I am still trying to figure out what kind of style I want to utilize in the creation of this game. Since your character has a "Virtual Representation Virus", he's going to be somewhat formed as he would be in real life, if maybe for his own preference in the aesthetics of it, but the game is going to be in the future, and currently Operating Systems are confined to binary code and have no physical representation.
I was thinking that the OS' in the future would be reliant on a physical space representation, utilizing holographs where all the data is represented by a visual form. This would make more sense to why Anti-virii applications are represented by soldiers/human forms. How cool would it be if everything in your computer was like a small city, such as the 90's cartoon ReBoot. The way technology is going right now, it's only a matter of time before we all have personal heads up display, whether it is built into our glasses, contacts, or is an implant (which is least likely, considering the controversy of biomodification without 'need'), I feel it will eventually happen.
A lot of what I am going to need to accomplish with this game is immersing the player in a virtual world. Now, what comes to mind when you say the word "virtual"? Is it a land akin to the endless polygonal halls of Tron or is it an avatar? I think everyone will soon adopt a virtual representation of themselves as a cross-platform avatar. If our world as a whole is so dependent on what we look like, why not alter it? Who says we can't look like we want to look in a virtual world? Online interaction is primarily a facade anyways, we don't talk the same, we don't act the same, we are able to personify our inner thoughts without instant repremand. Why not take a virtual representation to a new level then?
Back to the primary question at hand, the art style. I'm really torn from whether I want to design the game around polygonal/vector shapes and stick to the look of the aforementioned Tron, making it somewhat similar to Rez, or whether it should look like a real city, just have a bunch of binary floating around and make it similar to what the Matrix tried to portray. Either way, the technical aspect will be shown, but it's a matter of will a bystander be able to tell what's going on, will the player feel like they are experiencing life inside of a computer?
If you guys want, let me know what you think. Maybe I'm thinking too much into this, but I sorta have to decide on a visual style before I can make the visuals.
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As for the surroundings, I am really thinking about a balance between the 'real city' look and a truly virtual/electronic feel. Maybe have the concept of an actual city but make it seem like it's constantly changing/moving(in place)/transforming...does that make any sense? As with any computer, the memory and information is always being displaced, moved and changed, so maybe try to portray this in the surroundings. Like, buildings could resemble strings of code in the form of an actual structure? But the strings of code would be in a constant state of change.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly with X. Its a constantly changing structure that :Could: be represented by buildings. It has a certain appeal, actually. Your cityscape would change very, very rapidly, though. Things are in constant addition and moving. Think about deletion or reformatting. That would completely move :most: of the city, except for the unmovable files of course.
ReplyDeleteIt would be like a moving game of chess, or hide and seek and I'd rather like that.
Anyway, I'm sure I'm very off about all of what you're thinking so tell me if I'm wrong. I'm very curious about what you think.
I like the idea of Tron style computer environment visuals. To me this style really invokes a feeling of being in and a part of a PC, traveling along the data pathways and such.
ReplyDeleteIn your Game Document Design you mention defeating enemies until you have enough energy to open gateways. I picture this working sort of like "de Blob" on the Wii, which isn't a bad thing at all. Speaking of Wii, you don't mention WiiWare in your Game Document Design, but are you considering it? To me it seems like the kind of title that would go over well with many users of the widely spread console. I'm sure you have a reason for it so I figured I'd ask. Anyhow, I will definitely keep an eye on this project.
I was also wondering about the Wii...yourbrother is right, it would certainly go over well with the demographic that utilizes that console.
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