WE ARE BACK! Plot, Gameplay, and Burnout
WE ARE BACK!
Credit to Mohamed_hassan
Hello everyone, the last blog was some time ago, in June, and it being the end of October we felt it necessary to share something to let everyone know we are still here and developing. Reading our last post has refreshed my memory of where we left off in terms of our blogging and I have come to realize almost all of it has changed! The last post talked about deadlines and how they can be scary, but effective. Not surprisingly we did not achieve our goal of a playable demo by July 30th and to be honest we still do not have one. This is for a few reasons, one being burnout and the other being gameplay related. We got close to a decent playable level for Among the Hollow, as we were making some of the core mechanics and testing them, we could tell we were going to need to make some improvements… big ones. For example, the story, gameplay, and the environment are all being changed and we think this is for the better. Iteration is part of the process, and we do not want to overlook anything just because we are trying to make a deadline. We want Among the Hollow to be the best it can be.
Plot
Credit to manuelamilani
The plot of Among the Hollow has changed basically since we started development. At one point the players would play as a group of friends going camping and then getting lost or haunted by scary forest monsters. Another idea was that the player would be a group of cold case detectives investigating unsolved missing persons reports in a remote forest and then discover that the truth behind the missing persons is the work of a demon or the players would be a team of essentially “Ghost Busters” investigating haunted woods. Eventually we agreed on the idea of a “Bermuda Triangle” like body of water with a series of unexplored islands that a group of young, dedicated, and adventurous island scouts would explore and conduct research on the nature of these mysterious waters and islands. However, something goes horribly wrong at sea, and they are then marooned on an uncharted island and must find a way to escape and return home. It took quite some time for us to think of something that would make sense without being too outlandish. Something that we could both agree worked well with the additional changes we had planned, like procedurally generated islands.
Procedural Islands
Credit to eclipesp
The way this is planned currently is the party will decide on a biome, island types, and season. The game will load and place various points of interest on the island as well as the vegetation for the adventurers to explore and survive. The reason behind this decision boils down to replay ability, we felt with only one static world multiple play sessions with different groups of people would quickly become stale and dry. Having multiple Islands types, biomes, and time of year to explore keeps each play session unique and interesting.
Gameplay
Credit to susan-lu4esm
Gameplay is king and it has taken most of our time and energy in terms of iteration and reflection. Gameplay iteration will likely continue until release. The adventurous souls of the Very Good Venture Group (This is the name of the Island Scout group and is also a work in progress) will be equipped with a flashlight, a water canteen, a compass, and means to start a fire. After crashing on the uncharted island players will be tasked with setting up a base of operations and finding a way off the island. Setting up base camp will be light work for this group of experienced young men and women however, exploring the island and finding a way home will prove to be rather difficult due to the fact that this island's residents are not very welcoming…
Burnout
Credit to Meromex
All of the previously mentioned progress has been accomplished in July, August and September but much of October has been a different story. My brother and I have been slowing down on the development of the Very Good Venture Group… yes, we changed the name…. and might change it again so don’t get too attached. The reason for slowing down is because we have been working a lot for a little too long and got burnt out so getting motivated to start developing again has been difficult. We have been spending time with our families, working (our day jobs I mean), and playing lots of video games as a means to relax. You would be hard pressed to find a team of developers that never once felt this way during a games development and some would even go as far as to say it's just part of the process and we are determined to finish this project and deliver something we and our community can be proud of.
““If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit” ”
