Adventure games have cutscenes and I’m currently deciding what the best way of doing them is.
Game Engine
Traditional 2D Prototype
My second adventure game prototype is a traditional 2D adventure engine designed to explore whether the following are feasible:
- Developing it as a CocoaPod for reuse over a number of games
- Using a standard JSON format that would describe room parameters (e.g. walkable areas, object locations, NPC locations, environmental triggers, etc.)
- Using a separate JSON format to describe dialogue trees, with support for triggers, branching dialogue, and basic conditionals
- Recreating something like this in C# for use in Unity
AR Prototype
My first adventure game prototype is an ARKit-based app designed to explore the following:
- ARKit plane detection and the automatic insertion of models once suitable planes have been detected (as opposed to user-initiated placement)
- 3D modelling workflows between Blender and Xcode
- Map searches for generic locations and then, using the results, managing distance, accessibility, storage, and game state
- Geofencing triggers and how they might progress the game
Prototype Plans
I am in the process of building two prototypes to explore different ways I could build an adventure game on iOS.
The first is an ARKit app. You interact with characters and then they send you off to real world locations to meet other characters, collect items, and solve puzzles.
The second is a more traditional 2D engine using SpriteKit and is heavily inspired by LucasArts’ legendary SCUMM engine. I want to create something modular that could then be used for many years in dozens of games.