(Created May 18th, by Writer CS Moon ) The story for Rocco’s Island started out with a text sent to me by the company’s CEO a year and half ago. The original query was to develop an idea that centered around a little girl with a magic bag.
Ideas were tossed back and forth via text as I was sitting in a body shop getting my car fixed. The CEO relayed his vision to create a story-based adventure/puzzle game, to which my response was to push for a slightly more mature storyline that would put our characters in scarier situations.
Eventually, as the team put finishing touches on the first prototype of the game, we came to the realization that the gamer may have a hard time identifying with our six-year-old child character Eva. Therefore, alongside the decision to upgrade every aspect of the game including storyline for prototype II, we decided to raise our protagonist’s age to 16 and give her the name Evelyn.
Nevertheless, with so much of our development already having progressed using the younger Eva, it seemed prudent that we should use both characters: Evelyn the spunky, smart but troubled teenage protagonist lost in a strange land, contrasting with Eva as the cute, innocent but streetwise supporting character acting as guide and interpreter for Evelyn throughout the game.
Despite being a supporting character, the importance of Eva grew more in prominence as the story developed, until at a certain point, the previously mentioned idea of a ‘magic bag’ just wasn’t as direly needed as a plot device any more. Instead, the game would heavily concentrate on the personalities and relationship between Evelyn and Eva, as they unravel the mysteries and challenges faced during their adventures.
As the writer for Rocco’s Island, I ‘secretly’ drew much inspiration from the old TV programs made by Sid and Marty Krofft (H.R. Pufnstuf in particular), to whom I owe much of my childhood imagination as well as night terrors to this day. I do feel sorry for those who never got to experience H.R. Pufnstuf!
More to come …