Comments on: Resonance Developer’s Diary #3: Ruminations and Spontaneous Combustions

By: Vince Twelve

Vince Twelve — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:04:02 +0000

No inventories are shared between characters, though two characters may have the same memory if they both witnessed the same event. STMs will be unique, with three per character, and yes, you can overwrite them as needed.

Sharing items is very simple. Just drag an item out of your inventory and drop it on the character you want to give it to. The player character will then walk over to the receiving character and hand it to him. Easy peasy! (Although, some characters will not part with their items, for example, the cop wouldn’t hand his gun to anyone unless it was really, truly necessary.)

By: Rognik

Rognik — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:28:49 +0000

Vincent Vernon Twelve? That almost sounds like a made-up name. At least your last name doesn’t start with a V, though.

When I first noted that there would be 12 inventories, I didn’t think it would be overly complicated. Yes, the long-term memories are obviously shared with selective personal memories, but there was also the short-term memory with but three slots. And I assume those slots will be overwritten frequently in the game. Plus, if each character can carry around 3, that means 12 short-term memories that may be unique to each.

But now I’m curious about the item inventory… I presume it’s not shared, based on your comment. Will item transfers between characters be easy, or will only the characters who need the items be able to hold the items?

By: gnome

gnome — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 08:55:25 +0000

Sure have… Never knew this major truth regarding concept art though… Shocking, really… Now, you could create some sort of lovely button that will automatically link to the latest Dev Diary, couldn’t you? Quite a few blogs might find it useful….

By: Vince Twelve

Vince Twelve — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:31:31 +0000

Concept art? Pfff… That’s for wussies. The finished images just leap straight from my head to the artist’s computers.

Good to have you back, gnome. Hope you enjoyed your vacation!

By: gnome

gnome — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:51:26 +0000

And a bit of Twin Peaks can only mean good things… Now, why not provide with a concept sketch or two… You know it would be as cunning a move as they get… Cheers!

By: Vince Twelve

Vince Twelve — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 00:49:00 +0000

An interesting question, Ms. Kiai. My approach depends on the game, really, though I think I lean towards creating the universe first. Anna started with the universe, definitely. Linus started with the central game concept and built outwards from there.

Resonance, however, started at the middle of the story. I had this idea for an event that I thought would make a great turning-point at the middle of a game. It’s a little strange, I think, to start at the middle, as I usually hear about authors either starting at the end of a book and working backwards, or at the start and letting the characters decide the end.

So, I had this great idea for the middle turning-point in the game, and I worked the story backwards to the beginning. From that, the characters were born. Then, returning to the middle of the story, I let the characters take the story on to the end.

It will be interesting to see which half of Resonance ends up stronger, the first half that was written by the designer to accommodate the turning point, or the second half, which was written by the characters. If all worked out as well as I think it did, it should stand together as a strong and cohesive narrative.

By: Deirdra Kiai

Deirdra Kiai — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 17:53:36 +0000

Very interesting, particularly the bit about world and character-building, and about working with constraints. Are you the kind of game designer who starts by creating/deciding the universe, or who starts with characters? I find that I usually do the latter, whereas a lot of game designers I know (as well as Tim Schafer, as far as I can tell from interviews) do the former.

By: Vince Twelve

Vince Twelve — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 04:48:12 +0000

Screenshots, right… I keep talking myself out of releasing any just yet. I want to wait until I have a proper handful of non-spoilery but beautiful screenies. And while I have a lot of awesome art, I don’t have a lot of awesome already-implemented-in-game art. They’ll come eventually! Sorry, Sergio!

By: Sergio

Sergio — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 03:58:48 +0000

12 Inventories? From xii games… Is this coincidence?

Also, where are my promised screenshots? There better be some next time or I’ll be mildly disappointed. And you wouldn’t like me when I’m mildly disappointed.