With the previous Narrative Design ideals in mind, as well as the information gained through the writing of my Thesis, I set out to properly plan out the plot of Scrimshaw’s prototype.
Firstly, I came across a new GDC video of Greg Kasavin and Darren Korb discussing narrative design in Hades, just my luck. Throughout, a couple of documents were introduced, a chart for planning character designs, casting voice actors, and cataloguing voice lines. While I saved these for later use, they reminded me of a similar chart I had once seen at the V&A Video Games exhibit 4 years back.
The document was used by Thatgamecompany to design Journey’s story and mood progression, and felt apt for designing a short self contained story.
With these in mind I set about designing my own version, removing some of the more complex needs as Journey is an abstract complex emotional story told through sound and visual design. I simplified it down to a few categories, and started filling out the details for the first few Regions.
I chose to design the story Region by region as they’re the easiest self contained units to design narrative progress around. The plan for the final game will be to have regions lock off as you leave them. This will be justified by the lore of the realm, with Davvy Jones controlling passage through it and taking a toll from those that traverse it. In the prototype I will have to be a little more creative as it is set before the events of the main game.
The Story
Scrimshaw Prototype takes place many centuries before the events of the main game. When I say time moves slowly in The Locker, what I mean is that progress is slow, with no direct material need for constant change, they take place over prolonged periods of time.
The initial settlement in The Locker was Mevar, established and inhabited by the original denizens, and grown as new denizens arrived in The Locker. Over time, a rift was created in Mevar between those who first settled, and the newer arrivals, as their cultures and lifestyles clashed. This led to the separation of Mevar with the new settlers moving to a new are of the realm, which they dubbed Shurrick.
The prototype takes place during these formative moments, as the player, inhabiting a new denizen of Mevar, is sent to deliver supplies to Shurrick on a makeshift trawler. You’re tasked by the denizens of Mevar to collect scrap and valuables to take to Mevar as part of the separation agreement.
Throughout the game you’ll encounter members of the realm drawing you in different directions, towards helping Mevar by siphoning supplies back on the voyage, or towards Shurrick by sticking to your original mission. There will be trials along the way, as well as choices to venture into unknown areas and gather more valuable supplies to ship to Shurrick.
Once you arrive in Shurrick, the game will end with a reflection by the characters there on the decisions you made along your voyage (not omnisciently, just relative to expectations)
Regions
Mevar
Mevar is where the player starts their journey. They’ll be introduced to the basic mechanics, their mission, and have the opportunity to discover the thoughts of some of the local denizens through their interactions with the shops and characters in the port.
Realm Region 1
This is the first region out the port gate, it will contain an abundance of scrap and give the player a chance to figure out the harpoon, inventory management and fuel consumption, planning the rest of their journey.
Realm Region 2
In this zone, not only will the player be introduced to their first obstacles (likely in the form of sea mines as environmental obstacles) but will also be given a choice of direction to take depending on the information they’ve gathered and their choice.
- Move straight ahead towards Shurrick into Realm Region 3, and avoid any conflict.
- Move north into Optional Region 1, where an old curmudgeon resides, hoarding a supply of delicious scrumpy that Shurrick would surely enjoy. This region leads back into Realm Region 3.
- Move south into Optional Region 2, where an old gambling aficionado will put you through a series of trials, testing your wits and luck. On the other side, you’ll have it all or you’ll have nothing. This region leads back into Realm Region 3.
I aim for this region to introduce the first adversarial mechanic of the game, that will be elaborated upon in Region 3, but especially in Optional Region 1.
Realm Region 3
This is the region directly previous to Shurrick, it will step up the difficulty with more adversarial elements like Sea Mines, and navigating the region towards Shurrick will be a little more difficult. Depending on your angle of approach, a different set of paths will present itself, as well as some special encounters like a suspicious man sitting just out of sight of the Shurrick gate.
Optional Region 1: Scrumpy Battle
Taking the path north from Region two leads to a special region, where an old geezah sits atop his makeshift palace, searching for thieves and raggamuffins there to steal his scrumpy. I’ll be setting this region up with a number of sea mines, cover to hide from the old man’s cannon, and once you reach him he’ll desist and you may either take his scrumpy, or leave him a gift in trade for it. Exit this region on the opposite side of the old man to find yourself in Region 3.
Optional Region 2: Gamblers Hole
Entering Region 2, players may see a narrow sea path to the south leading to Optional Region 2. The plan for this region is to have it be a short gauntlet of challenges imposed on you by an avid gambler. Each challenge will cost you a valuable part of your inventory, but reward you with a more valuable item, if you do manage to win. This challenge will hopefully make players choose between a sure success, hauling their cargo to Shurrick, or to have fun and possibly have an even greater success at the risk of losing the precious cargo they have collected.
Shurrick
Finally, you arrive at Shurrick, the gate is manned by a little sign that says to come right in. There’s a short path up to a central hub where all the settlers of the newly founded Shurrick are having a drink. Constructions sites for what will be the settlement’s infrastructure line the sides of the path. On arrival to the town hall, a big janky looking pub slapped together with loose parts, the conclusion of the game occurs, likely a series of conversations, followed by a short closing “cinematic” where the results of your journey are shown.
Character Design and Conclusion
Similarly, I created some sheets for character design to begin ideating the personalities and speech patterns for each of the characters present in the prototype.
Nest steps will be to finish up this story planning, nail out the details and connect the dots of information provided to the player, with the outcome of following that info i.e. Player told of the Scrumpy Lord -> Player goes to the Scrumpy Lord region and encounters more or less what they expected. Stay tuned I guess
Sadly I can’t upload images right now as it seems that the MyBlog is on the fritz. Will include Char Design Sheet as appendix of next log if possible