#i just refine the first few chapters over and over again without progressing lol

[lyraxlestrange]

im feeling guilty that i haven’t been on tumblr - muse for rp has been a bitch but im editing my fanfic rn so productivity?

[loftyloftyloftyloftylofty]

Another Glimpse: Cat Story’s World Map Design Philosophy

Hey friends,

Taking an opportunity today while I am on vacation from work to provide some long-overdue updates on progress!

I started working on Cat Story on Halloween of 2014. We’re rapidly approaching the five year anniversary of starting this project.

For five years of working on this game, I’ve certainly got a lot to show for it! With that said, it’s still very easy to think about the ways I spend my time and feel like I’m not working hard enough.

I’d like to share some spoilery stuff today to help put into perspective where I’m at, what I’ve got left to do, and what the plan is going forward to complete this project, with a focus on the world map and how different segments of it represent different milestones, and why those segments are arranged the way they are.

Adding a ‘Keep reading’ link here just in case folks want to avoid spoilers!

Let’s start with the world map’s layout:

Tumblr isn’t good for displaying large images so here’s a direct link.

The game begins in Tilmi, which is the small square in the mid-left region of the map. The first chapter of the story takes the player through Digsite 56, into the Aquifer, through Blue Caverns and the Thoroughfare to the ALIAS complex.

As the scope of Cat Story has changed over time, the map has definitely evolved. Originally the entire game was going to take place on a single island!

Ever since I decided on an underground setting though, a few core concepts have persisted in the map’s design iterations that I feel are very important to the genre of game I’m making, and I think it’s useful to explain what those are and why I think they’ll be good for Cat Story. The first concept I want to talk about that’s stuck with the map for awhile is the Thoroughfare, but to explain why it exists, I need to explain some stuff about what I look for in video games and where I’ve drawn some of these ideas from.

I like going back to experience games again after awhile. I  use wallpaper engine to set up wallpaper videos from my favorite games to ‘keep an eye’ on the game worlds I enjoyed. It’s like a security camera system that averts my feelings of homesickness for the places that made strong impressions on me. Call me crazy if you like, but it’s really, really hard for me to ‘leave’ these worlds behind. 

(I still occasionally open up OneShot to check on Niko despite the fact that nothing happens.)

One of the games that I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from (especially for finding a good pace to increase difficulty) is Axiom Verge. AV’s map is designed in a way that getting from point A to point B can be really rough and tedious - part of the game’s challenge is navigating the rough terrain and the uncompromising, unforgivng atmosphere that broods over that challenge adds a lot of charm to the environment. The downside to this though is that it takes a lot of willpower to backtrack through each area and collect hidden stuff, and as much as I adore Axiom Verge, I have a really hard time picking it up again because I know that going back to explore and re-immerse isn’t going to be a casual stroll- the mazelike tunnels and hazards keep you on your toes the whole time.

In similar vein, Hyper Light Drifter has an absolutely breathtaking environment that I adore, but going back to re-immerse and take it all back in is a journey. 

In contrast, anyone can jump back into a game like FEZ after several years’ break without fear of meeting heavy resistance - the downside to this is that FEZ’ design is definitely about getting that 100% completion and once you’ve accomplished that, there’s not much to find or do on your current save, so that re-immersion is easy but feels incomplete unless you start a new playthrough.

Ori hit a pretty solid stride between these two extremes, offering a variety of areas with different levels of difficulty and fast travel options to get you to where you want to be, which means that going back to appreciate Ori’s super-beautiful art and scenery is readily accessible. What I don’t like about this though is that any form of teleportation or fast travel results in making a huge world feel small, and despite having teleports available, every time I go back to Ori, I make a point of walking from point A to point B because I feel that it would be doing the game world an injustice to just scoot directly to my destination instead of actually experiencing the environment.

I’d like to also take a brief moment to mention Hollow Knight, which designed a map that has fast travel and still feels exquisitely huge. I learned so much from playing that game and every time I revisit it, it’s an excellent time. HK has also been a huge inspiration for me in the way I design stuff and I hope that learning from each of these games will help me make an awesome game, too.

So, with all of this in mind, I’ve tried to design Cat Story’s map around the idea of having a common artery that connects most of the game’s main areas - so that when someone jumps back into the game after having not played for awhile, they can get to that area they wanted to revisit quickly; and that has manifested itself in the form of an abandoned service tunnel linking a bunch of the different themed spaces together. 

As the player progresses through the game, they unlock new sections of the Thoroughfare which allow them to explore new areas (or in some cases, revisit old ones). Some (not all) sections of the Thoroughfare also have the ability to get the player quickly from one end to the other (similar to Hollow Knight’s tram). My hope is that by balancing the design of the areas in relation to each other against the effort required to actually navigate each space, I can create a map that’s easy to come back to if I decide to, for example, add DLC later down the road.

