twelve days

It's hard to believe it's been twelve days since I last wrote anything on my blog... but that is what the calendar is telling me... and it hasn't lied to me yet.

I haven't done a ton as far as the video game goes... gone back and forth on how I am going to create a unique 'pop up book' look while ensuring that the player knows what they will collide with and what they wont... and I think I am going to change my mind yet again on the subject the next time I work on it (more on that in the next post).

Right now, my wife and I are searching for a church to call home. The church we were going to is becoming increasingly difficult to remain involved in due to distance and a few concerns we have as our faith and journey is taking us in different directions.

The most difficult part of this whole thing has been relinquishing my position as a small group leader/teacher. There is nothing I love more (yes, even more than making video games... but no, not more than my Wife or Lord) than talking/discussing faith, and how that plays out in our lives. Now, before you stop reading because this post seems to have nothing to do with the game I am making, read on, because it all ties in.

I have wanted to create a game that is friendly and fun, that doesn't require the player to use violence and force to accomplish their goals, but instead allows them to embrace the very things I have been wrestling with in my faith.

Non violence/Passivism.

It can be difficult to give the player tension and conflict without encouraging them to use violence to reach their goal... so I have struggled with the ways to present that choice.

Currently, the plan (because I don't have any features in my game that utilize these concepts yet) is to have dangerous creatures that can hurt/destroy the player, but not give the player a weapon/weapons to destroy the dangerous creatures. I am still uncertain as to whether or not I will give the player something that can harm the creature at all, perhaps stunning it (the idea would be the dash ability that allows you to smash through a particular obstacle would also work to harm and stun the dangerous creatures).

The counter point to this feature (assuming I have the time to actually put this in the game) would be to reveal to the player in the late game that the dangerous creatures were in fact the very young children of something that, if you didn't harm them, would allow you to accomplish an otherwise impossible task.

I think it would be a great way to get across the positives and negative of violent choices without being preachy or ruining the experience for players who make the violent choice. The decision to use violence would make the game easier on one hand, but on the other, cost the player later on. There would need to be a way to present the choice of using violence as such, before the reveal later on in the game... and I think that is a much harder thing to do than it might seem right now...

Making games is fun... but there are a lot of choices that go into it that I didn't appreciate before I worked on a project this complex.

The Next game I make will be much simpler :S