INTERGALACTIC SPACE ROMANCE
"As we entered the Antripodal space, I gazed upon my companion craft. I loved with the passion of a millon quasars. But as we entered the strange expanse I felt a dread"
-Opening text Screen
I am an Artist Looking for a programer to help design and program a short flash game. I want to create a game that plays around with the specific anonymity and associations of multiplayer games on the internet, and let it explore some of the dark side of human relationship.
The idea is a typical side scrolling shooter of the shoot and fly genre, similar to r type and gladius. It has a typical powerups(spread, laser, etc). However its multiplayer. there's a second player control ship on the screen at the same time-and there is friendly fire. Its easy and possible to shoot and kill the person with you, either by accident or on purpose.
If either player dies, the game is over. The game can continue, but only if both players do so within 30 seconds using an arcade style continue screen.
After a few typical waves of enemies. We get into the boss battles of each level. This is the heart of the game. At first the boss looks vaguely like the second ship, just vaguely possible to mistake. However at the end of each level the boss and player 2 are harder to tell them apart and as such increasingly hard to to tell if its trying to help you or hurt you.
In the final level the games boss is totally identical to the other player and you can't see the other players health bar- you don't know which ship your helping or killing.
Naturally this is all reversed for the other player, who can kill you and will mistake you for the boss.
The game is a metaphor for romance and human connection. I want to create a game that goes beyond the typical find the gift style dating sim to explore deeper ideas of human connection. After all no NPC can ever possibly have the complexity of a real person, nor inspire the same reaction.
The game explores the deep fear in any relationship if your partner is helping you or hurting you.. We may not consciously experience that, there's always a question if the person you are with will take advantage of you, hurt you, use you. There exist a social contract, but on the internet in gaming it is about its most tenuous. Some people who play the game will laugh at greifing the other ship. Some will cry. Some will just sigh at the way the world is. And some will win the game- together accomplishing something, together sharing the joy of video games.
Of course none of the bad things will happen making the game. I am A Video and digital artist based in LA. Though this would be my first major game, I have extensive experience in special effects. I can supply all the game art assets, animation and want to co work with design.
Artistically I want the game to get more surreal as it goes deeper in. I want to combine hand drawn and CG elements in most of the design elements,, to create a slightly biomorphic look, one that questions how it was created. In the first couple of levels this id toned down. These parts have generic robot ennimes, clean space backgrounds. As the game goes deeper in the enmimes become more surrealist figures, the backgrounds quasi organic nebula in space. The music starts as upbeat chiptune song. By the end its kabuki theater drum and flute.
Again this is a fairly simple shooter game with 5-10 levels-the only complication being the multiplayer element. I can't afford to pay for programing but can supply all the in game artwork and animation. My idea is to put it on new grounds and armored. If we can figure out how to port it Xbla Droid or Iphone that works to. As programing it shouldn't be to tricky to do, but I hope it will be an interesting exercise in the potential of gaming.
