itch.io

This game absolutely rules! I've had a similar idea knocking around in my head for years, and could never work out how to make it into an actual game, but this is such an elegant mechanic - imo the best hacking game I've ever played. Wonderfully tense, while not punishing my frequent mistakes too harshly. The ending left me with a tear in my eye and a grin on my face. I'd love to see this idea developed further, it has so much potential.

Yes, please!

Hey! I'm leaning towards Twine for the sake of simplicity - I might try to build another version in Inform in the future outside the game jam, but I feel like the way Inform is geared by default towards walking between rooms with objects in them would make building out these systems much more time consuming, whereas Twine is more open-ended by default. I love the passenger idea - I can't believe I didn't think of that! I suspect that would help to expand the puzzle space without having to include alternate captains. If people would be interested in helping out, I might ask David if he can add a channel on the Discord.

Hi! 

Just wrote this quick design document to help me focus down on the ideas I had for my game. If anyone else finds this interesting, I'd be happy to have the help!

Outline:

Set in the Hebrides after an unspecified societal collapse, the game involves building a shipping network to share resources with nearby islands. The player can travel between up to four ports, transporting goods and conversing with locals. Decisions made in conversations and choices about what to transport impact the world. The game is themed around rebuilding community and inter-dependency after a traumatic event, and learning from past mistakes to rebuild a better world.

Design decisions to make:

Engine:

While I’m more familiar with Inform and would quite like to build a parser-based game, building the required conversation and transport systems is likely to be more complex in Inform, and narrowing the possibility space will be more time consuming. Therefore, a hypertext engine like Twine will probably be more appropriate, but I’m still a bit conflicted.

Mechanics:

The game needs some sort of conversation mechanic, some sort of travel mechanic, and a way to choose what cargo to carry. It could also include navigation, or a way to explore the areas you travel to. I’m not currently sure how much emphasis to place on each of these mechanics (ie. Abstract travel, focus on conversation, or vice versa.) I would also like to implement puzzles of a “Fox, Hen, Grain” variety – ie. Have negative/positive outcomes occur if certain cargo is carried together or by a certain captain. I’d like to avoid implementing economic mechanics, in contrast to most games with a similar theme. The boat can carry two units of cargo, items are not fungible. If exploration mechanics are implemented, then additional small items may be portable.

Characters:

I’d like to implement a mechanic where the player controls multiple captains. This allows for more complexity in transport puzzles and allows different characters to discover different information through dialogue – fleshing out different sides of the characters you encounter. However, I suspect this is too complex a system for a two-week jam game. If enough people were interested in writing dialogue variations, it might be possible, but otherwise I’m inclined to leave this mechanic to the side.