The start of a new game project.
I always love that joyful and inspired feeling of starting a new game idea; albeit keeping that feeling going in the long run can sometimes be rather elusive. Like many developers, sometimes my ideas can lose their enthusiasm quickly and go into the graveyard of half-finished prototypes.
However this one feels different.... I have had the recurring idea of this game for many years now in different renditions. Between these iterations, I also dabbled and released a few "unsuccessful" games. I'll eventually share those experiences in some future post mortems but those stories are for another day.
In retrospect, I think I fell into the trap of being too focused on the mechanics and trying to find ones that would be a good market fit for whatever was doing well on Steam at the time. I think I was maybe subconsciously looking to find some level of success to justify all of the time I've spent on game development; perhaps to friends and family or just to myself.
My headspace is a bit clearer now and I really landed on the premise that my game idea isn't a set of unique mechanics.... It's a feeling, an atmosphere, a story. I am leaning into that as the central pillar of the game design. All of the mechanics just need to support that direction and we should be in good shape.
So.... with all of that backstory out of the way, I am happy to introduce my new game project: The Veiled Paradox.
The Elevator Pitch
The Veiled Paradox is a psychological shooter that blurs the line between memory, reality, and identity. From the quiet halls of an aging psychiatric hospital to intense fragments of lives beyond its walls, players will explore interconnected stories where things may not be quite what they seem.
Narrative Design
Intentionally throughout these devlogs, I am going to be skirting around the narrative to not spoil the story. From a project perspective, I have the beginning and ending mostly sorted out in my head but a lot of the things in the middle are still not quite defined. I'll slowly introduce more framing around the story as we go but spoiler-free!
Designed for VR
My intention is to really lean into this being a VR game and design it with that in mind. I like the idea of having a very interactable environment and I think the environmental storytelling that can be done in VR is incredible. However I am investigating support for a flat screen mode like many VR games are doing today, so nothing is off the table this early on.
Next Steps...
I have sorted out the absolute basics of the project at this point. Having done many prototypes before, I am not interested in some of the time-consuming efforts of basic movement and controls; so I am leveraging the GDXR VR Template as a starting point. Over time, I will adjust from that template to fit the project but it's a really good kickoff so I can focus on the actual game and not boilerplate. I am not affiliated or sponsored by GDXR but highly recommend it if you are looking to start out in VR with Unreal Engine.
I am starting some early level design efforts to begin narrowing down the visual design. Given my goals with this project, I think frontloading some of that early level design work is the best way to start at the moment. This will still be mostly greybox of course.
Following Along
Thank you for getting this far in the blog post, I tried not to ramble too much. I am currently working on the Steam Page for the game, biggest blocker being screenshots of course. If you wish to follow along with the game progress, I'll be posting devlogs when I have some progress to share. Social media (links at top) is the best way to stay updated, I would love to hear your thoughts and impressions as I begin sharing more of the game.
— Kevin