Deadline:
Oct 1, 2013.
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Project Goals and Scope
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***Using the Unity game engine (or Flash), create a non-profit, single level, 2D sidescroller within the Shenmue universe where the player controls Ryo. The 'game' element is to be decided, but I'm really only shooting for a recreation of that level and some minor interactions. The same type of 'detective' gameplay may be implemented, such as when Ryo has to find out more about the three blades or sailors. This is where I can be a little bit more creative, but I don't really have many concrete ideas at the moment. I'm focusing on the social interactions Ryo has with the NPCs and not fighting or QTEs, despite both not being out of the question. It really depends on time and my programming abilities, which are not up to par yet.
***Create Dobuita from Shenmue with modifications to suit the 2D perspective. The goal is to make it large enough to have the same sort of traversal time as in the original game, ie., if Ryo were to walk from Sakurgoaka Park to the bus stop, it'd probably take a couple of minutes, from what I remember anyway. That's the kind of size I'm aiming for.
***NPCs will include as many of the 'main' secondary characters as possible. For now, Nozomi and Tom along with most of the shopkeepers are locked in for creation, while others like Noriko, Eri, Ichiro, Naoyuki, and Honey are secondary priorities. This may change depending on what I feel is best during development.
***Some of the more important interiors of buildings will be created, namely, You Arcade, Liu's Barber Shop, Tomato Convenience Store, Ajiichi Chinese Restaurant, Lapis Fortune Teller, and Aida Flower Shop.
***The artistic style may be the same as the animated GIF above or something more simplified or just simply different. Pixel art or painterly. I have to experiment more to find the right kind that suits my artistic ability, which is somewhat lacking.
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Summation and Notes
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I'm looking to spend every day on this and complete it as much as I can. This is my attempt at an interactive 2D game, which will give me experience to move on to other for-profit games I'm going to design in the future.
As is the case though, things can get derailed internally or externally. In that event, I may have to cancel the project at any time. Hopefully, that doesn't happen.
About the GIF though, the palette and style was my attempt at drawing Ryo in the King of Fighters 13 style, which relies on nearly 5 tints of a single colour to create gradients/shadows. I recall it being rather tedious drawing pixel art (having only vaguely done it before as a child) and it took about a while to do, even to its incomplete state (which was due to personal reasons). I'm not a person that just draws for the fun. I draw only to complete an objective. In that sense, my artistic abilities are lacking, and yet it allows me to pick and choose styles to emulate or modify. We'll just have to see what I come up with. I'm probably still going to do pixel art though. Can't ignore the charm of it.
Hopefully, a cease and desist doesn't come my way. I'd consider this complex fan art that's 'transformative', but you never know.
I'll update as frequently as I can.