It’s about time I started a development blog for Fist of the Forgotten. I’ve been developing it since August 2018, so that’s about 7 months now. Fist of the Forgotten was my third game idea after I realized the first two were just too large in scope to complete in a reasonable period of time. While I wanted to try some things that were new and unfamiliar, like story-based games, the more I thought about the massive dialogue trees and story paths that would be necessary, the more I realized the projects would not be something I could complete before I ran out of money in my bank account. I had to start with something I knew well.
What do I know well? Player movement. I’ve worked on some seriously momentum-based movement mechanics in mods and games based on the Quake series of engines, such as Digital Paint: Paintball 2 as well as movement mechanics for LawBreakers. I can make a character move like butter on a hot skillet. I grew up primarily on first person shooters, but given the difficulty to gain traction in the market these days and the amount of work it would take to build a shooter, I decided to go with something I could realistically finish: a platformer.
I know, there are so many platformers out there, but I feel I can bring a unique perspective to the genre and a different feel. I certainly haven’t played all the platformers out there, but nothing I’ve played so far feels quite like what I’m working on. There are often little quirks and frustration points, like jumping in the air killing the momentum you gained from a platform boost. I’m constantly tweaking things to ensure the player has plenty of tools to maintain or increase momentum instead of losing it. I want the first handful of levels to be a joy to fly through for veteran speed runners, even if they’re just teaching basic jumps to new players.
As for the visual style, it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact point of inspiration. I think this photograph by Chris Button of a dust storm on Sydney Harbour Bridge might have played a large part in my desire to create silhouetted 3D geometry in fog. Not only do I like the look, but it significantly reduces the time I’ll spend texturing things, which is important as a solo developer. Game development is insanely time consuming, so I need every break I can get!
The fist? I guess I’m a sucker for the small character, big weapon aesthetic. As I went from project idea to project idea, I finally settled on the most minimal thing I could think of to start with, knowing it would expand:
- Platformer
- Smooth movement
- Giant fist for both combat and movement abilities
- No dialogue (Can I tell a compelling story with just visuals and music?)
Ideas will expand as I work on them. If I try to flesh out a full game idea before I start working on it, it’s going to be 10x’s bigger than I anticipated by the end, then I’ll either have to spend more time than I want on it or cut features. If I start simple, I have room to grow and shift. What’s the backstory of the character? How does she find the fist? What does it do? I didn’t plan that out ahead of time. I just focused on the most basic of basic pillars and, as I tossed and turned, struggling to fall asleep as I do most nights, I thought up all sorts of ideas on just this simple premise. If I execute all of them, this project will likely go well beyond the time frame I have available.