I decided to post this here anyways, even though I said in a different forum that I "wouldn't". It is incomplete anyways. The Room

Quote: In the shadows of a damp and dark room, a man wakes up on cold concrete floor. At his side lies a worn leather jacket, torn and ripped at several areas. His white shirt is crawled up along his sleeves and the buttons at the top are unbuttoned. His hair ruffled and generally messy, a scruffy beard on his chin and a dry mouth. His eyes open and he takes a deep heavy fatigued breathe. A voice echoes, deep and tired, in the back of his skull "Did it begin here?". The narrator is the man. Sitting up and slowly standing up he dusts of his once fine looking pants, he notices a few holes in his shoes but doesn't bother. In the darkness his eyes catches a metallic object lying on the empty hard floor. He walks over, his feet clapping the floor echoing across the room, and picks it up, a rusty old key. Without thinking he walks towards the wall, a door. No doorknob, no door handle or anything. Only a keyhole. He puts the key in, voice "I don't remember anymore". The door starts to shine brightly and the room shakes, blinding the man and sets panic in his mind. When the light has settled, the door is gone. The key too. Heartbeat and sweat, "What was that?" he says out loud. In the corner of his eyes he sees a key, lying on the floor next to a door, across the room. His eyes wide and terrified, though intruiged and a slight feeling of unknown and mysterious passion clings to his spine, as he slowly walks towards the key.

Now I don't want to spoil it all away. And I have been said that "Game Design" should not be spoken about in this category. But I feel I have to, to explain the "mechanic" of the story a bit more. Or so that people can understand the actual game. I get the feeling that people might look at this and think "So you go to the key, put it in the door, then get the key, put it in the door, then get the key, put it in the door" well that is somewhat true. That is actually the jist of it. But in the game the "room" will morph, the "key" will morph and the "door" will also morph. Your character will morph. So you might find yourself at one point, chasing the key as a wolf, the key being a rabbit, the door being your wolf den. Or you might be the man, climbing up a tall mountain, to put a flag (the Key) on top of the mountain (the Door). Whenever he puts the "Key" in the "Door" the room morphs and changes. And sometimes even the man. I want to catch the philosophical aspect of this story. Of life, death, emptiness, obsession, passion and isolation. A deep story. And the actual gameplay is countered with a vivid variety of different styles. At least that's what's the aim and goal. Sorry for including some game design (I suppose?) it just felt extremely difficult to deliver the "picture", if you get what I mean, without it. -Osvir Feedback is much appreciated.

well, i dont have much to say except, thats a pretty cool idea. Great example of thinking outside the box.

Keep it up!!

I think it's a compelling idea, but that there's somethings that you should be wary of. I think there does need to be an overarching mystery to what the room is, which is where you might be going with his internal narration. It shouldn't become 'I'm hunting a wolf then climbing a mountain or walking across the room' it should stay 'I'm trying to get out of/figure out what this room is. I think that the room change should dynamic enough to where the player wants to see what it will change into next. If done wrong, it could get monotonous, but done well I think you ought to be able to avoid that.

Quote: 'I'm hunting a wolf then climbing a mountain or walking across the room' it should stay 'I'm trying to get out of/figure out what this room is. I think that the room change should dynamic enough to where the player wants to see what it will change into next.

Of course, it is a parallell process. And a progressive process. It begins with "I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!" and turns into "What is this room, where is it? How does it work?" etc. etc. later on he will turn into "hybris" status. He has fought through all these "levels" and he begins to think he can do anything, that he is a superman or whatever and nothing can surprise him (But I am unsure about this, I am also thinking that every level SHOULD be a surprise to the character, and thusly he gets no hybris). He will go through a lot of different emotions too.

And as a wolf (example) he will be wondering why he is a wolf and how he became one. But he will be affected by the transformation and gain a "personality"/"instinct" of a wolf too "What's that smell!? Smells good. Have to get it! Have to get it! Rabbit! Must eat, smells soooo good! Yeaah!!" or something =P of course it will be written much better and so on but just came up with it now.

There is something else I want to say too, and I got it on the tip of my tongue but can't seem to recall what it was >.>

When I saw this, I immediately thought of Silent Hill 4: The Room and figured you were mostly just copying its mechanics. You were this guy in his apartment room who went to different places as he traveled through his apartment. He couldn't get out of the room, but through portals, he was transported to different places.

This reminds me of it since it dealt with basically what you're doing. If you don't know this game, go research it and maybe play it. It may help you do what you're trying to do, or it may make you redevelop your idea somewhat. It's up to you what you do with it.

From my perspective, writing wise, narration is going to be your keypoint. As for how you will progress with it, I'm not so sure. There isn't really much to go off of other than saying to let the writing increase with the range of stuff that the character can interact with as he progresses through the game.

I'd say the biggest problem here would be repetition. If the player knows that every time the room morphs (and believe me, they will realise a lot sooner than you might think) they need to find the metaphor for the key and the metaphor for the lock, no matter what you do it will get monotonous. Now don't get me wrong, the industry is rife with repetitive games! Just something to be wary of. Perhaps, if mixed in with the wolf/rabbit scenarios there were others where he/she was in different time periods or situations that provoked interactioon and further puzzle solving, that could be cool as well. A randomising of the next level could also promote great gameplay i.e. on your first playthrough the rooms were a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h, etc, second time through they're a,z,r,d,o,w, and so on. You could also maybe explore a scenario where he occupies different people and has to accomplish certain things as that person.

Zido: Never heard about the game but it do sound similar =/ but nonetheless, this isn't directed to horror or any genre really. So in that manner it could/would be different, I hope.

And thank you for the advice ^^ I'll see what I will do.

Taerata: Interesting idea. I have tons of ideas for this game. But in the case of this becoming reality (like ever) I wish to hold some ideas to myself. Or else there will be way too much spoiling.

Of course, the player will realize what happens with the morphs and all. Quite quickly too, and I actually want that. That's what I am aiming for. I want the "thrill" to be "What comes next?" and I hope it will not become "Argh! I'm tired of these morphs!" or whatever.

When I said the Room will morph I meant that everything morphs. Everything except the man's mentality. The gameplay and the interface can change, but his narration and mind is still the same. The red line throughout the game.

One could see it as a series of mini-games, but with one consistant story that binds it all together.

The wolf/rabbit is not everything too it either by the way. Imagine a huge dog coming out of the forest, a hunters dog that is. It chases you, barks at you, then comes the hunter, etc. etc. so you have to get the rabbit, "avoid" the dog and dodge the bullets =P the thought I had about this was "You always look down upon dogs in games, resident evil as an example, imagine being the same size as a dog. In FPS, wouldn't it be a lot bigger and more intimidating then?" ;D

Thanks for your advice too by the way ^^

I sent you a PM Osvir.