Being a teacher in real life has its advantages and the past two weeks holidays is one of the perks of the job! I work two jobs to keep myself and my family away from the creditors and it gets to be a bit tiring so it is nice to see the holidays come along and only have to worry about working one day a week rather than the normal six. This break though I decided to do something that I have always wanted to do and it has consumed my two weeks almost completely.
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| From ffffound.com |
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was taking a week off from gaming. This was so I could work on my own project and I have to say that first week was not as easy as I had thought it would be. You see, I had the concept of the game and some ideas as to how the system would work but once I got into writing that system down I realised that the system that was in my head was not as balanced as it should or could be, So week one turned around and it was not so much about writing the system down than getting the system right.
This past week I was sure I would have a working system to use and work the setting around. But of course I was still at the point that I was in week one except now the system in my head seemed to have function, balance and grace. I like my system as it stands and cannot wait until I get to test it with players. But the week I thought I would be spending with my setting was actually spent writing down the system. This started as a little bit of brevity at the start but the further I got into it I realised if I wrote the system with a bit more “meat” that it would be less work after the first round of play testing.
It is Saturday afternoon here in Tasmania as I write this blog and tomorrow is my daughter’s birthday so I know that no work will get done on the system tomorrow (she turns 15 so it is a Lord of the Rings marathon as she has never seen them). Of the system I have only the combat/damage material left to complete (if you count magic as part of the setting which I do) and once this is done it will be looking for play testers. I already have a small group of friends who were curious as to what I was up to helping me review the work that I have done and they all have been sworn to secrecy through this. They are positive and helpful keeping me motivated.
I have also spoken to an artist about my project so I can get some original images that belong to my setting to inspire me. I work well with images to inspire me and though I say I started this a couple of weeks ago it was earlier than that when I got a group of images together for inspiration, some of which I include in this post as a little bit more of a teaser for you if you are following the process of this game. I am eagerly awaiting some of the original art but I do not want to pressure my artist. I know she will do a good job. I also have a contact that may be able to get me in contact with another artist who might be keen for this type of project so I have my fingers crossed!
So, what am I able to reveal to you now? What kind of details am I comfortable with sharing? Well they are two different questions as I am very uncomfortable sharing anything but I will share three points with you, my readers, as you have given me the confidence to think that people like my ideas and they have value. In short, you have given me the confidence to take this step in designing my game.
- The working title of the game at this stage is Detritus (pronounced dih–trahy–tuh s)
- One of the two major influences is the Horror genre, in particular survival horror
- The game is set now in a reality/plane/dimension that is attached to our own
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| From urlesque.com |