In order to compare the poem and my game I'll have to bring you up to scratch on what my game entails!
My game is a 2D side scrolling puzzle platformer. You play as a lonely astronaut, called Tic, who is abandoned on the surface of a desolate planet. Your orbiting spacecraft has gone dark and your home planet obliterated.
You must find refuge among the human made facilities and come up with a plan. However, travelling from place to place is fraught with difficulties.
The player character can connect to an oxygen hose, which can be found on the various landing crafts that are scattered around the surface of the planet. When tethered you will have an unlimited supply of oxygen, but you will only be able to go a certain distance from the oxygen source.
The player can un-tether at any time, but, when un-tethered you will have a limited supply of oxygen. My game will explore themes of isolation and vulnerability.
From my interpretation of 'The Stolen Child', W.B Yeats sets up a very surreal, dream like world. Peaceful and heavenly, at least in the beginning.
There are the more obvious quotes of inspiration for my side scrolling space game, such as...
However, my inspiration was sparked by the less obvious.."Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,"
"Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap"
This line made me ponder humanity's constant hunger for the new. Instantly I thought of the great expanse of space and how we, as a species, have been looking up to the skies ever since we first wondered 'why?'."While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!"
From below, the skies seem so very far away from the dirt and blood on the ground.Once we pierced the sky we realised we could go further and further and further. Convinced that somewhere out there is "the answer". Forgetting to look at ourselves, our troubles and the answers that we might already have. Namely, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.The easy option is to run away from your problems and maybe it is sometimes the best, I don't know. I don't have "the answer".
And so the search continues.
My game's character, Tic, will be wearing a clunky space suit that pays homage to the old deeps sea diver's, and will have to be constantly conscious of its oxygen supply. The world Tic occupies is clearly not suited to sustain humans. The planet is hostile up close, but from a distance, looking up at it from another world it seems beautiful, peaceful and maybe even heavenly.
I am going to attempt a Black & White colour palette that contrasts the end of the levels, which will be in vivid colours. Hopefully illustrating that remarkable and stubborn desire we have to push on at the slightest glimmer of 'progress'. However meaningful that might or might not be.Tic's name is a reference to how small we are in the grand scheme of things but I actually got my inspiration from the phrase 'lunatic', luna referring to the moon.
The point of my game is to convey an idea. One that touches on our romanticism of the unknown. Our thirst for transcendence from our mortal woes. The idea that there was two forbidden trees in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Everlasting Life. Man ate from the Tree of Knowledge and was expelled from the Garden of Eden. The only thing separating Man from God is the Tree of Everlasting Life. So once Man becomes immortal, then Man has become God. Would that be a good thing? No one knows, and so the search continues.
I guess we look to the skies and, because of how unfamiliar we are of what is out there, it seems far better then what we have now. I want to explore the idea that it's okay to dream of a "better place" and all it's possibilities but that we should also be aware and appreciate what we have now.
"Away with us he's going, The solemn-eyed" "For he comes, the human child,To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than he can understand."
We shall 'shlater',
Richard.
__________
Blog Notes:
(The images used in this blog were Public Domain, not my own creation. Click the image for the source.)
Get up to date on my adventure by clicking the 'Game Design Journal' tag on this post!
Follow along with my travels by checking out my social media accounts!
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/RichToTheArdYo/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/RichToTheArdYo
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/richtotheardyo/