#2: Earnest beginnings
Project update
I’ve been hard at work planning for the year. Let’s talk about it!
There are so many distinct activities to perform while I try to set a plan in motion to build this game that it would all be a bit overwhelming if I wasn’t driven by an unholy fascination with ordering things. Do I love having too much to do? No, not at all. Do I feel more at ease perpetually scanning my administrative surroundings in order not to feel like a hunted animal? Absolutely. Excluding the specifics, I:
Updated the Vessel of Argeus section of my website with some additional basic information.
I played four short games as research for my own gameplay and thematic purposes / exploration:
What Remains of Edith Finch (2.5 hours - a mystery about how 4 generations of the same family died [not a horror, but unsettling]. 10/10 would cry again.)
Coming Out Simulator 2014 (25 minutes - a simple, brutal portrayal of the challenges some LGBTQIA+ people face when they need love the most)
Girl Things (10 minutes - a cute and uplifting moment in a trans life)
Melanie & the Magic Forest (25 minutes - help an alien, a mama dog and some mushroom people have a nice day)
Agreed dates with the wonderful Ylaria Rogers of Heart Strings Theatre Co for our workshopping of the script for The Vessel of Argeus (Stage 1 of the project).
Ordered 3 books to learn more about Unreal Engine, on the recommendation of Kane Easterbrook, founder of Pacen Life Games, whom I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting to at PAX 2023.
If you want to know, they are this one, this other one, and that one.
On Saturday I kicked off the Game Dev Unlocked 7-day game challenge, which is to build a game in the Unity engine in just 7 days! Watch this space next week for a link to the game. At the time of posting, this means I’ve already finished days 1 & 2.
It won’t be built from the ground up because of the time frame, but the whole point is to let go of doing everything yourself, and make use of pre-made resources to explore compact storytelling.
Started writing my PowerPoint and video presentation for Stage 2 of The Vessel of Argeus which is due 6 months from now.
Broke digital ground on a Game Design Document for The Vessel of Argeus as a way to help me categorise and order my thoughts over the next 12 months (and cut down on the spiralling number of separate documents with notes and ideas in them…).
Personal reflections
As I start getting ready to write the script for a game that is based on my own life, there’s a lot going on, administration aside. Writing the original text that serves as the basis for the story, a short 20-minute summary of key moments in my life, was an exercise in both vulnerability and storytelling. It feels both light and also heavy to be about to pick that story up and expand it, giving it new and bigger wings, while remaining faithful to the feelings, the undercurrents and the themes within. I’ve already had a number of moments, just in the last week while daydreaming about what’s to come, where I’ve felt like I was in therapy, in the best possible way. The speaking aloud of words, without practice and without hesitation, leads you to surprise yourself, and say things you didn’t know you were going to say. Sometimes in this way, we are both our own coach, while being our own student.
In the last week, I’ve had more than a couple moments where I wrote down a bulletpoint, stopped, said “Oh, $*#@” out loud, and had to stand up immediately and pace about the room for a while so that a realisation could sink in.
Love you all. See you next week.
