The next 3 months I'll make 3 games about nature & what inspires me.
making 1 game per month
I'm currently doing an exchange semester in Scotland at Abertay University. One of the courses I picked allows me to pick about ANY project which has to do with arts and computers and develop it over the semester.
Immediately I thought this was a great opportunity to make a little game.
Immediately I thought this was a great opportunity to make a little game.
In our first feedback session my lecturer Ryan Locke advised me to consider: what if instead of 1 bigger game I made 1 game a month? While this sounded intimidating at first, I think it's a great opportunity to get better at making games. With all the prototypes I made before, I should be able to do this (hopefully)!
So the next 3 months I will create 3 small games about nature & other things that fascinate me.
So the next 3 months I will create 3 small games about nature & other things that fascinate me.
FIRST PROTOTYPE: A TERRARIUM GAME
Terrariums are super interesting - they are like little, self-sustaining worlds in glass jars.
Once you close put on the lid they need little to no maintenance. It's like a tiny ecosystem really.
Once you close put on the lid they need little to no maintenance. It's like a tiny ecosystem really.
In my first prototype I want to make a little terrarium "toy", where the players actions affect the ecosystem as whole.
I'm not sure how exactly it'll play out, but I'm thinking of centering the game around the needs of a little monster living in the terrarium. It wants a home and some food. You as player can help the little monster by exploring the world with your mouse, e.g. dropping seeds to grow new plants.
I'm not sure how exactly it'll play out, but I'm thinking of centering the game around the needs of a little monster living in the terrarium. It wants a home and some food. You as player can help the little monster by exploring the world with your mouse, e.g. dropping seeds to grow new plants.
First Sketches: Cute monsters & the world
Here are some initial Sketches to explore the design for the "monsters" living in the jar. I also did some sketches for the setting. Eventually I want to make a real-world terrarium and base the game world on this (I made quite some back in Germany, but none in Scotland yet).
TIP: If you want to make your own terrarium, take a look at this tutorial I made.
How I DO Visual research
Beside the sketches I also created a so-called "moodboard" to Gather Inspiration for colors, setting and mood.
TIP: I use a private Tumblr Blog to gather inspiration for later projects (www.tumblr.com/blog_auth/tinyruin Password: Treecave). This is a great tool to gather inspiring images and have them ready when you need them.
There are two principles I use with this:
There are two principles I use with this:
- tag-based: author name & keywords for each image -> Makes it easy to find related art, e.g. all artworks related to "forest" or "water" (click on the little chain/link icon to see the tags of an image).
- easy to post there: I use the Post to Tumblr extension for Chrome. It allows me to post images from anywhere by right-clicking on them.
That's it for now! After the sketches and the visual research, the next steps will be to develop those and turn them into a working game (for you to play)!
Thank you for reading!
Did you create a terrarium before? What fascinates you about it?
And if you could do any game (regardless of skill), what game would you make in 1 month?
And if you could do any game (regardless of skill), what game would you make in 1 month?
