Ideas and Beginnings

Everything starts somewhere. This would be the start of my first ever attempt at entrepreneurship and trying to market a product with the distinct goal of having gone through the entire process in earnest. This is however easier said than done, as not only must I have the idea of a product ready, but also be able to know to whom it might be attractive be it private consumers or otherwise.

Seeing as I am looking at a 5-month period where I have to deliver a viable product on my own, the most glaring issue I must focus on is production value. No matter how much effort I pour into something it will never achieve the same level of scale or quality of that which is created by a full-fledged group of people. I need to pinpoint exactly where my strengths and weaknesses lie apart from the simple matter of being a one-man team.

While ultimately inexperienced, I have still a lot of concepts and knowledge to source from in terms of design, and I will most certainly take advantage of that to the best of my ability. Of course the design process is something that takes places virtually across the entire production (depending on where you feature freeze) so I do not necessarily have to worry about getting the mechanics exactly right at this stage. It still helps to have at least an inkling on what the experience might entail. While I perhaps lack experience in many practical fields be they coding or overall design process, I have a passion for storytelling and achieving aesthetic goals that can impact you in a truly meaningful way.

So what is it that I have in mind? A sort of interactive story with a simple enough set up. Two characters finding themselves lost and hopeless try to desperately stave off the night’s cold by telling of their past as the player gradually pieces together how events unfolded up to this point. Saying anything more would enter spoiler territory, but the themes it will explore is that of hope and cynicism; a reflection on how perception might deceive us into thinking about bleak prospects when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. This is what will be explored through these characters having endured vast hardships and being on the physical brink of what they are capable of enduring. It tends to be the will rather than resilience that determines our survival in the end, and this experience will try to encapsulate that. The setup should be easy enough to pull off with simple 2D graphics and perhaps a bit of voice work to help set the tone.

I wish I had something to show visually but I haven’t had time to do anything at this point except brainstorming. I will try my darnest to update when I have the time. I just wanted to put down what I had in mind for now.

Until next time!

Björn Erik Berndtsson. Graphics and Game Design.