Sentimental Gamer

So I says to Macy I says…

Stage IV, at least in my mental concept of it, is almost like a a game that you’re playing within somebody’s mind. And I don’t mean Psychonauts style… I almost envision the player as being this person in this dark, cool environment, and they’re watching things happen visually (via the photographic visual representation), but they’re also privy to the thoughts of their character, which are fading in and out as selectable dialog choices.  In that sense, the dialog interface is hopefully a little more than a cosmetic variation on the standard “pick yer poison”, 4 item dialog choice pane in most adventure games. It’s purpose is not “your character will say one of the following, and the others are discarded as unused possibilities”. Moreso, it’s “here’s what’s floating around in your head, and so you’re going to say one of them… (or not, if the silent option is available at that particular point)”. All the options are there for two reasons: 1.) So you can choose it, but 2.) So that you the player read it, giving you an insight into what your character feels. Does that make sense? Of course, this is more of a content thing that an underlying design fact; whether this theory of how the dialog interface will influence play is true will depend on what I put into the game after the engine is done.

Which… is gonna be awhile…

Here’s to being 8+ months behind where I wish I was in Stage IV’s creation!