I don’t plan on implementing a fast travel system in this game, and I understand that what that means for the map design is that the map must allow the player to move quickly - I want to try to hit a balance between scenic route and speedrun-friendly. I’ve been making a point to include shortcuts to skip gaps or run-arounds for savvy players, and I’ve taken several tips from the book of Guacamelee in terms of unlocking those shortcuts after completing small sections of each area. 

Still with me? Rad.  Let’s talk about how each section of the map relates to project progress.

A quick glance at the map overview for Cat Story makes it pretty clear that the scope of this game’s world map is enormous.

To help put that statement in perspective, I’ve made one of the arrows red on that map overview. See it? The red one?

That’s this. (Warning: Image is ~12000 x ~3000 lol)

Now, to be fair, I built this world map knowing that it would be a ton of work. I signed up for this and not only have I committed to the idea, but I’ve embraced it as what will be - so far in my life - my greatest creative achievement.

It’s hard to put a percent value on each map in terms of how it relates to the completion of the game. Taking into account the nuances of scripting events, writing story dialog, refining art styles, iterating on terrain, adding collectibles, finding the right enemies to make a map challenging, playtesting, and a host of other tasks associated with each segment of the game, it begins to become apparent that we need a better way to measure progress.

So, where are we at?

A lot of these maps have been loosely-concepted. That means I have a general idea of what the theme will be for each space and what challenge I want to be thematic in navigating it.

As an example, the Blue Caverns will have a heavy focus on waterfalls, large bodies of water, and jumping on suspended blocks. Trestletop will have a heavy focus on mushroom caps hanging from the ceiling - a concept which earlier beta maps have already explored with great success.

The next step in the workflow for each of these maps is nailing down the aesthetic and tying it in with the navigation involved in the area. 

I can not stress enough that the way you move through an area in a game like this is the prime factor that I am considering when designing the aesthetic for it. Movement is critical in Cat Story and I am doing my best to design every enemy, jump, tunnel, and theme around the central idea of how you navigate through or around. 

My current focus is the stretch of the game’s first chapter from Digsite 56 to Blue Caverns. I’m very happy with 56′s look so far and expect to have the transition maps between Tilmi and 56 hermetically sealed before September’s Patreon demo releases.

In the meantime, I’m gonna’ get back to work. 

This post went on a lot longer than I thought it would! I’ll probably add to this later in a followup post because there’s an awful lot that I’d like to talk about, but if I spend all day blablabla’ing on Tumblr instead of working, nothing will get done.

Cheers everybody, thanks for reading

[no-ur-spam]

001 | custodial matters

A/N: Hi! I’m trash and I can’t come up with my own ideas so I figured I’d use other people’s concepts and make them into stories. I might oneshot some of them or I might turn them into way too long sagas, all depends on my mood. This based off of a concept by @lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks which you can find HERE. Hope you enjoy! I’d appreciate comments but tbh no one will probably read these so I’ll get lit by myself rereading these when I’m thirty and lonely.

(and lol I spell-check but I don’t really proofread so bear with me)

“Well… don’t mind if I do!” a woman’s slurred voice paired itself with the sound of the opening door. She leaned her body against the frame and casually took in her surroundings. The room was warmly lit with a gentle afterglow that was probably more from the vodka than anything else. She ignored the man staring at her in astonishment, not having the motivation to greet him yet. Anna, you’re being impolite, she admonished herself, but then quickly retracted her statement with a scoff. The door appeared in her living room. The door interrupted her blissful drunken Sunday evening. If anything, the door should be compensating her for her time. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her blurred vision. While she allocated Sunday as her day of inebriated nirvana, sometimes it wasn’t enough to sate her utter loathing for the world. Her bloodshot eyes and subpar vision were a result of too many nights reading while intoxicated. As a result, she failed to notice the two horns protruding from the man’s head. To be honest, she hadn’t noticed the wings or the tail either. The man stood up slowly and moved as if to approach her, but thought better of it. He motioned to the empty seats positioned around a low wooden coffee table. Anna repeated herself as she plopped into the proffered seat, “Well… don’t mind if I do.”

The man’s voice was warm and inquisitive, obviously he didn’t see this drunken and spongy woman as a threat. If squeezed, her alcohol saturated body would’ve definitely deflated. The man concealed a smile with the back of his refined hand. Besides, this would save him the trouble of finding a suitable host for his child. Her magical aura seemed strong enough to withstand the burden of producing a hybrid child. She might even survive the birthing process. He smiled wickedly, he would make this woman his, manipulate her into bearing his child, and then rip the newborn out from her arms and watch her drown herself in her misery. If her alcohol consumption was any indication, this woman would definitely drink herself into numbness and eventually wither away. His smiled widened as he contemplated the ways she would despair. Wait… I don’t actually care, he thought to himself as he cupped her cheek tenderly. He admired the softness of her skin and the euphoric look in her eyes before placing a gentle kiss on her lips. No response. He knew she was conscious. She blinked, breathed, and shifted her body at random intervals. Perhaps she couldn’t comprehend her situation. He sighed, almost pitying her utter ignorance. He kissed her again, more passionately than before and wound his fingers through her hair. This time, she tilted her face upwards and pressed her mouth into his. He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss before finally releasing her from his captivating touch. Of course this simpleminded woman would be no match for the demon king, he praised himself, not like it mattered in the end.

