Climate Jam - Ideation phase

Overview

Archeocook is a project I've had in mind for quite some time, but I never got a chance to really work on it properly before. I'm using the opportunity of Indicade's Climate Jam 2024 to challenge myself and see if the concept could work as a game, and how far I can go on my own as a solo dev.

Genre: Narrative, single player game. For the purpose of the jam, it'll be a small interactive fiction/visual-novel.

Platforms: For the jam, I'll focus on either PC only or browser-based (TBC).

Setting: The story takes place on Earth in a distant future. Interplanetary traveling is now a common thing, but a handful of people have stayed on Earth. Some of them live along a vast river nestled in a tropical region. Their lives are paced by the abrupt changes of weather and seasons;  but their ingenuity help them nurture the bountiful ecosystem they are part of.

The setting of the game is loosely inspired by the Mekong Delta and the floating markets and villages that can be found there (among other things). The aim is to show a solarpunk version of life in a tropical, river-based environment. (No cars!)

(Mute the cringey journalist's comments if you can lol)

Gameplay: The player plays as Sy, an Archecook who travels the river aboard their houseboat, the Mirepoix. Their quest is to find people who remember recipes from ancient times, and try to recreate cherished meals using the ingredients they can find.

For the purpose of this prototype, the interactions will happen via text and written choices on screen. (In the future, I'd love to make a cooking system that's fun and engaging and meaningful, but this is out of scope considering the jam's format and my own availability.) 

The prototype will either be a small interactive fiction or something a bit fancier akin to a visual novel. One big inspiration I have is from Edith Finch -- the fish factory scene, where the player can make choices by navigating their boat across the option they want:

Since I'm making small voxel dioramas (see below) that look like dominoes or Mahjong tiles at the moment, the current idea is to make some sort of a synergy between making a choice, and "revealing a new tile". The basic principles are:

1. You start on a tile with your playable character on it (symbolized as the Mirepoix boat for this prototype). You have text options on screen next to the tile.
2. Depending on the option you picked, a corresponding tile is revealed.
3. Rise and repeat.

Here's an ugly mockup of what I mean:

The logic is also a bit like the boardgame Betrayal at the House on the hill with square tiles being revealed as you progress, or another board game called Destinies:

Other game inspirations include: Venba; the cooking mini game in Like a Dragon: Ishin, Coffee Talk, The Red Strings Club among others.

Other non-gaming inspirations include: The Bear (tv show) and Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories.

Tools: Primarily Ink (for the writing) and MagicaVoxel (for visuals). Then, depending on the remaining time I have, I'll either use Calico (which helps publish web-based Ink stories with some cool features, and I've already tried it before) or Godot (I have a working knowledge of Godot but have never tried to use it in combination with Ink yet, so this is a big "maybe"). I'll also be using other open source tools like Inkscape for visuals and Krita.

Scope: At the moment, I want to make a playable tiny prototype to experiment with the following:

- Voxel dioramas (see if this art direction is fitting the project and how far I can go). Making quick mockups on MagicaVoxel for landscapes, testing camera angles and lighting. They'll be used as illustrations if I keep an interactive fiction format using Calico+Ink; or for level design/animated assets if I end up using Godot. (I doubt I'll have the time, but who knows)

(A first test -- still not fully happy with the terrain parts and the boat and... :D)

(Trying to play with grass and depth, to give it more a river-like/swamp look)

- Start sketching the visual design of the Mirepoix (at least an interesting/iconic silhouette). Since I'll be keeping an orthogonal view from a distance, the "character" will be the boat. It'll probably be inspired by boats such as the ones seen in Can Tho, the Vietnamese coracle, or even the Kettuvallam in India. A reasonably-sized boat with some roundness to it, yet practical, able to navigate both narrow rivers and larger streams, with means of cooking and serving food aboard. 

Design wise, the Mirepoix will also feature futuristic inventions that are loosely based on various things I read, such as: The "Meteo-Tarp", a large sheet of a metamaterial that can change its shape to power the boat according to the current weather. This imaginary metamaterial is malleable and resistant enough to fold and unfold into various origami patterns. Folded as a pinwheel, it's a turbine using wind to generate energy and power the boat; when it rains, it folds into an umbrella instead to harness the power of water droplets. It could also turn into a sail if the wind's coming from the back, a solar panel if it's sunny without wind, etc.

I'm leaning more on the "softer" side of sci-fi, while still being inspired by existing scientific advances and research.

- More elements about the world-building: How people live, the technologies they use, how they manage to stay adaptable and try not to control nature, but live within it 

- At the moment, the core verbs I have gameplay wise are INVESTIGATE - COMBINE - SHARE. I want to start designing a system of choices which could reflect these, or refine these verbs. I also maybe want to see if there's any fun analogy to make between the actions of cooking, and social interactions? (These days I'm thinking about flavors and how the Archeocook could spice their answers -- almost literally.)

- For the prototype, I will most likely have the Archeocook talk to one 'requester' directly, have them share their recipe, investigate potential ingredients, make the food and have the client try it. Some of these steps might end up being summarized/skipped for the sake of the prototype. The length of a playthrough will depend on how far I can go with the writing and/or the programming side of things.