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Patrick R

[Dev Log] Christmas Trees

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I have already worked out the whole story in my head, this thread is mostly to pressure myself to write it down and finish it as a game. It's not going to be as technically audacious as What Happened To Us (which I've very slowly been working on in TyrannoBuilder since the last game jam), no worrying about integrating sound or anything like that.

 

It's a sci-fi story about suicide with the holiday season (I think probably starting around mid-November) as a backdrop. It's based on my own experiences with seasonal affective disorder and suicidal ideation. It'll probably be a huge bummer. It is ok if you don't want to play it.

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Wrote the first twenty screens. I'm happy with how everything is turning out, but the hardest part remains finding ways to give the player choices that feel expressive while not actually disrupting the entirely linear nature of the story. There's a few more "gamey" set-pieces I have planned but they are totally deterministic and loop-based.

 

The whole structure story is cyclical so I'm trying to figure out more ways to incorporate that motif on the micro level as well as the macro. I already have a tendency to lean towards ham-fisted metaphors with my writing so I've put a strict "no circle symbolism" rule on myself.

 

I am going ahead with the title I was leaning towards before: Christmas Trees. 

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Wrote about 60 new screens for this. Didn't save. Lost everything. Dumb dumb dumb.

 

Watched Into the Abyss, a Werner Herzog documentary about death row and capital punishment, that ended up being great research, suggesting a lot of great details I hadn't considered. Also watched The Bridge, the documentary about people committing suicide off of the Golden Gate bridge. Wasn't good at all, very shallow and aimless.

 

If you are interested in being a "Beta Tester" for this, send me a message and I'll link you to my rough draft when I'm done. Basically I'll mostly need feedback on pacing, since this NEEDS to be under 45 minutes (preferably under 30) or no one will play it through at all.

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Wrote about 60 new screens for this. Didn't save. Lost everything. Dumb dumb dumb.

 

If you are interested in being a "Beta Tester" for this, send me a message and I'll link you to my rough draft when I'm done. Basically I'll mostly need feedback on pacing, since this NEEDS to be under 45 minutes (preferably under 30) or no one will play it through at all.

Oh nooooo :( Hope it's still in your head.

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