Kickstarter 01

planningn and testing

TEST animation 01

Mechanics

Recently i've been working on mechanics, and their relation to telling the narrative.

character : narrative

“Characters can be constructed: 

Through description (what we see on screen) ... 

Naturalistic (their appearance tells something about their inner self and personality... 

Through their actions: ... for example resorting to sneaking past the enemy instead of murdering him in Metal Gear Solid.

Through their relationship to space ...

Through other characters views ...

Through a meaningful name” 

(Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, Tosca, 2008)

Using this template I constructed these two very individual and distinct characters. 

Mara

I gave the character who grows up in Providence the name Mara (who in Buddhism is demon, who personifies unwholesome impulses and the death of spiritual life. A tempter who is known for distracting humans from spiritual practice by manipulating them to think bad things are good and distort their normal perception of things). I think the name is easy to identify and not too abstract while still being a unique name. The Buddhist demon i feel reflects the oriental culture Io is supposed to be influenced by and the traits of the demon i feel are appropriate for Mara’s reckless character. Her personality is supposed to be street smart so manipulation works well with her as she had to scrap and fend for herself as she grew up resulting in her being a tough independent woman who knows how to get what she wants even if it means getting into mischief. The relationship the demon has to death is also very appropriate as it reflects Mara's killer instinct and her trail of violence and death she leaves in her wake in progressing the narrative. 

I described her relationship to the state of Providence by having her wear the yellow and white uniform the citizens are made to wear to show her allegiance, and her "relationship to space". 

Her tattoos and fluorescent socks show she is punky and rebellious, and her boots express how she is from humble and harsh conditions. Her muscular build also reflects how she is physical, confident and not afraid of conflict. Her revealing outfit is to show how she is confident in using her feminine charm to manipulate to get what she wants. I feel i was able to capture a "Naturalistic" appearance for Mara as her looks support her character and place in the narrative.

Cypress

Cypress trees is a famous painting on a japanese folding screen Kano Eitoku (1543–1590), one of the most prominent patriarchs of the Kano school of Japanese painting. Again culturally this refers to the asian influence in the design of Io. Cypress is also a plant that symbolizes death, mourning, despair, and sorrow. The meaning of the plant corresponds to how Cypress developed in a rather depressing setting, sheltered and experimented on, resulting in her guarded personality. She too finds herself on a remorseless path of violence and death as she progresses the narrative. Cypress outift contrasts Mara's to emphasize her sheltered nature further and has her arms folded nearly all the time to reflect this in her posture. She contrasts with Mara further as she wears the white and blue of Synthesis, the white shows her innocence from being sheltered from the outside world from being stuck in labs, and the tints of black and blue suggest her personality is a cold dark mystery because she is so sheltered. She is much paler in comparison to Mara from being stuck inside the labs. Her mechanical arms shows the results of the experimenting they do to her. Cypress also has a much cleaner appearance to show her uniformity and suggest she follows orders and does what she is told.

The design of Mara and Cypress needed to reflect their personality from the source narrative. 
Luban and Meziane explain how in a good game “the cast is not merely a a collection of comic book characters but indiviuals endowed with credible motivation and behaviour. The player is able to relate to the character he impersonates,” (Luban, Meziane, 2001).
To do this I took what aspects from the source narrative that defined these characters to highlight character traits to focus on that i think players will be able to relate to.

Identifiable features

Mara: players may identify with Mara as i believe everyone has a bit of rebellious nature in them whether they like to show it or not and i think Mara will allow player to unleash destruction and mayhem that they internally wish they could. Mara may also reflect those who are brought up in humble settings whether it be third world or poverty who are able to make something out of nothing. I think how she presents herself as having it all together in her confidence to hide the fact she is actually damaged is a really strong aspect that can be quite deep and personal to players, and allow them to relate to her character on an extremely emotional level [growing up on her own she did not develop a sense of empathy or understand the idea of love and care from another person]. The idea of putting on a facade whether it be to make others perceive you to be a certain way or for self reassurance, is a very relatable trait people can identify with. 

Cypress: Players will identify with Cypress as everyone at one point or another has been told what to do despite not wanting to do it [doing chores, going to work/school]. Growing up with little to no free will, i think that Cypress has been deprived of choice and therefore the privilege of defining who she is as a person. This is a deep personal aspect i believe players can identify with as some people grew up being told what to do and what is right and wrong without being able to experience things for themselves and make their own judgement. i believe this fosters insecurity for people not being sure of what they think is right and wrong resulting them in not being able to define who they are as a person. Cypress path will be one of self discovery, and taking a risk to venture to the outside world to find out about her past, defining who she is as a person in the process. 

