Walking Simulators and LSD

[SalmonWine]

Hello, fellow developers :)

Man, it really has been awhile since i've been here, at least five or six months...but this isnt the time for blog posting!

Essentially, the idea for a heavily exploration based type of game is certainly not new, some corners of the internet have coined them as "Walking Simulators," with a few good examples being Jazzpunk and Active Worlds. These games are heavily based around concept of being dropped into an odd world with a seemingly indefatigable desire to confuse, amuse, and astound the player.

My aim is to, in part, create this exact sense in an RPG setting.

The game takes place dead in the center of a high school girl's first acid trip, during which her best friend seemingly vanishes, and she must journey to find her across an odd kingdom, which she slowly loses sight of the more and more sober she becomes.

For those of you who have, hopefully, made better choices in life and have not regularly dropped acid, the idea of a trip is that its like dreams mildly seeping into reality.

Hence, i need your help, please post below some absolutely outlandish ideas for world design and characters youve had in the past, whether it be from dreams of just actual planning, i want the wackiest you all have!

 

[Bricabrac]

Have you checked for inspiration the game that is literally called LSD?

 

[iblamevictoria]

Hello, fellow developers :)

Man, it really has been awhile since i've been here, at least five or six months...but this isnt the time for blog posting!

Essentially, the idea for a heavily exploration based type of game is certainly not new, some corners of the internet have coined them as "Walking Simulators," with a few good examples being Jazzpunk and Active Worlds. These games are heavily based around concept of being dropped into an odd world with a seemingly indefatigable desire to confuse, amuse, and astound the player.

My aim is to, in part, create this exact sense in an RPG setting.

The game takes place dead in the center of a high school girl's first acid trip, during which her best friend seemingly vanishes, and she must journey to find her across an odd kingdom, which she slowly loses sight of the more and more sober she becomes.

For those of you who have, hopefully, made better choices in life and have not regularly dropped acid, the idea of a trip is that its like dreams mildly seeping into reality.

Hence, i need your help, please post below some absolutely outlandish ideas for world design and characters youve had in the past, whether it be from dreams of just actual planning, i want the wackiest you all have!

Well walking simulators have been a staple of the RPG Maker community for as long as I remember. Long before Gone Home or Jazzpunk (though with a different style of play). Games like Yume Nikki and Lisa are great examples of the classics.

I think it'd be cool if you implemented lots of symbolism into the world design, so the surreal world of the trip reflected aspects or ideas that are from the high school. So real-life classes and architecture and people are misshapen into whatever sort of landscape you have in mind.

It's a cool idea, and I'm always real into "walking simulator" games, so I'll be eager to check out whatever you come up with.