In thinking upon stepping out into the world and no longer being a student, I know I want my portfolio to truly show everything I can do, as well as my passion and love for my work. My musicianship is plain to see from my 15 years and counting of music experience, and my writing skills are equally demonstrated through the many works I have done in both personal and academic settings. The main area that I truly wish to add to is my game projects, particularly something that directly shows my skills working in a game format and that a hiring director can view, play, and thus understand what my style and experience is.
In the games industry, particularly with narrative designers, it is much trickier to demonstrate ones ability in writing game narratives than it is to showcase, say, a portfolio of art, 2D models, or GitHub work. One of the biggest things I noticed in looking at job requirements is that many hiring directors are looking for someone that understands how to create an entertaining story despite having little control over player agency, and can demonstrate this succinctly and clearly in their portfolio.
While I have worked on quite a lot of game related projects over the last three years and many of the skills I will be able to showcase with my capstone project, looking back, I don't think I quite had the opportunity to make a game that fully showcases my narrative/story building abilities. Given the time I have to complete this project, I couldn't do a full RPG adventure game, but I can make a smaller game with simple mechanics and a focus on story - something short, to the point, and directly demonstrating my skills. I initially considered a Twine project or even a D&D campaign (as I have already planned to write one for the summer holidays), however I have plenty of text adventures under my belt - I want to create something unique for my portfolio.
What Will Monster Express Be About?
Monster Express will be a comedic, point-and-click, 2D puzzle adventure side scroller for PC with unique, quirky characters and simple, item-based puzzles/problem solving. Focusing on a casual, wholesome experience that is entertaining but not frustrating, it follows the journey of a human (who got onto the Monster Express by mistake) trying to reach the train conductor so as to get the train to stop at a human station. The player is a young human who has accidentally gotten onto the wrong train, the Monster Express, and must make their way to the front of the train to ask the conductor to let them get off. On their way, they will encounter a variety of quirky monsters who will either help them or prevent them from progressing until they perform a task for them, such as retrieving an item or fixing something. The mechanics will focus on item and environment interaction, collecting items in an inventory and using them on each other or on objects in the environment to progress forward.
The story will focus on the players goal of getting off the train, but will largely look at the glimpses into each monsters life from the short interactions with them, and the way the individual dialogue from each interweaves with each other, showing the connections between the characters despite not interacting with any two at the same time. The dialogue will be silly, perhaps 4th wall breaking at times, and overall made for the player to laugh and maybe even feel a certain kinship with the characters they meet and their strange behaviours.
I want this game to show that I can create a heartwarming, interesting narrative inside a short time frame and a short game, developing an entertaining story within the constraints of a limited amount of words and play time. I also want to show my ability to design simple game mechanics that provide a fun yet minimal challenge for casual players, a type of game I love playing during my down time when I don't feel like being too invested in a game.
Software
I will be using Gamemaker Studio 2 to create the game, and have been debating as to whether Aseprite (pixel art) or Inkscape (vector art) for the art of the game - this decision will be made depending on which method proves to be the least time consuming for the quality of art produced. I feel as though both pixel art and vector art could suit the aesthetic of the game, so scope is the deciding factor here. Considering I am using pixel art for several of my personal game projects in progress (and the time it has taken in those), I feel as though the best choice will most likely be Inkscape. I own/am able to access all of these programs.
In a pinch, free environment and other art assets may be sourced online (or art will be commissioned from certain artists I have confirmed will have time to do so if requested) if time does not allow for me to create them myself, however if this does have to happen, I plan to change this during my own time post project. I would prefer to make as many as I can myself, particularly the characters.
I would also like to create the soundtrack for the game - given the scope it would likely be one simple song over the entire game (which would match the gameplay given it is a casual game with no significant mood changes) and I would create this using Logic Pro X - I will use various artificial sound effects to create a cute, silly vibe for this. I already own Logic, and I have a Macbook to use it on also.
Scheduling wise I aim to start with the core mechanics, building the foundation of the game and designing the core characters for the bare minimum required to pull the game together if I were to have to finish the game immediately. From then on, I will focus on implementing each of the NPCs and their unique dialogue and quests. Any item based mechanics that require extra time will be done once the main gameplay and narrative experience is completed.