Much of what I’ve been doing recently is think about the game and try to come up with story plans, but I still have some progress to show off!
Decoded
I’ve been thinking about what kind of devices Laura would use over the course of the game. Besides weapons – the scope of the roster I’ve significantly reduced in recent times – there should be functional gadgets as well. One of them which I have started implementing is the Decoder (WIP name):
Obviously she’s just holding a temporary asset for the gadget.
The Decoder is meant as a gadget allowing to ‘hack’ into terminals to access doors, information, etc. think of Ratchet & Clank gadgets like the Trespasser, the Hacker, etc. Actually, I used to think there is a device called “Decoder” in Ratchet & Clank, but there is no such thing – I was thinking of the Decryptor and the Infiltrator. Or the Code Bot.
I have so far considered designing a minigame similar to that of Ratchet 3’s Tyhrraguise, where you have to follow timed button prompts. This interface currently looks as follows – the Ratchet face is currently a placeholder for the finish node:
No functionality is currently implemented. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure if I’ll keep this – or whether I should spend time on something as small as this at all right now.
Looking At Things
In an effort to make Laura a more lively and interactive character, she can now look at things (again), courtesy of LookAtModifier3D! And this time, I’ve implemented a priority queue system where the responsible component will keep references to all LookTargets (Nodes that can be placed freely in the world), which have a priority assigned to them – LOW, MEDIUM, and HIGH. The component will attempt to target the earliest added node of the highest priority.
Becoming an Author
Possibly the biggest challenge I’m currently facing is: where to take this game story-wise?
I have some ideas. Even for some levels. I want the game to start with a calibration/escape/sabotage sequence to introduce mechanics and the plot of the game. I want it to lead into Laura finding out what happened to her and the world. I then want it to transition into a slow lead-up to the boss battle, a major plot point being when she returns to the place she had been in the intro cutscene and before the catastrophic event that initiated the game’s story happened. I potentially want her to meet an ally that helps her in her mission too.
What’s also important to me is that Laura is a kind of anti-hero. She sees her own actions as justified without considering the (changed) world around her enough. I want the ending to be not entirely happy – something satisfying but also have a degree of regret instilled in Laura.
I’m ambitious in my story. I am aware that this is a huge challenge and I will not go overboard – for example, I’ve decided to keep dialogue fairly minimal, create fewer than 10 levels in total (potentially even re-use some levels), and to use minimally animated cutscenes. I’m just one person and I know that I have to make concessions, but I nevertheless think that I can make something cool.
It’s a HUGE challenge, but really, everything so far has been a huge challenge. I learned to code game mechanics! I learned to 3D model! I am learning to animate! Who says I can’t write a full game??
I can do this. Even if it takes me a long time.
I’m organising myself using Obsidian, and it’s been working quite well. I have a canvas for all kinds of ideas, a spreadsheet for the level structure, another canvas for level image inspirations, and some smaller things such as my long-established TODO kanban board and a mission tree.
Other Things I’ve Been Working On
Missions Screen
Speaking of mission tree – I created a missions screen! It’s got similar components to that of Ratchet & Clank 3. The idea is that missions would guide you through the game, with some missions being unlocked by others (sequentially leading you through the game) and others being unlocked when certain conditions are met.
Overview Camera
Another return from the old Project N5 builds is the overview camera – a per-level PhantomCamera3D that displays an establishing shot when loaded into the level. This time, it’s solved a bit more elegantly: Laura will search for a Node in the group overview_camera, which will be set to a high priority by default. Once the player moves, the priority is lowered to 0 and the reference to the camera is erased.
A Splash of Colour
I put in a bonus setting to choose Laura’s accent colour from a few pre-selected settings. This changes her hoodie, hairtie, headband, and belt buckle light. It’s one of those things that I did just for fun and that didn’t take much time to implement at all, fortunately. It’ll be an unlockable cheat in the bonus menu.
In the future, I might use this to also change the colour of the HUD, similar to how a cheat in Ratchet: Gladiator is implemented.