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Welcome to Earl the Tomb Robber Devlog #3: Let’s talk combat!
I’ve already mentioned that while Earl the Tomb Robber will feature enemy combat, I don’t intend for that to be a major mechanic in the game. What does that mean exactly? Let me explain. I grew up playing narrative and puzzle based adventure games and that’s where my love of video games is rooted. Those games rarely had any combat mechanics at all, so those skill levels never really advanced as my gaming matured. These days I love the modern cinematic, single player action/adventure games like Uncharted, God of War or The Last of Us, but I enjoy those games the most when I play them on “Easy” or “Story Mode”. I love the storytelling and the player agency in the gameplay, but can do without the frustration of dying over and over until I “get good”. I play video games for the fantasy of it, that mean I want to feel like a Bad-Ass right out of the gate without having to spend countless hours training and actually becoming skilled. That’s too much like real life! Ugh!! But having enemies in a game does more than just provide a potentially frustrating challenge. I use enemies to convey a number of different ideas important to game design. One of those is “signposting” player progress. Many games use enemies to let the player know where they need to go next. It’s a common expression that if there are enemies in the area, you are going the right way! Earl uses this same ideology to help direct the player. Enemies are also an important aspect to making the world feel alive. The different areas on the “Island of the dead” are each inhabited by different kinds of surprising creatures out to do Earl harm! They are also important to the storytelling aspects of the game. Who are they? Why are they there? What do they want? And while we won't be exploring these questions in depth for every enemy, their presence in the world helps to expand the overall mysterious nature of the island. Combat is still very much a work in progress. Currently the player has two types of attacks, a heavy attack and a light attack. They can also dodge out of the way when an enemy strikes. I’m hesitant to add more depth to the mechanic because I don’t want the fighting to take a priority role in this game that's more about exploration and puzzle solving. But I would like to hear what players expect and want from lite-combat in a game. Please share your thoughts in the comments! Your feedback will only make the game better! Thanks and happy gaming! Don't forget to WISHLIST the game on STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3522010/Earl_the_Tomb_Robber/
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Hi! Welcome to Earl the Tomb Robber Devlog number two!
Today, let’s talk about what this game is and what my goals are as a game designer and writer. Most of my life I’ve been an adventure game designer. In the 90s I fell in love with Lucas Arts graphic adventure games. Before too long I was making my own adventure games in FLASH and that led to a career at Telltale games where I continued to develop and explore what narrative driven games could be. At the same time, some of my favorite games to actually play were 3rd person single player action-adventure games! Tomb Raider, Uncharted, the latest God of War games, and smaller games like Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Stray and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice are some of my favorites that I never get tired of playing.. And because I’m “THAT” kind of gamer, I generally play in Story Mode! Not sorry. I’ve always wanted to make a game like that but most of my professional experience was with adventure games with deep roots in their Point and Click origins. Instead of allowing that to be a hindrance, instead I hope to use that knowledge of interactive storytelling as a strength and make the kind of game that I really want to play. A game that takes the exploration and adventure elements of the action games combines it with the challenge of puzzles and narrative choices that traditional adventure games offer. Narratively, the themes of this game are more personal, dealing with what it’s like to feel like a broken person. What kinds of things do we do to cope with isolation and loneliness? How do we go about discovering who we are as a person? This is my personal journey as well as Earl’s (and maybe by extension… the player’s?”). It’s a journey that I’m currently on, so I don’t know what the answers are yet, or where this will ultimately lead. Making this game is sorta like drafting a map as I go. In future devlogs I plan to go deeper into detail on the actual building of the game. I have a few ideas for upcoming topics, so let me know in the comments what you’d like to see next! DEVLOG TOPICS -------------------
Hello. Before I really dive into a full on Game Dev blog, I thought I'd better introduce myself first. My Name is Mark Darin. For 15 years I was a professional Designer/Writer/Creative Director at Telltale Games. I worked on many awesome games with some super talented people! It was the job of my dreams... until it wasn't. But that's another story altogether. According to Wikipedia, Mark Darin is an American video game designer and writer. He was the co-designer of CSI: Hard Evidence, Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Tales of Monkey Island, and Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent. He also wrote the second episode of The Walking Dead, Starved for Help." The truth of the matter is that I'm really just some guy who is going through some shit in his life right now... just like everyone else. But I have the fortunate ability to have the knowledge to create video games, and I'm hoping that by addressing some of these issues in the game itself, I can better get to know myself and maybe gain some insight into dealing with the issues in a healthy way. And if I'm SUPER lucky, maybe this dumb little game will help other people find their way too. I'm just getting started with this project, and I expect it'll take me quite a while to finish, but you're welcome to join me in this experiment... maybe learn something new, discover that even a moron can become a professional game developer, or just offer up some helpful advice or criticisms. Just... you know... don't be a dick about it. The internet can be a tough place for people looking for validation, so do your best to raise people up, not put them down. Thanks! |
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