Title (working): Tomorrow’s Problem
Description: A first-person drinking/driving/walking sim following the gonzo wanderings of Clockwise and Cabaret, a talking lizard-man and an accountant on his day off. The player, playing as Clockwise, attempts to piece together an episode where the pair broke onto a country club by collecting tapes and then progressively re-living the events of each tape to find the next.
Research Statement: I’m exploring the idea of inflicting the player on the world, in the style of Postal or Goat simulator, but with a focus on short form narrative instead of pure violence. I want to explore the idea of what the cost of individuality is, and how it is preserved in modern America, and I want the player to feel free but out of control.
In terms of experimentation, I am trying to combine pixel graphics, low-poly 3D and text in a psychedelic setting. I want this to be a game mostly lacking a sense of linearity but possessing multiple strong characters. I also want to experiment with using Cabaret as the ‘protagonist’ while having the player control his partner, and using multiple short-form narratives instead of one main story.
I want the player to feel a mixture of amusement and a sense that the player is in too deep, out of control.
Ultimately, I will consider this a successful game if I manage to preserve the identities of my pre-existing characters in this game, and make an experience that inherently engaging to charge around in.
Mock screenshot:
This is one of two versions the style I was considering. I want some environmental object to be pixel-based, but I am also considering making the main characters using pixel art as well.
Game references:
- Hotline Miami – I want to use a similarly abstract, chaotic aesthetic, and possibly incorporate elements of Hotline’s hyper-violence at times.
- Proteus – The game’s environment is very similar to the kind of overall structure I’m looking to emulate.
- Postal/Goat Simulator: I’m not looking to use these games’ cartoonish violence/gore, so much as the ‘bull in a china shop’ feel these games have.
- Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s leftovers – This is a game that I want to keep in mind during development because its delivery of a dystopian-feeling world and interaction between multiple characters.
Non-Game References:
- Krazy Kat – Krazy Kat is one of the original American misadventures. It’s heavily serial in form, and combines many themes I’m interested in using and exploring.
- Hunter S Thompson – Thompson’s writing and the art surrounding it has had a massive influence of the formation of Clockwise and Cabaret. Clockwise himself comes from my experimentation with Ralph Steadman’s art style, and The dynamic between my two characters is partially inspired by Thompson’s relationship to his attorney, Oscar Acosta (Dr Gonzo from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas).
