Curiosity Development Report #1

NEW ADVENTURE
Hello and welcome to the very first Curiosity Development Report.  What is the Curiosity Development Report you ask?  Well I'll tell you!  It is a weekly report that we (I) will be doing every Sunday throughout the development of our next game , it will detail what we've been working on, what has gone well, what went to utter shit and no doubt other pointless filler things to pad it out a bit.  Why do this you once again ask?  Well I'll tell you!  We're doing this for the following reasons:
1. So that you can keep up to date with what we've been working on, what has gone well, what went to yada yada yada you get the picture
2. It gives you lovely lot even more chances at providing feedback and ideas on where you want us to go with this game
3. It gives us something to look back on when needed
4. Its what I will be using as an excuse for not doing work on a Sunday
5. Its also what I will be using as my social interaction for the week

Now, I know I literally just said these reports will be every Sunday but I am 100% sure there will be one or two (or three or four or twenty) weeks where the lazy bug kicks in and I don't get it done on time.  If this does occur then fear not as I will make it my top priority to do one on the Monday and if THAT fails then you have my permission to give me a firm kick in the keister to get my arse in gear (my name is Harry Lock by the way....it's not....it's Shaun...I just want to see someone kick Harry in the arse).

RESEARCH
Anyways on to business!  Being the first week there obviously isn't too much to talk about (great start Shaun).  We're in the ideas phase where we sit around a desk saying what would be cool to make before realising that it would be in no way possible and then proceed to order a takeaway as a reward for a busy days work.

We have been playing some games to gather ideas as well as see what games of a particular genre do well, what they don't do well and what mechanics from other genres we can bring in to help.  People always give me one of several replies when I tell them I'm playing a game for research purposes, those replies are as follows:
1. "Yeeeeeeah sure, research"
2. "It must be so fun just playing games as a job"
3. "I thought you said you were going to be doing work, get a real job!" (this one only applies if you're my parents)
4. "I've got an idea for what you could do.  Why not have a bunny during the second world war who goes around helping the Nazis and in the end he finds Anne Frank.  So like a Nazi bunny game." (this, believe it or not, was an ACTUAL idea that Harry proposed.  Harry if you're reading this I still stand by my opinion of it being a terrible terrible terrible idea.....terrible).

The thing people seem to miss is the fact that pausing a game every 20 seconds or so to take notes and replaying the same areas over and over to see how certain mechanics work together is not fun at all....ok maybe it's a little fun but the point is I was working I swear!


THE PRIMARY/SECONDARY APPROACH
After all that playing we had gathered our notes and decided on what sort of game we would like to make, a platformer with RPG elements!  Why these two genres?  Well platformers are a personal favourite of mine and I hate the fact that they've fallen so far from grace (read: aren't as popular as they used to be) so there's that.  As for the RPG genre, well, with each game I work on I don't want to simply create a game that plays it safe in that genre but rather try and evolve the genre, whether it be with a unique mechanic or by integrating mechanics from other genres.  A vast majority of the best games these days give more power to the player in some way or another, whether it be in regards to customisation or give them several options on how they play the game.  One of the most open and power to the player genres is RPGs with their vast customisation, dialogue options, play styles etc.  This is where I believe platformers have gone wrong in a way and is also where the idea to mix a bit of RPG came from.

It is, however, very important that we don't go too overboard with the RPG elements as the game is still primarily a platformer.  We're taking a primary/secondary approach (if that term hasn't been coined before then I'm claiming it) to help with this, by that I mean the game's primary genre is a platformer therefore any mechanics and elements we bring in from RPGs will always need to check the platformer boxes (mechanics, hazards and enemies are based primarily on timing rather than mental challenges or reflexes, the game needs to constantly flow rather than stop and start and there needs to be collectibles, tons and tons of sweet sweet collectibles) .  I'm hoping the primary/secondary approach will help us keep the core of the game planted firmly in platformer territory whilst also allowing us to bring new things to the platformer table and achieve our goal of helping evolve the genre rather than create a monstrosity that is part platformer, part RPG, part action, part adventure and 100% shit.


WRAPPING IT UP
So that's pretty much where we are up to.  We have set up a quick survey for people to fill out if they wish to let us know what their favourite and least favourite aspects of platformers and RPGs are as well as let us know what things they would like to see in these genres that aren't already.  If you have a few minutes to spare and would like to fill it out as well then you can by simply clicking here.

Next week  we will be going through all of your survey replies as we compile a big ass document consisting of elements we absolutely must do for a platformer, things which are meh and can or can't be included and things which in no reality should we ever attempt, as well as what we want our main focuses and goals for the development of this game to be.  Hopefully by the end of next week we will have a firm grasp on what our game will play like as we look to start producing a prototype level.

Well I hope you didn't fall asleep whilst reading this (I did tell you there would be a lot of filler, don't say I didn't tell you because that would be lying).  If you enjoyed it then awesome, glad you enjoyed it because it gets rather lonely here in the studio and this is the only form of social interaction I currently have (refer back to the start of this report if you don't believe me).  I'm never any good at wrapping things up so I'll just say hope you all had a wonderful weekend, have a wonderful week to come and here's to the start of a brand new adventure and a brand new game.
Keep on gaming,
Shaun Quaintance.  (The others don't deserve credit for this so I'm putting my name rather than just Curiosity Studios, if they don't like it then they are more than welcome to come over to the freezing cold studio and go through the pain of typing all this with frostbitten fingers)


RECAP
- We're starting development on a new game
- We played games through the week claiming it to be research
- Sat around talking before getting takeaway
- Decided on a platformer with RPG elements
- Created a survey to gather gamer ideas (you can fill it out here)
- Created the Primary/Secondary approach (I don't even care if someone's done it before now, I'm coining the term)
- Preparing to create big ass document