X-Noir

So in the last few days I discovered the magic of free writing again. I've been trying a new technique where I pose a question by writing it down in a notebook and then leave it for a day. When I come back I sit down for 30m and start free writing. Eventually the answer is supposed to come and so far it's been successful.

It's best to do it by hand so I've dug up my old notebook that I started when we began X-Noir in summer 2012. I stopped using it around summer last year when I discovered Evernote which I still love. But I've found using Evernote it's a bit difficult to generate ideas. It's amazing for note taking or outlining but when it comes to brainstorming I find it challenging. When I started free writing again though I remembered why I had began the notebook in the first place. The act of physically writing down ideas just seems to get my creative juices flowing a lot faster. Also the lack of distraction of writing in a notebook as opposed to a computer. No wonder George RR Martin still uses DOS to write GoT.

Anyway, I couldn't resist looking through some of the old entries. The first entry dated 6/5/12 is titled "Detective Game Idea". Here's what I wrote:

"The idea for the detective game is that the main character suffers from severe anxiety, phobias, OCD, etc.. This anxiety is represented by a meter. When it fills he has a full blown panic attack. The panic attack should be as realistic as possible..."

So as you can see the anxiety meter was one of the first components of the game DESPITE ending up being underused. Also Eddie doesn't suffer from OCD (transferred that to Katharine) but does still have anxiety/depression.

The next few pages deal more of the anxiety mechanics originally planned, locations for the game included unused ones (casino, strip club, museum...) Some research I did another detective adventure games (Hotel Dusk/Layton) Then finally the gameplay mechanics. I was playing Lone Survivor around that time so there was some inspiration from that.

I also list different states or "moods" Eddie could be in. Sort of like Indigo Prophecy. Depressed, Panicked, Hungover, Drunk. That might have been interesting. I had a turn based battle system outlined too which might have worked better with the anxiety effects. After that I started outlining the ABS we ended up using although a lot of the elements were never implemented like the drunk state and using cover.

I broke the gameplay into "Investigation" and "Combat" which is basically how the cases are structured now. You get the story intros, have to investigate a case and then a combat zone with puzzles. I did write about possibly having a Psych report at the end of each case from his therapist but that never got in.

The sewer zone is detailed next and is pretty much the same as it is now despite there not being much context yet. I also detail an "Inner Monologue" system that we didn't end up using. We use the script though for boss dialogue. It was supposed to show what Eddie was thinking but not interrupt the gameplay with a message window. It would appear at the top of the screen like the boss text does now. His mind state would affect the thoughts as well as the frequency. Another cool idea and script (that fomar implemented) that could probably be used for something else. The factory zone is also outlined here without context and is still pretty much the same as it is now.

A lot of what made X-Noir (and didn't) is contained in this notebook which is pretty awesome. Evernote is great but it doesn't quite have the treasured feeling of a designer notebook. Anyway it's time to start filling the pages again with the end of X-Noir/beginning of Kobold.