This week, our team managed to come up with an idea for a game through brainstorming sessions (both in person and online) that explore different approaches we could take for developing a 2D platformer. The game we came up with, Dark Age, will be a side-scrolling stealth adventure game where you play as a character named Solis who is trying to survive against the darkness and the creatures that lurk within the shadows to reach a sanctuary of light above the clouds. With this concept, we were able to figure out our primary mechanics (walking, jumping, hiding, tossing objects) and the general story behind the characters and the world they inhabit. Thus far, we have developed concept art and sketches for our game, exploring various different visual styles that we will deliberate on and choose from in the days to come. These include general aesthetics for our character, the enemy creatures, and the game world.
Aside from this, we were also able to determine the gameplay experience we would want to create for our players and to what kind of audience we would want our game to be marketed towards. We decided on casual explorer types of all genders, ages 18 and above, as we determined that our game would involve dark themes and visuals. On top of this, we were also able to outline our project timeline to help keep us on track with the development of our game. For next week, we intend to further enhance our concept, solidifying the foundations of our game and establishing concrete details about its mechanics, interactions, and narrative elements. We will take into account the feedback that we received from the greenlight review and the proposal document and integrate appropriate suggestions into our game. We will also decide on the visual style of our game and begin creating the assets we'll need (i.e. player avatar, initial maps, interactive/decorative objects, enemy NPCs, etc).
More concept art and sketches:
