Tuesday 30 October 2012

Finished concept document

Finally finished the concept document for the game idea i create called 'Necropolis' which means city of the dead which ties in with my theme of the afterlife. I'm fairly happy with the outcome, it was quite a task to get all of the illustrations done, much more time consuming than i first thought. Just need to print it off now.




































Thursday 25 October 2012

Concept Document progress update!

Its been quite a while since the last blog post, so incredibly busy but its about time i update it with the work I've been doing. So I've finalised my game idea! its a 1st person adventure game, because my chosen theme was religion and the afterlife i took to researching into various religions and their beliefs to see what inspiration i can get. I also looked at other cultures to see their beliefs, one i found the most interesting was the Egyptians, mainly for some of their beliefs and i like the visual style of the Egyptians. So for my idea i came up with an idea where the player wakes up alone with no memories in an ancient kingdom where there is no one else around, the player soon finds out that they can gather special potions which enable them to shift into the afterlife where they then can speak to spirits and ask questions, or the environment will change in the afterlife so the player can access new areas of the game. I next began compiling this information into a word document and began fleshing out the game ideas. For next week i need to create a visually appealing document so i have started to put all the information into Photoshop where i will draw and paint relevant images to get my ideas across. Here is my progress so far.....


Wednesday 10 October 2012

Design ideas!

After researching into different religions and the afterlife i have brainstormed a few basic game ideas from these themes.

1.Player can go back and forth from reality to the afterlife; the player can use the afterlife to overcome a puzzle as they can access new powers in the afterlife and the environment changes around them in real-time. Once in the afterlife spirit version leaves the player enabling them to see and overcome puzzles they couldn’t in reality.  

2.Player stuck in limbo, can do good to earn your way back to life. Player walking away from the light to return to normality and away from the afterlife. 

3. The player can see and speak to the spirits in the afterlife to discover new areas and find secret solutions to puzzles. The player can only have a certain amount of attempts to shift into the afterlife before they have to find more pick ups so they can go back into the afterlife and find more solutions to puzzles and overcome obstacles. Main character could be a prophet or a shaman of some sort who has the ability to see into the afterlife from his world.

4. RTS type of game where the player can control races on different planets, and do things to get followers or worshippers, give certain armies powers etc. or rewards for sacrifices.

I need to wait until the group crit before i more forward with any of these ideas, at the moment they are very basic and just an initial starting point but hopefully with feedback and ideas i can solidify and idea and begin the creation on the concept document for the game. Next update should be about my chosen game idea and the progress i have so far.

Saturday 6 October 2012

Research into religion and the afterlife!

Egyptain beliefs on the afterlife: 

Once a person died there sould would enter the underworld where each individual would have to pass certain tests and then reach thier judgement day. This step would take place in the Hall of two truths. Anubis was considered the god of the dead, he was shown as a jackal headed deity. He would judge each personal soul using a scale and a feather. If the sould weighed more than the feather then that sould was bad and would be cast down to the devourer of the dead. If thier sould was lighter than the feather then they would enter a new dimension full of bliss and eternal happiness where they would start there new life. They also believed that once they were buried that they would take any belongings that were also buried along with them into the afterlife. So oftem mummies would be buried with gold, food or personal belongings that would help them in the afterlife.

Australian Aborigines beliefs on the afterlife:

For traditional aborigines, the spirit world was closely interwoven with the physical world, so the transition between one and the other was explained in terms of traditional relationships with the land. Death marked the end of the physical life only, with the spirit then released to rejoin the spirits of ancestors, and of the features of the land itself. The "dreamtime" was the world of creation, of the earliest tribal memories, but also of the continuing abode of all those who could not be immediately seen in the physical world. Some tribes believed that the spirit remained to inhabit the place where the person had died, while others believed that it was carried across the sea to the land of the dead. In some tribes, the spirit was believed to have a chance to be reborn at some future time and live another earthly existence

Judaism beliefs on the afterlife:
Jews still hope for the coming of the Messiah, who will hand out eternal judgment and reward to all. This hope is largely communal; the entire Jewish race and the whole of creation is in view more than individual men. In the end the moral life of man here on earth is considered the most proper concern of man; final judgments are best left to God.

Buddhist beliefs on the afterlife:
The Buddha said of death:
Life is a journey.
Death is a return to earth.
The universe is like an inn.
The passing years are like dust.

Regard this phantom world
As a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp - a phantom - and a dream. 
According to Buddhism, after death one is either reborn into another body (reincarnated) or enters nirvana. Only Buddhas - those who have attained enlightenment - will achieve the latter destination.
Nirvana is the state of final liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. It is also therefore the end of suffering. The literal meaning of the word is "to extinguish," in the way that a fire goes out when it runs out of fuel.