(I’ve made a similar post before, but I think I’d benefit from a more broad question)
Hey, I’m developing a game based on liminal spaces and weirdcore images. The idea is that you travel from space to space, with certain objects teleporting you to the next one when you touch them.
I’ve got ideas for some alternate ways to get between them, but I wanted to ask if there were any mechanics, specific levels, or really just things I should add in particular. I want to make this as good as possible, so any ideas are appreciated.
Thanks!!
One thing that would be cool in a liminal would be to explore space and its emptyness and how insignificant we are in this big universe. You are in a spaceship and you touch things and you teleport ahead in time. Things changing as time goes on.
I can’t really do that since you’re actually set in the liminal spaces, if that makes sense.
The game is already public, so you can see the concept, but I’m working on an overhaul update.
I have an idea which might be good, before I would like to note that I never played a liminal Game, anyways, to the question:
Your are a scientist which created a machine that can reach the 5th dimension, upon activating it you get teleported to the 5th dimension, but the machine gets destroyed in the process and it’s pieces are all over the 5th dimension, you need to solve enigms and puzzles, upon getting all the pieces of the machine and re-activating it you get back to the 4th dimension
Well, I’ve already got the main premise of the game, which I described a bit in the post. I was mainly saying like thing I could add on to that
alright, i’ve gathered all that i possibly could and i will dump it all here in this one big mess of information that i currently have in mind
currently, every path ends with the camera staring at the player that is staring at something else in the distance
it’s a simple enough system, and it works
but it gets jarring with time, at least in my opinion
what i am suggesting is:
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for the 1st path, do the exact thing that is currently happening at the end of every path
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for the 2nd path, for a second or two do that exact thing, and then subvert player’s expectations by introducing something new instead of just ending the path, maybe send the player into path 2.5
add puzzles as time goes, maybe try brainstorming some new ending sequences for new paths
here’s a great example of a game subverting player’s expectations:
a roblox horor gaem!!! first pokes fun at other horror games of that era and just throws at you stuff to make you think that it’s about just that, making fun of the things that are populating the internet
but then, the game “resets”, and instantly subverts your well developed expectations
it breaks the fourth wall, creating an amazing and unique experience
sure, the trick isn’t new, but when something like this happens on a platform that has never done anything like this and/or in a game that had already established what should happen and what shouldn’t
yeah…
that same second path could do something like this
100% guaranteed expectation subversion and chills as a bonus
sure, it will be a pain in multiple spots to try and create something like this
but goddammit will it make for a great experience
subverting one’s expectations is the key to a lot of things
comedy, horror, story and a lot other genres sometimes use it, and when they use it well, it creates for one hell of an adventure