Gambling
Ever had an idea that you really liked but when you say it it comes off horridly insensitive? That is what it feels like pitching the idea for the next and 3rd prototype, the drinking ground. In this game your a female salve looking to escape a plantation to run for your freedom on the underground rail road. When talking about this idea i tend to get feed back of “woo…. isn’t that kinda racist?” or “oh wow, that woulds interesting!”. What we want to do with this game is give a gameified version of the experience of being a slave on the run. Slavery is one of the darkest, if not the darkest, things in american history and therefore asserts its self into the realm of taboo when your trying to use a form of entertainment like a game to explore it. But threw a reverent approach with respect to the subject, and the art of game making, i believe this would be a useful tool when teaching or learning about the underground railroad. This game would be a play and combination of a first person Metal Gear Solid meets Roots. Sneaking to safety if the primary goal so the mechanics will be fleshed out to support that.
In our original design we planned out to make players start out in the deep south and work their way north. However while researching we found that slaves in that area would normally head to mexico or to the carabien instead of north. So, threw a bit more research, we decided to place the slave on a large hemp plantation in Kentucky.
On the art side of this I’ve explored a lot of options and have been doing research to back up artistic ideas that can affect the game design.
This is my primary art reference for the first portion of the first level that I’m creating assets for. Threw this design we noticed that these houses are built up off the ground onto bricks. This led to an idea of the player being able to crawl on the ground to be able to go under objects and hide there. A way to give visual feed back to players is going to be threw the colorization of the game. buildings that tend to represent slavery or sport with will be represented in more of a white fashion like above and others that support freedom will be presented in different colors.
Next time ill go over evolution of the game and its mechanics as well as present game assets that are going to be used.
I like your prototype idea! It’s risky and could potentially go horribly, horribly wrong – but the payoff could be just as good. Not many people consider the trials that escaping slaves faced and what the stress looked like, and I think your prototype has a chance to show them. It could be a very good thing!