Words Of Shirei - Pete’s Dev Diary #1 31/07/17

First things first, Words of Shirei (WOS) is by far the most ambitious project we have taken on here at Captain Dinosaur Games. When first conceptualising what we wanted WOS to be, the one question we decided to answer was: what would we love to play? We are proud of all the games we have created in the past; however, none of them are of a genre we are truly passionate about. 

So, as Dave stated in his first dev diary, he mentioned that WOS is going to be a first person adventure game in the vein of games like Zelda Majora's Mask. The main game will be broken down into micro dungeons that are going to focus on player choice. The abilities you will gain throughout your journey will allow you to overcome these challenges in a multitude of different ways. This is something we will go into more depth about in the next couple of months.

Without spoiling too much, you arrive at the isolated city of Shirei where you are greeted by enthusiastic inhabitants who are surprised to see a new face. Each NPC you meet is perpetually linked to the world which seems to be caught in limbo. You will uncover why they are there and what brought you to this world in the first place.

The art style we are developing is heavily inspired by the art of origami. Something that has always fascinated me in regards to how malleable a single piece of paper can be. I love how much emotion can be expressed just by choosing a single colour and some well thought-out folds. This minimalist and clean look is something we are trying to capture in WOS, and I believe there is no better way to understand this then by learning the practical art of origami. I don’t intend to be a master, just understand the design and folds that go into creating a model so I can replicate this in a digital sense.

Two other massive influences on the look of the game are that of The Matrix’s take on digital space and manmade Bismuth crystals, as I feel their geometric shapes will complement the angular origami models.

I hope this concept tickles your pickle and we look forward to showing you how Words of Shirei develops in the coming months.

Thanks for reading! 

Peter Morrish

Lead Designer

Captain Dinosaur Games

Twitter:
Captain Dinosaur Games: @CaptDinoGames

Peter: @PeterJMorrish