It’s Friday, January 13th and it seems like no better day to ramble about one of the fears I have about this project or rather game design in general. Can the dive into fantasy break sequels in a series focused on realistic gameplay?

Most games don’t have this problem as they’re either one or the other, however some realistic games may shift towards fantasy elements when ideas are slim (ahem, not to say that’s what I’m doing…. Fantasy is just a lot quicker to produce). The advantage of fantasy is that you’re not working inside of a box, you can use any idea at your disposal. Once you go back into that box there’s just going to be some things you won’t be able to do.

So how does this apply to me? In a series about talking animals with table manners aren’t I already in the fantasy realm? Well the only thing I focus my fantasy on is the world itself. It’s nearly impossible to make a stage based on a realistic landscape with a path so conveniently laid out for you. In addition to that, you’d be left with a limited variety of environments when focusing on reality. The physics themselves however, I try to follow very closely, with Felix’s jumping and wall jumping possibly being a bit of a stretch. You wont’ see any magic or ghosts or psychics or a zombies or Felix getting shot 50 times  only to hide behind a corner for 5 seconds to make a full recovery. You may also have noticed I’ve never used a floating platform in the more realistic themed games. Where fantasy is concerned I tend to only use science fiction (e.g.The thylacine)

So enter World of Whimsy, a game full of floating platforms and bouncing mushrooms and bizarre landscapes. It’s very easy to get caught up working outside the box and think to yourself going back in the box would make for a very boring experience. Games are all about fun right? I myself am a story based designer, meaning the game itself is an extension of the story which can limit the things I can do. Then there’s the Miyamotos out there whom make the story an extension of the game, which can limit the versatility of the story. I must note though, games aren’t always fun because of good game mechanics, they can also be fun because they’re immersive experiences and the world you’re playing in is actually interesting and you can understand it.  I don’t believe a game has to be nonsensical in order a game to be more fun. As long is the game is enjoyable in some form, I really don’t think it matters. I’m a firm believer that there are no rules in terms of creativity. I think of games as art so sorry for the hippie artist rant. : )

On the subject, it does frighten me that future titles could dramatically differ from World of Whimsy due to level design limitations. I’m not worried that I won’t have any ideas, I worry how the genre will be affected making the game too different from the last. Ironically people tend to complain that the sequels are too much of the same. The term realistic-platformer is a bit of an oxymoron, so I can see people thinking that the platforming elements aren’t as strong in future titles. There’s nothing like watering down a part people liked. I really hate steps backward.

As usual, I”m probably getting ahead of myself. Even so, if this game does well I’m not going to shift towards a fantasy theme. That certainly won’t mean future titles won’t be as good but I do feel people may not find there’s not enough platforming, which seems to be a dying breed as it is. Well I can’t please everyone, but the wonderful things about archived ideas is that that can spin off into other projects.

(One of my career goals is to approach Nintendo about a game involving a certain dinosaur. That however is getting way ahead of myself)