User blog comment:Krayfish/Footage of the Hallowed Worlds Game!/@comment-5870856-20160321233656/@comment-1743498-20160322030706

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I've watched a lot of Extra Credits, and I'll definitely keep that in mind. I recall watching a lot of the story-related videos a while back, but a refresher couldn't hurt.

For the models, definitely looking to improve them. I just got my hands on 3ds max recently so that I'll be able to create more varied environments than just a blocky layout. Still have to learn the software though since I haven't really done much 3D modelling before working on this game. And for the sprites, I can definitely have them at much higher resolution. I was in fact planning to redo them later by drawing them in GIMP or Photoshop. I haven't ruled out having 3D characters though.

Most of that dialogue will be removed from the final version anyway as the prototype was more of a feature showcase rather than an actual reflection on the story. I guess this is where hi-res sprites come in since it would be easier to have the characters convey expressions that way.

Oh, and for the environments, that's actually only one region of four planned areas which are differently themed. The area shown in the video is known as Spirit Meadows, and the other three areas are Giant's Garden, Nutcracker Kingdom, Dark Town. Each area has their own subplot themed around one of the protagonists, and each area also has their own antagonist.

I'll definitely look into watching some more Tim Burton films. I do need to do a bit more research when it comes to capturing a strong narrative. This is actually the first game I'm making that is directly intended to tell a story.

Alright, then. So here's some behind-the-scenes info. This is where my stylistic influences come from:

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 * Alice in Wonderland - For Nutcrakcer Kingdom. The antagonist of that area is influenced by the Queen of Hearts, particularly that absolute insane nutcase control freak type.  The town inhabitants are definitive Cloud Cuckoolanders.
 * Tim Burton - Everything about Dark Town. Nightmare Before Christmas specifically.  I would say this section of the game retains the most elements of the original Hallows Maleficient.  (I haven't seen Beetlejuice either, but I like the show's intro.)
 * Roald Dahl - For Giant's Garden. The giant that tends the garden is a lot like the BFG, while the actual garden is a bit like Loompaland.  I wanted to have an area where you go between big and small so this area is very naturalistic.
 * Dr. Seuss - A lot of the character and architectural design, specifically the whimsical cartoony otherworldly feel to it. (Like the Trufulua-type trees as well.)
 * Child of Light - This particularly influenced the gameplay as well as the music for the battles.
 * Fantasia - The main villain Antithesis is influenced by Chernabog. The fight with him is supposed to be against a devil-like figure with an epic orchestra playing classical music in the background.
 * Tchaikovsky - Some additional influences for the Nutcracker Kingdom, and to sort of fit the toy soldier theme. I composed a few music tracks in this style as well.
 * Wizard of Oz - In terms of narrative structure, I would say the game is the closest to this in that you travel across various different areas meeting unique characters along the way. Amie's personality was modeled a lot after Dorothy, and the antagonist of Dark Town is somewhat based off the Wizard of Oz himself in that he's a magician performer.

One thing about the design of the protagonists is that I actually created them for an entirely different project which I thought up back in 2014. The three girls were originally made for a scrapped Sailor Moon type game which is why they look a little anime-ish, and Savien was directly lifted from a character I created for Beyond the Universe Wiki. I may change them later though.

The common theme across all the worlds is dreams. Essentially, my idea was just to broaden the scope so that I could include different types of environments. And as said, each area corresponds to a particular character (Amie to the Spirit Meadows, Savien to Giant's Garden, Bella to Dark Town, and Charlie to Nutcracker Kingdom). After going through each area, all the characters team up and take on the main villain Antithesis (who at this time is designed around game mechanics - I haven't figured out a solid story connection yet).

Most likely, I won't be making the levels in the order they'll actually be played in the game. Dark Town will probably be the first area to design since as said before, it has the closest resemblance to the original Hallows Maleficient in that it is the most Tim Burton-inspired area of all of them. Right now, I really don't know how big each of these areas will actually be, but I want to include enough content so that each area can tell its own coherent story that contributes to a greater story arc.