Demons were laid-back and naturally lazy folk. With their immense magical power and their enhanced physical capabilities, they felt no need to dominate neither the human nor the supernatural worlds. They remained in their vast underground paradise and ruled with law and intelligence. Physical fighting was tedious and since their race rarely came into contact with one another, the laws from centuries ago still readily applied. Despite his avid interest in magical research, the demon king Lucifer was no exception. Wanting to devote the rest of his life to his studies, but unable to find a replacement demon king, he resolved himself to producing a child. He would use human parenting methods to convince the child to become an upstanding member of society and take over the administrative work of managing the demon world. Then, he could retire, enjoy the patronage of the demon king and research in peace.

He allowed his summoning circle to determine their landing location. He only needed to find a woman with adequate magical power, not one of specific socioeconomic status or special physical appearance. Frankly, Lucifer couldn’t understand the human world’s standards of beauty. The constant manipulation of natural appearances defied his innate lack of extrinsic motivation. And since this woman had walked into his own home, he also needn’t bother himself with the pesky entrance ritual. Demons tended to stay away from the human world because of the restrictions from ancient times. In the days of religious fervor and satanic lust, the protectors of humanity (perhaps they were called saints or gods… who cares to remember) cast a safeguard that repelled demons from entering anything belonging to a human unless they received permission to do so. Negotiating and basic social skills were too much of a hassle for the demons, and their natural lassitude prevented demon invasion just as effectively in modern times. This woman entered his place of residence, effectively bypassing the need for the antiquated protection charm. His slipshod plan progressed quite nicely. If he cared enough to be surprised or pleased, he might have expressed it at that moment.

She knew the man kissed her; she was painfully aware of how pleasant his warm lips felt against her alcohol stained lips. Then again, alcohol and kisses always tasted delightful together. Usually kisses couldn’t stand without the astringent bite of vodka. She considered herself somewhat of a connoisseur. The unsweetened Hemingway daiquiri is paired best with the sweet kiss of a thought-provoking lover while the Moscow mule served as the best complement to ginger flavored goodbyes. What currently coated her tongue wasn’t unpalatable. In fact, it tasted like opportunity.

“What’re you doing?” she asked abruptly as the man attempted to put a gumball sized sphere inside her mouth. He seemed taken aback at the sudden lucidity of her remark. She smirked, “Did you really think I was that drunk?”

He sighed tiredly, “I have prepared remarks since explaining would be extremely bothersome.” He handed her a sheet of paper with only a few lines of writing.

“One, my name is Lucifer and I am the king of demons. Two, I am looking to relinquish my current position, but need an heir to do so. Three, since demon women find the position of queen or queen mother troublesome, I needed to find a human woman. Four, you will be the host for the child. Five, it will be like a normal human pregnancy and I will claim the child when it is born. Six, I will grant one wish in return for this service,” she read out loud. Hehe, this must be my lucky day!

“So? I’ve distilled the child producing spell into this sphere and all you need to do is swallow it. Then, just do whatever you do for nine months and I’ll be back for the child,” Lucifer flicked his tail impatiently.

“Oh? And earlier you were going to place your child inside of me without telling me of these terms? I think that violates one of those breaking and entering rules that the demons fellow?” Anna’s knowledge of demons was a bit rusty, but she wasn’t going to let him know.  This was her time to turn her lousy situation into profit. When there were things to be gained, she never allowed herself to be complacent.

Lucifer eyed her suspiciously, but decided it would be troublesome to find another woman. She didn’t seem taken aback by his character reveal. Perhaps demons had become mainstream in the human world? He hadn’t heard of any demons venturing outside, but then again he hardly paid attention. “Umm, I guess so? But since you’re cogent, we can probably get on with it. What do you want in exchange?” Anna positioned herself more comfortably in her seat, all signs of drunkenness gone. The change in demeanor made Lucifer anxious and he flicked his tail nervously. Humans generally wanted immense wealth or tried to ask for infinite wishes. Some attempted to gain magical powers or enslave him. He eliminated most of the troublesome ones. The immense wealth wishes he could easily grant while he refused the infinite wishes one. On a whim, he had granted some magical powers, but he rarely gifted any useful ones. Since he didn’t want to find another host, he would most likely grant her whatever she wanted. He could always deal with her later.

Anna cleared her throat and pulled out her cellphone. Pulling up a document from her cloud, she showed it to the demon king. He peered at it curiously, and read the first line: “In the event of a demon encounter…”

This time, it was her turn to smile wickedly.

“What’re you looking so surprised for? I gotta be prepared for everything, I’m a fucking contract lawyer.”

Read: Chapter 2