Welcome to the August 2024 Angeline Era development log! It’s very hot in Tokyo. As much as I like aspects of summer, I don’t sweat well, meaning summer is especially dangerous for me. I’m looking forward to the autumn coming.
I'm very curious about this philosophy of missability. No, let me rephrase it: I think this philosophy of missability is novel, and lovely.
I recently watched a video by a game developer who was warning viewers against content and reward, saying that sometimes games end up smaller than imagined because no exec likes the idea of paying money for content that the majority of players will miss (I have paraphrased, of course, so don't quote me on that). I'm guessing that this is wildly different in an indie environment, where you don't have an exec scoffing at creative ideas just because they require more time and money...
Anyway, I like the philosophy because it helps conceptualise games in a more holistic way, and because it also validates those players (like me) that don't necessarily finish games, or complete them 100%. What inspires this philosophy in you and Marina? Is this a response to other games, or something completely new? I think that there's a misconception about having to understand media completely to thoroughly enjoy them (or to have the right to talk about them), but any experience of media is by definition limited, therefore different and multifaceted. The idea of 100%ing games rubs me the wrong way for reasons that I should not get into, so missability as a purposeful design element fascinates me, and if anything, I think it would inspire me to replay the game, instead of feeling bad about not seeing everything in the first place.
The missability philosophy comes from wanting to steer the adventure experience away from fulfilling linear questlines, which necessarily require more guidance and hints. While Angeline Era does feature a ultimately linear story, it's not the main focus for much of the game so we only need a light touch with guidance. I'm not sure what inspired the initial desire to have the game track minimal main-quest-related state, but it could have been a response to the very linear Sephonie, but, also, we tend to design games where you see everything, so there's always been an itch to make a game where most stuff is optional.
And this game was too late to be a core influence, but I have enjoyed Romancing Saga SNES's approach to missing stuff and every player having a wildly different experience, yet not being as loose as a roguelike, which of course relates to the wide history of TTRPGs/CRPGs and nonlinearity.
The imagery in the thinking behind the mixed up/loose historical structure of Kenzaburo Oe's "The Game of Contemporaneity" also comes to mind - he was inspired by a temporally nonlinear mural by Diego Rivera. The Oe is a much earlier influence so it's possible that guided my thinking. I have always loved the idea of creating a world that feels more like a 'book of myths' where we aren't seeing all that's there, but are forced to accept an incomplete depiction of the world (e.g. the collected Tono Monogatari, or something like Miyazawa's Ihatovo, Naohisa Inoue's Iblard, or even Hiroshi Masamura's Atagoul... or Sakura Momoko's Coji-coji), so to be able to lean into that approach with making the levels has been fun. I want Angeline Era's world to imply there's more we aren't showing, but also signal that to an extent it's up to the imagination to figure out what that is.
I really like linear stories in that they can give us strong characters and arcs to act as a lens towards the more loose, nonlinear aspects. But not when the linear stories overly dictate the game's design and flow. E.g., I'm not sure I like games as much when they're linear a lot of the time, and the nonlinearness that exists is a kind of choice that feels more like uncovering some 'truth' or conspiracy-esque underbelly of the game - focused around getting characters to say alternate things, etc, replaying sections 10 times just to find one alternate dialogue. I feel that people today are primed to consume work with a compulsive-esque fixation on the 'truth', but I'd like to make something that tries to downplay that urgency. Because the whole idea of singular truth is really out of sync with how the world is full of many contradictions (but we still have to find a way forward, anyways!)
I'm very curious about this philosophy of missability. No, let me rephrase it: I think this philosophy of missability is novel, and lovely.
I recently watched a video by a game developer who was warning viewers against content and reward, saying that sometimes games end up smaller than imagined because no exec likes the idea of paying money for content that the majority of players will miss (I have paraphrased, of course, so don't quote me on that). I'm guessing that this is wildly different in an indie environment, where you don't have an exec scoffing at creative ideas just because they require more time and money...
Anyway, I like the philosophy because it helps conceptualise games in a more holistic way, and because it also validates those players (like me) that don't necessarily finish games, or complete them 100%. What inspires this philosophy in you and Marina? Is this a response to other games, or something completely new? I think that there's a misconception about having to understand media completely to thoroughly enjoy them (or to have the right to talk about them), but any experience of media is by definition limited, therefore different and multifaceted. The idea of 100%ing games rubs me the wrong way for reasons that I should not get into, so missability as a purposeful design element fascinates me, and if anything, I think it would inspire me to replay the game, instead of feeling bad about not seeing everything in the first place.
Thanks for the lovely devlog!
The missability philosophy comes from wanting to steer the adventure experience away from fulfilling linear questlines, which necessarily require more guidance and hints. While Angeline Era does feature a ultimately linear story, it's not the main focus for much of the game so we only need a light touch with guidance. I'm not sure what inspired the initial desire to have the game track minimal main-quest-related state, but it could have been a response to the very linear Sephonie, but, also, we tend to design games where you see everything, so there's always been an itch to make a game where most stuff is optional.
And this game was too late to be a core influence, but I have enjoyed Romancing Saga SNES's approach to missing stuff and every player having a wildly different experience, yet not being as loose as a roguelike, which of course relates to the wide history of TTRPGs/CRPGs and nonlinearity.
The imagery in the thinking behind the mixed up/loose historical structure of Kenzaburo Oe's "The Game of Contemporaneity" also comes to mind - he was inspired by a temporally nonlinear mural by Diego Rivera. The Oe is a much earlier influence so it's possible that guided my thinking. I have always loved the idea of creating a world that feels more like a 'book of myths' where we aren't seeing all that's there, but are forced to accept an incomplete depiction of the world (e.g. the collected Tono Monogatari, or something like Miyazawa's Ihatovo, Naohisa Inoue's Iblard, or even Hiroshi Masamura's Atagoul... or Sakura Momoko's Coji-coji), so to be able to lean into that approach with making the levels has been fun. I want Angeline Era's world to imply there's more we aren't showing, but also signal that to an extent it's up to the imagination to figure out what that is.
I really like linear stories in that they can give us strong characters and arcs to act as a lens towards the more loose, nonlinear aspects. But not when the linear stories overly dictate the game's design and flow. E.g., I'm not sure I like games as much when they're linear a lot of the time, and the nonlinearness that exists is a kind of choice that feels more like uncovering some 'truth' or conspiracy-esque underbelly of the game - focused around getting characters to say alternate things, etc, replaying sections 10 times just to find one alternate dialogue. I feel that people today are primed to consume work with a compulsive-esque fixation on the 'truth', but I'd like to make something that tries to downplay that urgency. Because the whole idea of singular truth is really out of sync with how the world is full of many contradictions (but we still have to find a way forward, anyways!)