Hello again, Survivors.
In our last Dev Note, we said we'd be introducing the new narrative tone for our game.
So, this week, our Scribe who is working hard on the narrative framework is taking over Dev Note duties to guide you through this introduction!
Last time, we mentioned that the central theme of the narrative is "the desperate struggle of humans against creatures, as they inherit the knowledge and experience of the dead." Today, I'd like to talk about the process of finding the main material to convey this theme, and how we went about choosing it.
Exploring the Primary Source Material to Represent the Theme: “Olympic Torch”
To find the right subject matter for the aforementioned theme, we looked at a number of stories.
The first inspiration was the Olympic Torch.
If you’ve ever watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, you saw the flame being passed from hand to hand, for all to see.
Watching this, you can feel the passion and hard work of those who came before was being passed on, a culture started long ago, and that the games being played under that flame were being made ever better by this relaying of experience and knowledge.
This really aligned with the "passing on people's knowledge and experience" part of what we wanted to convey in our game.
We wanted to create an experience within Remore, where someone's hard work and experience is passed on to others, and to show how a difficult journey can be eased by multiple hands.
Exploration of Primary Material to Represent the Theme: “The Fire of Prometheus”
The next material of inspiration was "Prometheus' Fire".
Many of you will already know the tale, but here's a quick refresher.
Once upon a time, one brother of a pair of Titans was tasked with creating and populating the world with creatures. One by one, he gave each animal a gift, sharp claws, warm fur, or wings to fly. But he gave them so freely that when it was man’s turn, he had no more gifts to give.
The story goes that his brother, feeling sorry, gave them the flame that belonged to the gods, so that they could develop.
With this gift, humans were able to build and keep fires to chase away the cold and darkness and use it to create their own claws and scales which they didn't have, so that they could stand against the other creatures.
In this way, fire was the most "Human" of the gifts.
The Final Ingredient to Unleash the Flames in Our Game: Ember
We thought that the above ideas of the “Olympic Torch” and “Prometheus' Fire” were great ways to illustrate how people pass on knowledge and experience.
But a “Flame” is without physical substance, so it's hard for someone to own it or represent it in any conceptual way.
That's how we came to the idea of the “Ember.”
An Ember is the last tiny breath of life in a dying flame, but it has the potential to reignite into a giant flame at any moment.
In many ways it is similar to human life.
When there are wars, plagues, and catastrophes consuming the world, when so many things are being destroyed and falling apart, when it seems like there's no hope at all, all it takes is an Ember to reignite the flame of humanity.
In the midst of it all, people continue to rebuild their lives by stoking these small fires. They build fires to feed their hungry stomachs, they nurture the flames with what little they have, hammering and gluing metal together to rebuild, and in time, their efforts will return the world to the way it was before the disaster struck.
How We’re Approaching this in Game
These are still just ideas. We certainly don’t want the Olympic Torch Relay in Remore, or an appearance from Prometheus himself, but we want to convey the feel and emotion of those things to the people who play our game.
So, we named Remore's new core system the "Ember" and it has a number of abilities to convey a similar feeling.
An Ember is a mystical object that sparkles like a jewel and seems to have a flame within it.
This object transmits the memories and experiences of those who have died to the one who now holds it, just as the torch, passed from hand to hand, transmitted the stories and efforts of many.
Like the fire of Prometheus, the Ember provides the survivors of Remore with a way to sustain their lives, and heat to refine and equip them with gear they can rely on in the arduous fight against the creatures.
The Ember, like its namesake, starts out small and faint, growing as Survivors find other Embers to strengthen its power, but eventually becomes the key to solving the dark scourge that envelops Remore.
To Conclude the Introduction
These are the main ideas we wanted to communicate to you!
There are still a lot of things we're working on, and we won’t spoil things too much. We want you to experience it for yourself when it's ready.
So, this week, we've focused less on the actual systems more on the narrative concept of the Ember and the experience and emotions we want to deliver.
Next week, we'll talk about how these Embers aren't just a narrative device, but how they tie into the game's character progression system, how they’re connected and how we’re making the game rules surrounding them fun.
Until next time!
REMORE