Thinking of the setting...
Ok so we're now to the point of thinking what kind of theme or setting shall we have here. While I was going back I was thinking of the things I learnt in cultural industries and the things discussed just now.
I would like to put forth this idea I have of having a south east asian setting, complete with pontianaks, hantus, toyols and other malay ghost legends and myths.
I guess most of us are accustomed with the stereotypical images of ghosts... sheets of white with eyes.. going woooooooo... all these images have been what hollywood and western films have been trying to impart to us. And we also have the japanese ghosts with all the sadoko, white ghostly child and so on.
We position ourselves as south east asian game developers. Our market is the south east asian market. I admit that if we are to produce a game with south east asian setting it may alienate a gamer from ... denmark (this aint picking on you david! haha... just an example.. :) )
But think about this... japanese games... yes you have mario or zelda.. which seems transnational. But they are also producing very culturally specific games like ninjas and samurais... the only game they haven't produced might be about geishas! haha.. but anyway.. yeah why not we see ourselves on the fore front of producing games which promote our own regional culture? We need not follow the global hegemony right?
So here's some initial idea:
main character: can be a boy or girl, ethnicity would probably be a Malay. Ali and Siti? And they carry... kerosene lamp.
environment: set perhaps 18th to early 19th Century... kampong areas.
probable game level: kampongs (malay village) , swamps, jungles, malay cemetary
weapon: either the mentioned kerosene lamp, then perhaps i thinking of having a magical kris (a malay dagger) as weapon. cos right now the image of the candle resembles a dagger.. we can modify it to look like a kris.
sound effects/music: that's where we can shine! use traditional instruments to produce some really creepy pieces... like using the ukelele, wind chimes, malay drums etc... i think the ukelele itself can create great atmospheric sound effects!
ghost: we can still keep them cute... it's like we can draw kawaii looking pontianiaks. (like how some manga artists draw cute versions of sadako) then toyols, we can draw them more towards "impish" than horrifying.
I believe what we have here will pretty much be a highly differentiated product.
I would like to put forth this idea I have of having a south east asian setting, complete with pontianaks, hantus, toyols and other malay ghost legends and myths.
I guess most of us are accustomed with the stereotypical images of ghosts... sheets of white with eyes.. going woooooooo... all these images have been what hollywood and western films have been trying to impart to us. And we also have the japanese ghosts with all the sadoko, white ghostly child and so on.
We position ourselves as south east asian game developers. Our market is the south east asian market. I admit that if we are to produce a game with south east asian setting it may alienate a gamer from ... denmark (this aint picking on you david! haha... just an example.. :) )
But think about this... japanese games... yes you have mario or zelda.. which seems transnational. But they are also producing very culturally specific games like ninjas and samurais... the only game they haven't produced might be about geishas! haha.. but anyway.. yeah why not we see ourselves on the fore front of producing games which promote our own regional culture? We need not follow the global hegemony right?
So here's some initial idea:
main character: can be a boy or girl, ethnicity would probably be a Malay. Ali and Siti? And they carry... kerosene lamp.
environment: set perhaps 18th to early 19th Century... kampong areas.
probable game level: kampongs (malay village) , swamps, jungles, malay cemetary
weapon: either the mentioned kerosene lamp, then perhaps i thinking of having a magical kris (a malay dagger) as weapon. cos right now the image of the candle resembles a dagger.. we can modify it to look like a kris.
sound effects/music: that's where we can shine! use traditional instruments to produce some really creepy pieces... like using the ukelele, wind chimes, malay drums etc... i think the ukelele itself can create great atmospheric sound effects!
ghost: we can still keep them cute... it's like we can draw kawaii looking pontianiaks. (like how some manga artists draw cute versions of sadako) then toyols, we can draw them more towards "impish" than horrifying.
I believe what we have here will pretty much be a highly differentiated product.
posted by zhonghao | 12:21 AM
2 Comments:
just a little note: suggestions here are purely cosmetic, game mechanic remain largely the same.
i don't think i wrote any "complex story" here eh?
But it's good that you brought out from a foreigner kind of perspective. Interesting to say that about losing the whole world... but we can't say our identifiable market is the whole world right?
remember we all have the same purpose of making the game both innovative and sellable. Perhaps I'm not that good with description hence it seems so complex now. But let me assure you it is just cosmetics. Whatever that's stated here can be easily mapped into the gameplay.
I do not understand the lantern become the kris part because i thought the lantern is the crucial component of the game. If it changes to a kris, won't the dynamics of the game be erased partially?
The settings would be debatable and I don't mind drawing again but must give me TIME. As Alex said, whatever changes we made, we need to consider our constraints, both time and budget. I cannot churn out graphics anytime because often I look for inspirations to draw the art....hehee i am not so imaginative....my cons...=P
I hope to create items for the graphic settings Eg: objects in a mansion or graveyard. And once the ghosts and spectres are settled, I will start the anumation on them promptly.
cheers!
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