Insomniac Nightmares

Black Yard lumbers along, though to what purpose I know not. Unlikely to be slouching to Bethlehem or anything else so portentous.

I think I’ve determined what the overall gameplay loop is supposed to be; that’s good, since when I started, I had no idea. I just wanted to tell the story of the unpleasant things that might be sleeping under a parochial school. I ended up tying it back to the fact that it’s a recurring nightmare of mine. The main character is hunting through the school, looking for memory fragments. With enough of them, he can confront the nightmare.

Then comes the part where I have to decide which fragments are in the game; I have plenty of source material, since to a degree the game is autobiographical. Which ones are important enough to be here? How far back should I go? How far forward?

Once I have that narrowed down, I have to start peppering the environment with them. This is where I am currently; I’ve done one of the two school buildings (specifically covering the 4th through 8th grade classrooms) and have dropped a handful of the artifacts into the environment. I don’t know if I’m doing it “right” or not, though.

In the fourth grade room, there are four memories to be found, one trigger that will lead to another memory elsewhere, and two general items that will lead to other memories. Seven important items in one room.

The fifth grade classroom, in contrast, has the entrance to a hidden area where a memory can be found (if you’ve done a few other things first), a potential game over (if you didn’t do some of those other things) and a clue to another memory. Three important things.

The sixth grade classroom has one memory, one item that is used to obtain a memory elsewhere, and foreshadowing of another memory that will be found later. Again, only three items.

The walkway between the classrooms has three NPCs in it; one who is mainly there for flavor text and can’t really be interacted with, one who sends you on a fetch quest that will ultimately lead to a memory, and one who, if you help him out, will provide you with something you need to get another memory elsewhere.

I suppose what I’m wondering is if there’s too much junk in one room and they need to be spread out more, or if I need to cram more crap into the other rooms that are “done,” or if I can leave it as is. I just don’t know.

But that’s where I stand. I would say this is roughly 12% complete. Yes, I’m mostly pulling that number out of my ass. That number also only indicates what I’m doing with the resources supplied with RPG Maker VX Ace, so if somehow I get the time and money to obtain non-generic tiles and the like, the number changes. But we’ll see.

What are your folks’ opinions? Too much, too little, who the hell cares? Let me know down below.

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