Originally posted on March 5, 3013 at Alamantus.com
Yesterday and today, I’ve spent my time working on the cinematics for my locked-in syndrome game. During the cinematics (a.k.a. “daytime” or “non-dream/action sequences”), you hear only your breathing machine and heart monitor, as the words of whoever is talking appear as text on the screen with some “ba-bo” sounds of varying pitches to express who is speaking. It’s ridiculously simple, but I think it’s perfect for this game in particular. I also was able to come up with a way to play sound effects or make other things happen in the midst of the talking, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately, I can’t play a sound in the middle of something that’s already being said, but I’m sure I can figure out ways around that.
One problem that I had mentioned before is that I didn’t know how to implement the idea of “holding on to” things that were mentioned in conversation during the day, but I’ve come up with what I think is a cool. As certain words are said, their mental correlation appears in your conscience (on the screen), moving randomly, trying to escape, but you can nudge them slowly away from the edges of the screen by your mental willpower, but each heartbeat sends it moving again, and you will only be able to truly control your thoughts when your willpower is strong enough.
The hardest part of this for me at the moment is getting the “mental correlation” to appear at the same time that the word does, or at least as soon as possible after. I have a vague idea of how to do this, but it might make the text seem a little bit unnatural… I’ll just have to work with it and see.
Wish me luck! Maybe I’ll get some screenshots up here so you can see what I’m doing. You know, eventually. Once I have some graphics. :)
Oh yeah, and an unrelated question: Would you prefer a vertical or horizontal bar to indicate how much time you have left? Or would you rather have something else completely? Maybe a line with a pointer moving slowly toward a point or something? I’m partial to the vertical draining downward on the left side of the screen, but you can potentially change my mind if you have any better ideas.
Be sure to drop some words for me!
-Robbie
