Console Game Prototype: Fleshing Out The Narrative, Choosing A Moment To Create
Hiiiiiii one and all,
So it's been a hot minute since I've posted (oops) but hear me out - during the time between the last post and now, its mostly been writing up the script for the moment in the story my team and I wish to prototype. This also means it is primarily text, there aren't many opportunities to make visuals, although I have taken a stab at it - which is what I'm going to tell you about now!
Making A Playable Moment
For our chosen moment in the story, we're going to try prototyping the end of act 2. This is the scene where Arthur and his knightly companions (who will later become the fabled Knights of the Round Table) are about to enter the dragon's cave to acquire the sword in the stone.
Since the script I've written for this project has been done in Word, I thought to try making it a bit more visually *wow* so it isn't just endless text. Now, its endless text...but with colours!
I've only written out the first cutscene just as a trial-and-error exercise, but you can check it out below, should you feel curious!
In the actual myth, the story plays out differently, but in our story I've reimagined it in a slightly different way by combining a few elements of Arthurian and Welsh legend into the tale. To help the team out, I created an Excel doc that contains all of the names of characters, places and such, which you might find of interest!
The notes may be hard to read, but those are mainly there as references for myself and my teammates, so there isn't much being missed out if you cannot see them clearly.
So what's changed between our version and the original telling of King Arthur?
The big change is that the sword in the stone, Caliburn, will be guarded by the white dragon, Albion, inside a deep cavern. The sword will still be in a stone (or possibly an anvil, since that's the original depiction) but adding the dragon-guarding-valuable-treasure trope seemed like a reasonable addition to this version!
So, why a white dragon named "Albion"?
To summarise: in Welsh myth, there is a story about 2 dragons that fought each other - a red one and a white one. The red dragon represents the original Britons who lived on the island, and the white one represents the invading Saxons. Eventually, the red dragon will kill the white dragon, symbolic of the Britons defeating the Saxons. In our variation, the white dragon guards the sword and is symbolic of the last big mythical obstacles that Arthur needs to overcome in order to fulfil his destiny and become the next King of England. "Albion" itself is the old name for England or Britain.
Our antagonist will still be the same one in the original, Mordred, but whether or not their relationship will stay the same has yet to be determined. In my depiction, Mordred wants to make himself the new king and is trying to stop Merlin from discovering the next rightful heir to the throne after Uther Pendragon dies.
There are also many famous names from Arthurian legend in the table, but not all of them will be able to merge into our telling of the story. Names like Excalibur, Guinevere and the Lady of the Lake may not be used if they do not naturally go with our story's flow.
Fleshing Out The Story
Something that is still in progress is completing the entire story arc. At present, there are 3 acts, with acts 1 and 3 being 95% complete. Act 2 has some details, but it still needs attention to ensure that the events flow naturally. Once that is all finished, I'll share an update and possibly try to create some kind of visual that shows all the main events of the full story - a bit like how the script is done!
Closing Thoughts
Once all the written components are finished, I'll start getting my hands dirty and help the team with actually building the prototype. I'll likely investigate how to use something like CineMachine in Unity to create cutscenes with cameras, but we shall see what happens!
Soooo yeah, I'd say that about wraps things up here! I'll post another update once there's some worthwhile content to discuss, so thanks again everyone for reading and I'll see you next time! Buh-byyyee :)