Programmation – Cocosd2 and us

Hello everybody,

Today I would like to talk about the programation of the game and not the visuals. How we do ? Well, Daniel uses Cocosd2. He created a specific engine for the game which is capable to mix some specificites of a point and click (exploration, take some objects, give them to someone, etc.) and of a visual novel (dialogs, story, etc.).The engine works with a .json editor. It’s simple, in the game when you talk with someone, the engine will search the right file, .json, where is written all the dialog. You can see an extract of the dialog editor just below.

Because you have several choices during a dialog (to say the truth, to be rude or to lie), each choice will have a consequence. Sometimes, you need to lie, sometimes you have to be honest. The good thing with this system is that the game will remember what you did. So, for example, if you decide to talk to someone after a very hard conversation, the character will remember that and maybe will be less friendly.

As you can we can create different boxes. A text node (to choose a face of the character, a text ) and a choice node (when you have to make a choice), and finally a branch node (to create a variable to remember an ancient choice).

So, the engine will navigate between some code and some .json files. For us, we see sometimes like that through the terminal :

We created our own engine because we didn’t find an actual software which could do what we found. So, not a point and click and not a visual novel but a mix.

. Version française :

Bonjour à tous,

Aujourd’hui, j’aimerais vous parler un peu de programmation et non de visuels. Comment concrètement codons-nous ? C’est simple. Daniel, notre programmeur, utilise Cocosd2. Il a créé un moteur de jeu spécifique pour notre création, un moteur capable de mélanger les spécificités du point and click (exploration, gestion d’objets, etc.) et de la visual novel (dialogues à choix multiples, etc.).

Le moteur fonctionne avec un éditeur de fichiers .json. Lorsque vous parlez à quelqu’un, le jeu ira chercher le fichier .json associé. Par exemple, le vendeur aura pour fichier : vendeur.json. Dans ce fichier se trouve tout le dialogue avec tous les embranchements.

Comme vous aurez plusieurs choix durant le dialogue (dire la vérité, mentir ou être agressif), chaque voix aura une conséquence. Parfois, il faudra mentir, parfois dire la vérité sera crucial. La chose intéressante avec ce système est que le jeu se souviendra de ce que vous avez fait. Donc, si vous avez été un peu rude avec quelqu’un, peut-être sera-t-il moins amical la fois suivant.

Sur l’image, vous voyez plusieurs boites. En effet, trois boites existent. La « text node » ne permettant que d’écrire et de choisir une expression du sprite (colère, joie, etc.), la « choice node » (lorsqu’il faut faire un choix) et la « branch node » (pour créer une variable afin de se souvenir de votre attitude durant la précédent conversation).

Pour nous, le jeu s’organise de cette façon si l’on prend le temps de scruter le terminal. Pas très sexy, c’est vrai.

 

Visuals – The bedroom (new colors)

Hello everybody,

We are not actually very happy about the colors of the background and I read several comments which say the same thing. People seem to like the strokes, and the black and white version but not the colors. So, we’ll try to change them. What choice do you like ? The option is now to use 3-4 colors for each background. So, the brown, the blue-grey or sepia effect ? Or do you prefer the first one ?

Thank you

. Version française :

Bonjour à tous,

Nous sommes actuellement en train de se focaliser sur les couleurs du jeu. Nous ne sommes pas encore satisfaits du résultat donc nous faisons des tests. Plusieurs commentaires, ici et là, ont avoué préféré les versions en noir et blanc, donc nous expérimentons quelques palettes de 3-4 couleurs : variation de bleu, gris et sépia. L’idée est de souligner le ton du jeu : monde étrange, fait de frustration et d’angoisses.

Alors, quelle image préférez-vous ? L’ancienne version avec les couleurs ou une des nouvelles ?

Merci.

 

Visuals : The colors as a vector of the meaning of the game

Hello everybody,

Because it’s the beginning of this blog, I would like to share with you some pictures of the first steps of our development. As you know, the game was originally created with the software Ren’Py. A very interesting tool to create visual novels. The aesthetics at this moment was pretty simple : already a cartoon style but a choice of three colors : white, grey and black.

The goal was to create an atmosphere with the story, the dialogs, of course, but also with these graphic elements. It’s so important to immerge the gamer since the beginning in your world and the choice of the colors could help with that. For us, it was a strange world without vivid colors that creates a feeling of uniformity.

Now, the choice is to use vivid colors but for the skin we continue to have a kind of grey to avoid the “pink” of the skin or a too realistic color for us because we want to respect the strangeness of the Kafka’s world. And, by the way, a brown filter will appear progressively and makes all the game look more and more sad as the mental health of the character is. So, we continue to use the colors as a vector of the meaning of the game but…differently.

Visuals – The character of Franz Kafka

Hello everybody,

For our first post in the « Visuals » section, we have decided to talk about the principal character of the game: Franz Kafka.

The aesthetics of a character is a very important job. You can’t screw up this part of your project. That’s why it was a pretty long trip to find the final visual of our Kafka. At first, the game would have been in pixel art. But, the result wasn’t really good. That’s why we decided to draw Kafka in a vector style. We chose Illustrator for the design of the game and we refused to try to reach a photorealism style. The global aesthetics is more like a cartoon but it’s not because it looks like a cartoon that the game is for children. The very simple style of the character will help us to focus on the emotions of the character. It’s the most important for us.

Beyond this technical aspect of the game, we searched several pictures of Franz Kafka when he was a child. But, it’s really difficult to find photographs or paintings. For the moment, we know about 2 or 3 photographs of Kafka as a young boy. We tried to conserve the general aspect, and sadness, of the man in our cartoon style.

If Kafka seems sad in our game, it’s also because his relationship with his father was a big struggle. His father was an authoritarian man. For the young Kafka, it was probably very hard to find his place in the family. In a very famous letter to his father, which was never send, Kafka explains as an adult how it was difficult for him to live with this father bigger than life.

To finish this article, you could see several pictures from the beginning to the final aspect of our character.

A very pixel art style at the beginning of the project.

Story – Why Kafka ?

Hello everybody,

For our (real) first post, we have decided to talk about the choice of Franz Kafka as principal topic for our first game.

I’ve visited, me, Alexis Hassler (alfoux), the city of Prague in last December. It was a great trip and one day I was at the Kafka’s museum. It was a shock. I discovered the power of Kafka’s work.

The idea of creating a video game is an old one for me. After having thinking, and writing several papers, about video games I’ve decided to do more and that’s why I’ve started to create my own game.

Kafka’s life is as interesting as his novels or short stories. His life was a constant struggle between his desire to become a famous writer and his obligation as an employee in an assurance enterprise. This link was ideal for me, as a writer and game designer, to give to players some interesting feelings and thoughts about the daily struggle of life.

When I returned from Prague, I’ve started to read again some novels and short stories written by Kafka as “In the Penal Colony” which is a really good one. Step by step, I understood that Kafka would help me to create a true psychological video game. A video game in which the player will see every consequence of his acts. When I say that, I mean consequences on the mental health of the character.

Just to finish, some pictures of the Kafka’s museum.