The game I hope to make this term is similar to the one Josh demoed in class. I’m planning on having two areas to walk through, one an open night market and one a suspicious looking body mod shop.
The premise of the game is that you the player are a cyborg who has been stranded on an unfamiliar planet after failing to defeat the final boss of your game. With limited funds and a body in need of repairs, you have to haggle in the night market for body parts to repair the ones damaged in the fight. Once you successfully purchase all the parts you need, you head to the body mod shop where you can convince an employee to install the new parts for you.
The game will be in the third person with a fixed camera that follows you up an down the streets of the night market as you hop from stall to stall looking for some sort of internal power source, a replacement ball joint, and something else I haven’t decided on yet. The vibes are quiet and serene but dampened, and the longer you spend haggling in the night market the slower the player’s movement speed becomes as their power source drains.
I love the lighting in your concept art! I think it does a good job setting the mood of the market. Will the camera stay locked at the angle in your concept art, panning down the streets, or will it be able to rotate?
I’m planning on having the camera follow the player back and forth on the z axis but stay locked on the x and y axis while they’re in the night market. I still haven’t decided what the camera will do in the shop.
I really like this concept, both visually and narratively. The colors in your concept art are especially striking and vibey. I’m curious how you plan to render everything in 3D; will it remain stylized like your concept art is, or do you intend to go more realistic?
I plan to keep things stylized because I don’t have a lot of experience modeling in maya and I’m hopeful that will make things a bit easier on me :’)
I like the cyberpunk-style mechanics you’re planning to do! With the presence of body mods, how do you plan to combat scope creep?
That’s a really good question and to be honest I’ve been wondering the same thing. I think to keep it simple I’ll make it so that there are only 3 body parts the player can find on the map so that once they’ve collected them they can go to the shop and complete the game. I think having allowing free customization of the player character would definitely get wayyyyy too complex really fast.
I really really like this concept! It’s so unique and a fun twist on what happens after a boss fight. What kind of visual style are you aiming for? Are you going to go more technology focused or more akin to modern day?
The visual style I’m aiming for is over saturated but quiet if that makes any sense. I want the colors to be vibrant and reminiscent of a cyberpunk game but also subdued so the environment conveys a defeated feeling.
Definitely more technology focused but mixed in with what you might find in a modern day market. So like modern day market stalls with technologically advanced wares.
The “after-game” concept is so unique and such a cool basis for a world! I love the nighttime lantern lit environment/reference images. I’m also curious of how advanced this society/marketplace is. Is the entire environment super high tech, or mainly just the character and bodymods themselves?
The idea of having to haggle to get yourself back into order is interesting. I really like how the player truly has to piece themselves back together. Do you have any plan for displaying the change in the character’s condition other than walking speed?
The mood of the night market seems very cool, and I love the idea of it taking place after the finale of another story! How do you plan on having the player change as you get more parts – will the model change to become less damaged, and will the animations become more smooth?
aI like the concept of the player trying to put themselves together being the main game narrative. Have you thought about there being an option to customize the appearance of the replacement parts?
Your concept is really interesting and I look forward to seeing what you do with it. Can the player run out of energy entirely (and if they can what happens).
The concept of timed gameplay inside a market is cool, I’m excited to see how you would execute that in the game. Will the cyborg become slower as time goes on and is there a “bad” ending where if the cyborg doesn’t get it within time, they die in the streets?
I really enjoy night markets in real life, so your game concept seems super neat and inviting–but your cyberpunk twist creates a whole new aesthetic that’s super intriguing! As for gameplay, how deep will the haggling system be? Will it require skill checks a la Skyrim?
The look of your concept’s market stalls and cyborgs is very interesting, especially taking into account your moodboard. Are you thinking of designing npcs for the player to haggle with? Would they also be cyborgs?