A case study on an indie project that was approved by the Kickstarter community. The presentation shares insights on the game’s concept featuring elements from Romanian’s comunist period to the game’s design and visuals

1. THE STORY BEHIND
THE GAME DESIGN
CONCEPT AND VISUALS

2. WHERE IS THE GAME INDUSTRY GOING?
Open-world survival games are pretty cool also!
Massively multiplayer online
games are hot—right?
Episodic games are the new thing!
Games for the iPhone
are the new frontier!
No, wait, Facebook games
are really where it’s at!

3. ARE YOU A GAME DEV?

4. WHAT WE KNOW IS THAT

No one has the slightest idea where games will be two or three years from now

Games in a ten years will be very DIFFERENT from what we have now

5. WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW?
THE PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO
DRIVE THAT CHANGE ARE
US

6. WHY DEVELOP INDIE GAMES?
 Because it's COOL!
 Because innovation tends to happen in LOW-FINANCIAL-RISK areas. Small independent studios are flexible.
They take more risks and innovation in game mechanics is more likely to happen.
 Because video games are not only about entertainment but also about creating EMOTION.
A friend told me once: "I want to play a game that makes me cry!”

7. WHY DEVELOP INDIE GAMES?

8. BLACK THE FALL IS AN INDIE GAME
I'M HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE STORY BEHIND IT
The story behind:
GAME DESIGN
THE CONCEPT
THE VISUALS

9. GAME DESIGN
 A game design principle says:
“Mash two ideas together to get a new one”
e.g.: TAKE a platformer, ADD"fast" -- YOU GET speedruns
 Another exemple:
TAKE a side scrolling with puzzle solving elements, ADD “shooting and stealth system” – YOU GET
Black The Fall

10. GAME DESIGN - PUZZLE SOLVING
• The player has to:
• jump & climb,
• slide or hide
• discover how to operate machinery
• The environment isn't just for hiding, and guns
aren't just for killing
• Of course, solving one problem may lead to
another

11. GAME DESIGN – STEALTH SYSTEM
The player is able to:
− use the environment to his advantage.
− develop tactics
− use timing in order to pass, kill or avoid foes.

12. GAME DESIGN – BALANCING
 interesting gameplay comes when the player's GOALS are somehow CONTRADICTORY
 Black the fall's somehow CONTRADICTORY goals:
− having a good reputation & gaining access to resources
− having a pet & hiding

13. GAME DESIGN – HIGH INTERACTIVITIY
 HIGH INTERACTIVITY = the player has a strongly proactive role
 The story unfolds directly from WHAT THE PLAYER SEES AND DOES
 I become impatient if forced to sit back and be told a story
 I like games that avoid:
− lengthy dialogues,
− chunks of clumsy exposition,
− extended full motion videos (FMVs) that remove control from the player
 It is possible TO TELL A STORY IMPLICITLY and with great economy, you do not need lots of dialogue

14. GAME DESIGN – PROTOTYPING

Why is this important?
Because you can learn so much from it.
If you prototype early, you will write better, cleaner and more efficient code later.

Do this or:
write down many hundred pages of a game design document
and start to think endless hours about how to implement everything.

15. THE CONCEPT
EXPERIENCE THE ALIENATION OF
A POST-INDUSTRIAL ERA IN A
THRILLING SIDESCROLLER;
A STRANGE AND UNEXPECTED
BLACK AND WHITE DREAM

16. THE CONCEPT

17. Black The Fall gives you:
 A PARANOID WORLD:
The wheels of industry have fallen silent, an iron grip tightens.
Everyone you meet is a potential enemy, an informer, a criminal.
 A TAILORED EXPERIENCE:
Our unique stealth & combat system fits your personal style of playing.
 AN UNEXPECTED CHALLENGE:
Deadly riddles lay in wait for the unwary.
Think twice before you act -- or shoot your way out, but every action has consequences...
THE CONCEPT

18. THE VISUALS
Our visuals are GREAT!
First of all....

19. THE VISUALS - BLACK AND WHITE
 working within CONSTRAINTS leads to
IMPROVED CREATIVITY
 giving yourself a limited box to work in
is a classic creative tool
 less is more 

20. THE VISUALS - 2.75 D CAMERA
 It's like a 2.5D sidescroller but the camera
doesn't film you just form the side
 We're using the camera CINEMA STYLE:
closing in, moving out, filming from 3
quarters, from bellow
 We do all that to build a special relation
between the PLAYER and his AVATAR
 We're really ambitious about it too. We
really want to give players an emotional
ride

21. THE VISUALS - ANIMATION

It's that KEY ELEMENT that brings your
character to life.

Our animation system allows for
COMPLEX INTERACTIONS with the
environment as well as with the NPCs

It gives NEW DEPTH to the game's
atmosphere

22. THE VISUALS - COMPOSITION
 having very BIG and very SMALL
in the same image, as I feel it
stands for overcoming grave
dangers
 it's the David vs Goliat image
 or maybe Bilbo vs Smaug?

23. THE VISUALS - CHARACTER DESIGN
 the visual print of a character stands for
it's personality and the role:
the GOOD GUYS are portraid in
organic, fluid line
the BAD GUYS have blunt and bulky
surfaces

24. THE VISUALS - UNIQUE INSPIRATION SOURCE
Black The Fall has an unique inspiration source:
OUR COMMUNIST CHILHOOD

25. THE VISUALS - UNIQUE INSPIRATION SOURCE

26. END