Ever since Tennis for two in 1958, games designed for two or more players have been fairly common. Many games claim to be co-op, but merely offer an experience where only one player is needed to beat the game, while the other can simply “tag along.” In these games, the second player is effectively rendered superfluous and begs the question: How can we design true co-op games to avoid this “tagalong trap?”
When creating a story set in a fictional world you have an obligation to craft a world that players can get immersed in. It doesn’t need to resemble anything in reality, but you need to create an illusion of a unified universe through coherent and consistent design.
Today we will share how we worked when creating the Industrial area of Shadow Puppeteer.
Today’s post is by Marianne and Philip, who reworked the original visual concept of Shadow Puppeteer and lay down the guides for the final design.
When we started reworking the design, we decided to start looking at different sources of inspiration. We didn’t want a classic «steampunk» setting or another typical setting. The internet is a wonderful source of inspiration, but there are a few drawbacks. 1) It’s easy to find what you are looking for, but not always as easy to by chance stumble across something that might be of interest, and 2) It is so easy to get sidetracked or lost and lose precious time.