Ambitious Beginnings

Hello! Many of you who do decide to read this will be doing so well after the game becomes publicly available. It's important to me to both organize my thoughts but also share some of the design philosophy behind what I am creating here. 

Aspra Corp Security: Code Moo (ACSCM) is a combination of two things for me: a game with the themes I've always wanted, and chance to learn and grow my game development skills. 

As the title of this blog suggests, ACSCM is a very ambitious game. To that end, I am not looking to launch quickly; I work an hour or two a night, when I can, for fear that too much will lead me to ambivalence, then stagnation, then project abandonment. I don't want that, and while I fear sometimes I have bitten off more than I can chew, I am going to approach ACSCM in such a way as to grow my skills slowly but assuredly. 

What does that mean for someone playing ACSCM? You'll see Chapter 1 as a very linear adventure; choose your own adventure, but the choices are meant to define your character and not lead to MAJOR story changes. 

As the player approaches Chapter 2, they will hit the first 'Hub' of the storyline, called the Breakroom. I will leave the details to be explored in the game, but this hub only has a few spokes to play in before moving the player to Chapter 3. 

Chapter 3, 4 and anything onward will continue to open up for the player, with the goal of player agency built upon the defining characteristics chosen in previous chapters. It's ambitious, I am certain of that, but each Chapter not only broadens the player's choices, but provides me a chance as a developer to learn and grow myself. 

I am personally bothered by the 'illusion' of choice. I understand that you are restricted both in just how much 'stuff' you can put into a game, but also in that meaningful ends can be hard to come by properly. This, I suspect, will be my biggest hurdle. I want you, the player, to feel like you've completely changed course as you roll through this game, making exceptionally huge decisions that alter the end scope, but to do that, I have to be prepared for the consequences of such choices; a massive amount of writing and preparing and testing. 

I look forward to this opportunity for growth alongside you, and I appreciate (constructive) criticism along the way!

P.S. I had a chance to find a very interesting article on the subject of pathing, choices, and creating efficiency in such games via an article entitled "By the Numbers: How to Write a Long Interactive Novel That Doesn't Suck." If you're looking to create your own game, or just interested in the mechanics of it all, I highly recommend giving it a read!

By the Numbers: How to Write a Long Interactive Novel that Doesn't Suck