Ghost World

Hey everyone, thought I'd give you an update.

I'm still workin' away at it, so don't worry about that. I just don't like posting about it - it gives me that instant gratification that keeps me from actually working. Also, and most importantly, I'd like most of the game to remain a mystery, and be a nice surprise when it is released.

I guess I'm running into the same problems as all game makers: feature creep, and trying to fix what was done before. It's inevitable that when you design enough past what you've done at the beginning, you can't help but look back and be less satisfied with it. I try to avoid that. The other issues I have are balancing story and world building with game progression.

The game will be just as much about your quest as it will be trying to understand this strange new world - but it's hard not to "blow your load" right at the beginning to help the player understand what's going on, but it's very important to both leave some things to the imagination, and leave some for later.

Not only that, but you have to be willing to let go enough of your premise to let there be a fun game. I don't want to have to explain absolutely everything just so everything is consistent to the game world - I have to be willing to just let some things go, for the sake of it being a game.

It's also important that I don't keep the game in one mode (creepy/lighthearted) for too long, or it will be cheapened.

Anyway, I've nailed down a bit more of the story, added a few boss battles... created a few sprites for the future that I'm not quite sure what I'll use for yet. I think the most important design decision I've done so far is removed the World Map. The game is just too linear to bother with a world map, really. I think this really improves the feel of the game.