Inspirations And Motivations
Video games for me, like a lot of us, have been a medium of escape, of learning, of experiencing, and of playing. It is a medium that has allowed me to really embrace and enjoy story telling in an active way. Games like the iconic Zelda, Mario, Sonic, and Megaman games are absolutely a number of many to name a few, but it is the games I grew up playing like Sly Cooper, and Jak and Daxter that really cemented my love for games today. For Firefighters Fighting Fires I want to make a game that will incorporate everything I love. Storytelling, animation, art, atmosphere, depth, and gameplay. In this post, I want to talk about a few influences that I will often refer to to keep my motivation up when working on it. 
The first will be The Firemen, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Singlehandedly, this is the game that sparked action in me (no pun intended lmao). I remember being 6 years old and booting my SNES up to play this game. I was absolutely obsessed with the idea of playing as a firefighter who had to clear multiple levels of a chemical corporation to save injured or trapped civilians. It gave me a sense of fulfillment knowing I was directly the reason of saving them. Funny enough, it is games where I'm doing something morally powerful that resonate the hardest with me. The second will be Red Dead Redemption 2.
Red Dead Redemption left me stunned for weeks once I beat it. To this day, I still play singleplayer mode. I love roaming around the world searching for hidden secrets, studying the animations, helping NPCs with their problems, and hunting/fishing etc. It's like...a more adult, more intense and more realistic Stardew Valley with moral decision making. It's amazing. The world and the events within it is where I want to draw inspiration for my game. I briefly mentioned this in the phrase above, but the third inspiration is Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley’s relaxing atmosphere and engaging gameplay (from planting crops and raising livestock, to fishing and mining) was an element I thought deeply about when it came to adding systems in my game. I want to make something that is compelling and inviting. I want to make a game that will encourage me to fight baddies, and return to my base to decorate it and make it look cute when I’m done.
Finally, the last two games that will be contributing to the essence or the vibe for FireFighters Fighting Fires will be Don’t Starve and Cult of the Lamb.Cult of the Lamb’s combat specifically was something I really enjoyed when I was playing it. The hack and slash, dodging and running mechanic is just so fun for me. Ideally, I want to be able to implement a beat em up style combat system to my game.
So yeah. That’s basically the gist of it. I’m still at my complete and utter preliminary stage. This game is meant to be a guilty pleasure to learn how to make a game without the pressure of a time constraint or goals. It’s purely designed to enable me to explore my abilities and create whatever I want. Through FireFighters Fighting Fires, I want to be able to completely inundate myself with new skills 6 years from today. I genuinely have no idea how long this will take me, but I don’t really care. I’ll just work on it a little bit each day.
-Anna