Game Development Proposal

NARRATIVE ELEMENT	Linearity
CONCEPT
MECHANIC(S) USED	In terms of choice I aim to limit it to which of the two narrative paths the player chooses to play from [Mara or Cypress]. Doing this keeps the narrative the same and clear for the player as it eliminates variable elements in the narrative. The only variable is the what parts of information the player gets corresponding to the path they play. This will be monitored during development so that regardleess of which path they choose on any level, the player will receive the same amount of narrative which will always be enough to piece together the plot. The environment design will have points of exploration but allow the clear path to progress the levels to be defined so that the player does not get too pre-occupied exploring the diegesis, emphasizing the focal point of linearity. Inter-active cut-scenes and set pieces will help tell the story while keeping the interest of the player in progress the linear plot.These will be climactic predominantly quick time event based sections where the players input dictates the success or failure of a level which will be refelcted in an animated cut scene. Other animated cut scenes to break up gameplay and present some pacing in between levels and present exposition for upcoming events and levels will help aid the linear storytelling of this narrative.
JUSTIFICATION	Dividing the gameplay with cut-scenes and set pieces allows the player to feel they have agency in the progression of the story as without their interaction the narrative cannot progress. The little choice they do have when choosing which path to take at the start of each level gives more agency as the player may decide how the linear story is presented by what narrative they get from the perspective they play.
RELATIONSHIP TO WHOLE NARRATIVE	Linearity is essential in presenting the narrative in the most effective way as the story is very complex and epic, so if I were to introduce too many branching variables in relation to the plot, it would over convolude the story and make the main ideas and themes unclear. Having the story told through a linear structure ensures the player gets all the information required to understand the main ideas I want to present without any confusing excess that might prevent that.
RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ELEMENTS YET TO DEVELOP
	Diegesis: The game world and level design will accommodate singular paths with small branches for exploration and immersion into the diegesis. The singular paths will direct the player in which way to go in order to progress the narrative. The singular path reflects the linearity of the narrative. Character: The linear narrative will be told through the characters and their interactions with each other. The development of their personalities in tandem with the progression of the game will immerse the player in finding their resolve at the end of the game. The characters will need to be strong and distinct as well as identifiable in one way or another. Emergence: The different paths in which the player may select from at the beginning of each level will present different combinations of revealed micronarrative elements throughout a playthrough that will show details to piece the gaps in the overarcing narrative.
SOURCE NARRATIVE
STRENGTHS AND ASPECTS OR ASSETS TO RETAIN	The strength of the source narrative is the distinct protagonists and their setting in which the conflict takes place. The minimal variables linear narratives allow supports the fixed development of the chartacters, which is key to presenting the idea of how they were born as one but developed so uniquely in heavy part to the environment they grew in. Too much choice may divert the attention away from the main ideas of the plot.
WEAKENESS AND ASPECTS OR ASSETS TO DEVELOP	One of the most difficult parts of converting this narrative to an interactive one will be allowing equal attention to both the characters as the player progresses through the game. Not just in physical screen time but also in their personalities and their appeal to the player. I will need to cosider their weaknesses and strengths and balance them between the two so that one is not considerably more appealing than the other. Idealy they should both be equally appealing and carry at least one trait of the player to relate to.

This shows the way i intend Mara to break through the wall

this shows how Cypress perspective is reactive to the chaotic and reckless methods of Mara, and how she is able to adapt to make a situation work for her.

mock mock mock up

started to try envisioning how all the pices will fit together while thinking about the environment design some more.

Mara in Synthesis

Environment Map

Tried to do a bit of work on Cypress' arm, still too much detail i think.

gameplay

Since Cypress has her technologically advanced arm, i thought i would give Mara a weapon she could use to manipulate hybrid matter to balance things out. the properties of which would be similar to aqua lad.

providence concept

Environment Design

Cypress concepts

Mara concepts

storyboard and thumbs

2 ways to play model idea

Catering to two play styles that reflect the characters personalities gives some choice to how the player wants to experience the narrative, and gives each path a distinctive feel relating to the characters.

Mara plays reckless hack and slash, mash buttons and do cool things, close range style combat. Get your hands dirty kind of combat. Heavy melee attacks that encompass the hybrid material.

Cypress plays more clean and refined, very calculated and efficient. Methodical and rewarding. Ranged attacks and traps for crowd control and controllable radial attacks that do more damage when focus is concentrated.

Character studies + Gameplay

 defining each characters traits to figure out how they should develop to communicate the narrative most effectively. Also working on the gameplay which was really undeveloped, but thanks to the feedback from the pitch and help from other students i worked out an idea that is quite unique and could play on the 2 parallel stories happening at the same time.

GAMEPLAY

The idea is that you choose which character you wish to play as for the level you are about to start, then as you progress through you get hints through comms[a watch/phone/headset thingy] about what is going on with the other character. This should raise questions and intrigue, as well as show character and explain some context through their conversations with one another, without taking the player out of the gameplay. This adds replayability to find out what was going on while you were completing your side of the level.

Mara Thumbs

The Mustang