Art Update: Fall 2015

Been a while since I posted any art! Here are some of the pieces I have been working on this semester:

Project Update: Knight of the Tower of Time

During the semester I have been working on a side project, a small adventure/RPG game inspired by classic roguelikes.

At the moment, I am planning for 4 'acts', which are each moderately sized overworlds with 2 possible endings. The player will have 30 in-game days to complete these acts, with occasional opportunities to expand their time limit. Each ending will affect the outcome in the final level, placing the player on the path of 'Sun' or 'Moon', forcing them to adapt a different strategy than the one they preferred.

I don't have very many notes to add at the moment as I am only developing the base system at the moment. Here are some shots I have taken during the development process:













I have added a Knight of the Tower of Time tag as with my other projects, so if there are any major developments in the process I will be sure to add them in another post.

Puzzle Analysis: Deponia

The puzzle I chose to analyze comes from the adventure game Deponia, by Daedalic Entertainment, a publisher that deals almost exclusively in such games. As an adventure game, it uses the classic point and click to interact and move scheme characteristic of the genre. However it follows the more modern trends in these sorts of games and forgoes complicated interaction menus in favor of a context-sensitive mouse; that is, the action accomplished by clicking will vary by object but will always be relevant.

The first 'level' is fairly straightforward. You have a list of things you need to pack for Rufus' non-specific 'escape', and must gather them from around your house. This is a common puzzle throughout the entire game, where a great number of your objectives are to gather some recipe or list of things and then assemble the 'key' item to proceed to further chapters. These lists take several different puzzles to accomplish, so I will focus on just one object: The socks.

A common theme in this game is a massive abundance of items. Generally speaking, you will start off by searching every place you can go to, and talking to all of the available characters, accumulating a wealth of junk and odd advice that you will later start applying to the solution.

Relevant to this puzzle you will come across a blowtorch, 3 socks of different colors, a pot, a fork, detergent, and a number of angry notes left by Rufus' house-owner/ex-girlfriend. You might think that having 3 socks you could make a pair, but Rufus doesn't want mismatched socks! Thus, you must find some way to make these socks match.

First you will put the notes into the stove at the bottom level of the house, lighting them with your blowtorch to start a good blaze. This makes the stovetop hot.

You will then collect gross junkyard water from the sink into your pot, and start boiling that on top of the stove. Adding detergent creates a nice bubbling mixture of cleansing, boiling hot chemicals.

You will notice your socks are blue, yellow, and green. You add all of these into the pot, and Rufus will observe that they are going through a number of colors. They probably haven't been washed in ages.

 As this is boiling water you don't want to just jam your hand into it, so you will remove the socks with your trusty fork.

The blue and yellow socks will have merged into a second green sock. The other sock has been sacrificed for the sake of color mixing.

You've now accomplished one of the items on your list! Congrats!

Being a classic example of the adventure genre, this first puzzle combines both ordinary and out-of-the-ordinary uses for objects, as well as expecting the player to know how to improvise. There is no kindling for the stove, but the player should be able to figure out that paper is flammable. The water is filthy, but the player can figure out how to make it clean. The items provided give just enough clues, like the blowtorch and the detergent, and then the player has to use that information in a thoughtful manner.

Deponia's puzzles are almost universally reliant on this simple concept. Anything from fabricating a disguise to stealing mail and cleaning a car relies on the player being able to figure out how to use piles of junk items to create something that is 'close enough', in the half-assed spirit of the protagonist.