, Foul Fantasy, in his dev blogs.
Email The Cunt
A hidden face of the crew, The Cunt is main coder for the Foul Entertainment Gaming department. He is currently documenting the progress of our game, Foul Fantasy, in his dev blogs.