So, I spent a lot more time doodling in my notepad when the ball dropped this ludum dare than I did my first time around.  My idea was a single player split-screen game in which your actions on one side directly affect the other.  Essentially, the player controls two characters, each with their own little puzzle.  As you move one character in their world, the opposing character will move the same.

Initially, my idea for the story was to go with a boy and a girl who fall in love but are separated by this void (the split in the screen).  They must work together to reunite.  That’s why the colors are blue and pink in this screenshot depicting one of my original scenes.

Screenshot of my Unity3D setup from earlier

After returning to my notepad to jot down ideas, the idea came to me of the boy not trying to reach a girl, but of a boy who recently lost his grandfather.  My grandfather was a huge supporter of me many years ago when I decided to become a freelance programmer, so this story holds a ton of emotion for me personally.  I’m hoping that it will breed creativity in the long run.

Once I had settled on that idea, the mechanic of having the boy and his grandfathers spirit on the same screen was making less sense.  When in doubt, throw it out, right? (wise words from another indiedev’s father)  So, I scrapped the split screen for a simpler design, in which the grandfathers spirit is in the clouds looking down on the boy.  When controlling the grandfather, he can carry the boy across gaps in the map, and will later be able to interact by making it rain, etc.

This is the latest game-play video, which shows how the grandfather can help the boy continue on his journey… sort of a metaphor for how my grandfather still has a huge impact on my life today, many years after his passing.  This game is absolutely a dedication to him, and come hell or high-water, it’ll be submitted in time.

My goal is to avoid any direct discussion of death and/or after life, which may seem odd, but I want to focus on the story rather than trying to evoke any particular emotion from the player.  Basically, I’m going for more of a cute story with sad elements than of a depressing one with heavy emotional undertones.  The emotion should be brought to the game by the player, not me.  So, I ditched the dark backgrounds and dark greys for more upbeat blues and whites.  I think the color changes already give the game a more friendly atmosphere, so hopefully that can carry into the story as well.

Enough babbling for now, time for a break and then I’m going to be adding more intro levels that walk the player through the basic mechanics.  Hope everyone else’s LD is going well.