While I don’t have a full image of what I want for this game I see it centering around a personal character of mine named December. He is part of a series of characters that I have been drawing since middle school that are the personifications of the extremer feelings present throughout the year due to my seasonal affective disorder. While I am not sure I will pull in all my month characters, I do know I want December and June to be major characters. I think that the game itself will take place in a snowy New England home as well as the surrounding land during a blizzard. The mechanics of the game would mostly be walking, collecting notes and memorabilia, and conversing with characters. Rather than being a skill-based game with shooting or fighting, I would rather focus on a story-driven “adventure” style game, where the player is meant to go through the world seeing it in December’s eyes. Key objects in the game would be the notes and memorabilia of happiness, things that remind December that good times still happen, that happiness comes and goes, and that it will be okay. While the game won’t be particularly thrilling, I want it to focus on the lonesome feelings that tend cloud the winters for me, but also end on a hopeful feeling for the future, maybe ending the level with December and June talking, breaking the blizzard and warming the scene a bit. The intended audience for this game would be those who need a reminder that the loneliness will end, that they are not alone even in the deepest of winters, and that spring will always be waiting on the other end of the storm.
The game’s art style is meant to be a mostly drab setting with a limited cooler color palette to match the mood of the piece. As for lights and shadows, I want the scene to feel a bit overexposed and undersaturated, keeping the lights light and the darks in more of a mid-toned palette. While I find that depression can often be shown as desolate darkness and deep tones, I tend to see it as more of the blinding lights and general lack of color. In this particular depiction, I would like the field of view to be blurred by the snow whipping around December, textures to be softened and blurred, and shapes to be hard and ridged to balance out the softness of the textures and colors.
Here are some general really rough concept sketches:
Mood Board Time!!!
Lonesome feeling/ Mood inspiring 
Color Palette 
Color Palette and Texture 
Tree reference for backyard 
Boundary-setting tree reference 
Lonesome feeling/ Mood inspiring 
Lonesome feeling/ Mood inspiring 
Snow interacting with water for the lake portion of the map 
Lonesome feeling/ Mood inspiring – also tree boundary reference 
General mood of the game 
General mood of the game 
General mood of the game 
December has a treehouse in his backyard, preferably rough and well loved like this one 
There is a portion of the home that opens in a similar way from the living room to dining room that I feel this image represents well 
This is another good house reference 
This image is mostly reference for the style of home paired with the arched shape of the tree. While it’s much too bright for the actual work, it is the style of home I’m looking for
Contact via hmbelan@wpi.edu 🙂
I was surprised to see this type of style being pitched, but also really pleased by your inspiration of seasonal affective disorder. I think it’s a neat concept with a clear feeling from style reference I see. What type of memorabilia will the players collect?
Hi Natalie! When it comes to memorabilia I would like to draw some photos of the months together and gifts that they’ve given December and such. Little things that when you find them in your room you get waves of nostalgia and full of memories
I am pleased to see you using a personal character of yours for the project! I think that’s a really awesome idea and the character is adorable! My question, are you using inspiration from your own home for the setting of the game?
Nope! It’s more of the style home I wish I had lol
I am pleased to see how well thought out this environment is. Would the dialogue between December and June be solely focused on moving past the current season, or will it also address the beauties that come with every season as well?
Your December character looks really nice! I think the tone of the game seems to be really well thought out, from the color scheme to your description of softness from the snow. Have you thought about how you will use sound in the game? I think nice sounds will definitely bring the whole thing together and make it really immersive.
I haven’t thought too deeply into it, but I definitely think softer music with more focus on the character noises/interaction noises will fit this game nicely 🙂
As any kind of story based game, I am usually very deeply involved in the story. I like reading (unlike most) the actual game story because it helps set the mood and allows me to deep dive in the game environment too. Are we going to have any story elements on the history of December(maybe tiny snippets since you have to collect notes)?
I love the mood and topic of your game. I would totally play it on Steam and I look forward to the experience. I apppreciate that you are showing the lack of color and depth of emotion that depression can bring. Will the conversations and interactions have choices? I think that even if the choices don’t affect outcome much or at all, it could add a level of immersion. An example I thought of is putting a photo back into a closed book vs leaving it out – it might not seem like a big impact, but I think it symbolizes December’s or the player’s efforts to remind themselves of the good times.
I love this idea! I had not thought of it beforehand, but now that you’ve said it I can totally see it fitting perfectly in the game, adding a level of immersion