11 August 2024

After completing my initial concept pitch deck, I've begun to reach out to potential collaborators to get them on board and up to speed on the concept and idea. Having the pitch deck as a google slides that I could just share with them was immensely helpful, and I've managed to recruit a small crew with it! They are as follows:

• Flaire - Monster Artist (using pens/lineart to sketch decaying, monstrous creatures that act as manifestations of the MC's fears or perceptions of those around her)
• Ivy - SFX/Composer (composing & layering background tracks to reflect choices made, OST creation)
• Liam - Sound Designer (mixing all the sounds together, creating atmosphere tracks, general game dev sound design help. Worked on Hollow Knight)
• Luna - Co-creative (help with editing the script, drafting ideas, writing and refining dialogue)
• Skye - Character Artist (main character art, expressions & positions, a few supporting characters, some potential CG screens)

• Getting a moodboard together for Skye to begin work on MC design (BY: Tuesday 13/8/23)
• Sculpting briefs + soundboard for Liam & Ivy to begin working on sound design (BY: Wednesday 14/8/23)
• A basic plot outline & story structure, including endings (BY: Thursday 15/8/23):

I've been in a bit of a writer's block, to be honest, and I'm still drawing a bit of a blank on how to structure out the MC's day, as well as balance the horror and confrontational elements with the gameplay as a whole.

However, watching Five Feet Apart (by no means a perfect film, but one that resonates with me deeply) as well as the short animated series Hikari Be My Light helped me get closer to a means of exploring and embracing what being in hospital felt like, and hopefully pushing me closer towards being able to draw from those experiences and begin to start the story.

What I feel I need to do is do some free journalling in bed, perhaps each night, to reflect on my own experiences and then craft a narrative from that. Starting from some questions like:

• "What would the world & situation look like if MC takes steps towards recovery, and what would it look like if not?" --> to keep within scope, potentially have this be the day before weigh day - monday/thursday each week, where privileges are taken/given based on your weight and adherence to the meal plan. This could be built up as this immensely scary moment, but never actually shown - e.g. the stepping onto the scale animation with only her facial expession, confident/proud or petrified, indicating the player's influence over her?)


• Potential Endings reflective of those experienced in hospital: (1) Getting through the day and doing your best to eat it all, relieved when steps onto scale; (2) Getting through the day but entertaining & acting on ED thoughts, petrified when steps onto scale & launched back to beginning of game - cycle begins anew for the next 3 days etc.; (3) Not getting through the day, breakdown, feeding tube replaced (horrific sequence), back to start.


• "What constitutes a bad ending, and why? How can we 'measure/evaluate the player's actions' by this ending, in a way that is not reductive or superficial?"


• "What would a day in hospital look like? What can we fill the time between meals and snacks with? What did I fill those with?"


• "Who would come and visit over the course of the day? E.g. Doctors (examinations), nurses (weighs, 6am), bloods (8am), family (1pm, visiting hours), phosphate & meds (7:30pm), etc."


• "What was a typical set of meals? Where would they be eaten? Being wheeled to the snack & meal room? Nurse supervision? How to incorporate that into gameplay?"

• Looking Up, I See Only A Ceiling
• Replaying Milk Inside a Bag of Milk Inside a Bag Of Milk
• Finishing Milk Outside a Bag of Milk Outside a Bag Of Milk