As a small easter gift let's do a small review of the project. I know that some of you were interested in the story, others more in the status of the game so I will try to cover all of them.
Tribute
The idea behind the whole project was evolving over time. When I started I wanted just to recreate game 1-1 with a small twist. Full 3D. Simple, straightforward, and not something that I was really happy about. My decision to modernize the models did not help for long. While I was playing the Uncharted game long after its release it strokes me: the game I was making was not something that I wanted to do, LBA deserved more.
I scratched everything and started again, unrestrained by old design and using the original game as a guide to tell the same story with the same character in the same universe just everything more mature and presented in the way that I believed it deserves. This took a long time to figure out and it still evolves over time. Now that the 2.21 team makes an official remake I will try to share some insight into my vision for the game (story spoiler alert).
When I played the original game as a kid I saw it as a fairy tale and never put too much thought into the details of the world. Years of development made me lead to the conclusion that there is a lot more to it than just the tale of a guy who tries to save his fiance and as a result of this saves the world. There is a lot of darkness in this universe. There is Prison from which people do not return back, did you ever ask why nobody approaches as if they are afraid of death. Everywhere there is fear, military, and surveillance. Yet the majority of people just live their life like nothing happening. When you realize this is somehow terrifying.
The thing is that I never wanted to change this part of the game. I love it and wanted to build on it. That is why the tribute would not start inside the prison. It would start with a dream. Where you can explore the ancient temple of the Sendel. This place is where you will learn controls and at the same time explore a back story that before was written on the panels when starting the game. You would walk thru this time capsule and find your way to the place where you will experience a vision of the end of the world.
When you woke up you are at home in your own bed. Zoe looks at you worried. You are one of the people who live a normal life, if not for this reoccurring dream. Zoe is dressed to work as the ferry broke, again. She is a mechanic. While leaving Zoe tells you that you should maybe get some pills for better sleep and reminds you to not forget about today's dinner. She is preparing something special. You later learn that this is your anniversary and you have more plans than just dinner. You plan to propose to her on this occasion you just need to pick up an engagement ring.
This small setup adds so much to the original game. You first have a proper introduction to the dream. You can get used to controls, learn the story of the universe feel that you are the part of dreams we hear about so much. Then we have time to learn about Citadel Island before landing in Citadel Prison. Finally, you can better understand the connection between Twinsen and Zoe.
There is even more to it. The broken ferry blocks you from leaving Citadel Island before finishing the prolog, and why in the 2nd game we see a newer model of the boat. Zoe being a mechanic explains her fixing the car in the 2nd game and adds extra depth to her character. Finally, dinner explains why when we meet her after escaping the prison she is nicely dressed.
This is just a small portion of the changes I planned to do. I'm able to talk for hours about all the details of different characters, places, and how I planned to do but because of the limited scope of the project, you will ever only see the Citadel Island part of it. But I try to create it in a way that the deeper you will look into it the more different aspects of the game will be revealed.
The Game
"yeah, no point rushing it, especially after you've been working on it for 50 years already"
Friend
There is a little bit of truth in the above sentence. It really feels like I doing it forever. The fact that I do this in my spare time, alone and with custom tech does not really helps with the velocity of the production.
You probably thinking why then I do not use some existing engines: Unity, Unreal, or Godot? I openly acknowledge that having full creative control over tech direction, getting lost, making wrong choices, and correcting them is part of the fun and the experience for me. After all of these years, I do not think that this is a really bad thing.
And don't understand me wrong I believe that everyone should make choices for themselves. If you think that you want to use ready tech do it, if not do it too. In the end, it is up to you. My choice is to continue with the direction that I choose even if some people think that what I do is stupid.
The reality is that in some way, my decision may be stupid maybe even impossible. But who cares, while I do what I do I learn new skills, polish old ones, and grow as a developer and in the fact a person. This is very important because, without all of that, my vision of the project would not be what I present to you. Great things just need time.
And oh boy this project consumes a lot of time and effort. Still, I think that this is justified by looking at its scope. To give you some overview of how big it is, I'm right now maintaining ~ 450 000 lines of code. There is on top of that everything that is needed for the game like 3D models, textures, and animations.
There is also a further iteration on Rabbibunies that I decided to move a little bit more into the old cartoonish feel. Mostly done tweaking to the nose and eyes. I kind of like it more now compared to the old one.
There is also a new full-body version of the statues. I will be using them all around the dream sequence so having a little bit more variation is always good.
No comments:
Post a Comment