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Idea for my next 2D game! Please give me some feedback

A topic by IndieQuantum created Dec 10, 2023 Views: 200 Replies: 5

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Hi there,

I have been stuck in coming up with fresh ideas for my next game and have just potentially found an "ok" concept. A few days ago when I was brainstorming ideas for my next game, a friend of mine told me to focus on a central theme that my game can follow. A theme that I always wanted to do was light and dark.

I like this theme a lot as not only can the gameplay surrounding this theme can be unique but also can allow me to connect personally with this theme. I have been playing tons of indie game lately and I noticed that most indie games portray emotion. Strong emotion that it actually allowed me to connect with the characters and story at a more personal level.

With the theme light and dark, I was thinking in creating a game where you play as like a light warrior or a chosen person of the light. As a chosen person of light, you are tasked by returning light to a kingdom that has fallen into darkness. I am currently writing the story of this.

Please do give me some feedback!

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DarkBloodbane353 days ago

I was expecting a clash between light and dark when you mentioned it as the theme which could lead to deeper story but I digress.

As for feedback, I believe you should find decent reason or rather what exactly you mean by fallen into darkness. The answer will define what exactly player would do to return light to that kingdom. Old games usually simplify this by the king has fallen to dark side and summoned demon which caused the darkness so player "only" need to defeat the demon to solve the problem. But you could change that, here are what I have in mind ATM:

1. The darkness was caused by multiple person doing evil deeds which brought darkness. Player must stop the evil deeds in multiple places to solve this.

2. The darkness was caused by ancient devil who opened portal of darkness in a kingdom. Player need to seal the portal and defeat the devil to expel him back to the darkness.

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IndieQuantum352 days ago

I know it's not a lot right now but I just wanted to project my idea. Like the other day I was thinking to myself that the game should follow kind of like animal themed or something. Like Hollow Knight, Hollow Knight is a bug themed metroidvania which executes its environments perfectly.

So I am starting to design the protagonist and I quickly searched "light warrior" or "warrior of light". The images I got was a figure with wings, which would make sense as like light is directed to divine or hope which was what I was going for. When the wings came up I was like maybe I could do the game bird themed. Maybe bird themed is a little cheesy at the moment but I feel that it could have a lot of potential gameplay wise.

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redonihunter352 days ago

Light and Dark are usually stand-ins for Good and Evil. Hence the winged warriors or Angels. In story terms, you have the avatars, chosen ones or champions of the gods or whatever protagonists and antagonists you wanna have.

When first reading your post, I did not immediatly think of warriors. You could also bring knowledge or literal light to a dark kingdom.

But then you jumped to the generic good hero will fight against the big bad trope. Nothing bad there in tropes, but I had the impression you want to try something seldom seen or unique.

If you wanna go abstract, your protagonist could be a thought or the beginning of a thought that has to enlighten the whole brain from boredom, stagnation, sleep, death by fireing up the neurons to activity, experience, wakeness, life.

The gist of your story would also be applicable to what is written in several religious texts. How the chosen of god has to spread the word anew.

Or to put it bluntly, dark vs light is as universal as boy meets girl in terms of starting point for a story ;-)

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IndieQuantum352 days ago

Thank you for the suggestion! My idea with the light and dark theme is mainly to establish that connection with the player or the player to establish a connection with the theme of the game. I don't know if this is to harsh of a topic on here but like some other games that explore mental health, I to want to do this. As a person who suffered from depression in the past, the light and dark theme is something that I want to really reflect in the game. The dark is loneliness, sadness, despair, and fear while the light is comfort, joy, faith, and courage.

Sorry if my explanation is not well thought but that's where I want to head with this theme. I went with the good will fight bad trope because hope (light) is like your mental warrior trying to defend and fight of against your dark moments in life, at least that's how I see it. Now in terms of the bird protagonist or bird theme, that was something that I just picked on since birds symbolize new beginnings, hope, freedom, prosperity, peace, and joy.

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redonihunter351 days ago

You might consider not portraying it as a fight. One does not overcome sadness with violence. And you overcome loneliness by making friends, not by beating them up.

If you do not do another 1 bit color you might want to portrait your dark more like a cold and gloomy thing and the light as warmth with your color scheme. It is too easy to equate dark with evil and light with good. But your theme does not sound like such a conflict. More like spring excorcising winter. It is an obstacle, a condition to overcome, not winning against an adversary. Of course you can go full abstract and fight the dark stuff.

Your bird hero could return stolen eggs to the commoners as an alternative to fighting ;-)

Oh and a tiny advice. You should think about releasing demo versions of your games along with the paid version. This is itch and not steam. People can not easily give back the game, if it is not what they expected and they cannot read any public reviews.

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