Initial game idea

As I mentioned in my last game post, I have been trying to weigh up which game engine I should use for my game as I have been trying to find a game engine that is more accommodating for designers who are more artistic and less adept with scripting (Dealessandri, M., 2020). Since my last post, I have been playing around with Godot and I have been learning their native script GDScript.

I decided to email my tutor Matty for advice and also to voice some of my anxieties. He assured me that it is certainly possible to learn a new game engine for this project. He also agreed with me that he much prefers to work with something visual so he has sent me a tutorial he made on Visual Scripting in Unreal Engine (BigCatMatty, 2021).

I has briefly experienced Unreal Engine (Unreal Engine, 2021) in the past but did not get too far with it. However, I have decided to consider using it for my game as although it is intended for larger scale projects, it has some great features such as Blueprints which visualise the programming stage and it is also really intuitive for blocking out projects. I have decided I will do his visual scripting tutorial to see how I get on with it and if it would be a good fit.

In the meantime, I have been putting more thought into the concept of my game. I am strongly considering doing a 3D RPG based around Irish mythology.

The idea I have will be based around a creature that appears across various Celtic mythology called the Púca (S. McMahon & J. O’Donoghue, 2009). The Púca is a creature that is capable of shapeshifying and can either be benevolent or menacing; this depends particularly on how others respond to it. During the Samhain, which is the Irish pagan festival that Halloween is based on originally, the Púca emerges from the otherworld and approach mainly rural villages. Villagers would provide offerings from the harvest to the Púca. Depending on how locals would react to the Púca, the Púca would either be menacing or beneficial for the village.

Game concept

For my game concept, I want to make a game about in which you play a púca. This púca does not make it back to the otherworld before the Samhain ends. The Púca ends up stranded on a rural island, stuck in human form and with no memories of before. The player character cannot remember who they are, where they came from or how they got on the island. The player character needs to carry out quests around the island and gradually regains several of their previous abilities that they had as a púca, namely shapeshifying, as well as regaining some of their previous memories and finding out that they are in fact a púca. They must eventually find a way to return to the otherworld.

This is the initial idea I have. There are a several aspects of this concept I need to develop further as well as certain things I need to decide upon but this is what I have come up with so far.

References

BigCatMatty, 2021. Visual Scripting in Unreal Engine. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDpmPXt5D_qzJFJPxBGyo2J3CvkQeb52a> [Accessed 30 January 2022].

Dealessandri, M., 2020. ‘What is the best game engine for your game?’ [online], gamesindustry.biz, 16 January. Available at: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-01-16-what-is-the-best-game-engine-for-your-game [Accessed 26 January 2022].

S. McMahon & J. O’Donoghue ‘Pooka’. 2009. Brewer’s Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable.

2021. Unreal Engine. Epic Games.

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