Game Identity

Manipulating people by changing the visual appearance of the game world. This is the core idea behind Furtastic Foxburglar. I got the idea for the project while lamenting that while I have had many ideas for games, none of the ones that were viable felt unique or personal enough. My ideas were mostly just to create existing game X but with different setting or with some feature borrowed from game Y. I was working on a strategy game project for which I was struggling to create an unique gimmick, something that would make it different from what I have played. Then I started thinking about Gunpoint by Tom Francis, which had interesting hacking mechanic where objects could be linked into each other resulting in press of a light switch to activate an elevator instead of the lights, for example. I wanted to create a game which had a unique idea like Gunpoint had. Idea so strong that it would differentiate the game from other games and would provide guidance to me about how the game should develop so that I don't just try to fit in everything that I can think of.

I decided to move onto a project with strong identity and focus. I hope this project achieves that. I have the same premise of breaking into buildings and stealing things as Gunpoint had, but I believe I can come up with abilities, world, and themes that are unique enough that there is a clear distinction. While I don't want to make a Gunpoint clone, I don't mind if there are some similarities. To make the game feel unique I want the players solutions to problems they face to have some novelty to them. They should also make sense within the world of the game and be something that fits the protagonist. That means using illusions, tricking people, having carefree fun and avoiding lethal force.

The way I have been designing this game so far has been to create a level where the player must steal something, but there is obstacle in the way that cannot be dealt with using the current implemented abilities. Something conventional like a guard, locked door or security camera. Then I start thinking of the way that the protagonist would be likely to use to solve the situation, trying to think of something that has not been done to death. Using this technique I have come up with a few ideas that I am excited about. In the attached GIF I cast spell on a painting to make it invisible, then I create some sound to make the guards turn to look at the painting. This results in the guards reacting as if I had taken the painting. This can be used to control where the guards are, giving free access to different parts of the building.

Recently development has been slow recently because I took time to participate in the Ludum Dare 49. I wanted to make something that somehow was related to Foxburglar so I went made a game about shapeshifting between two forms. Regrettably I could spend only few hours on the second day and had to publish the game without polished sprites or animations. Still it was fun experience. Check it out on the LD page here:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/unpredictable-shapeshifting

More about development on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/octahedron_soft