This is about some of the games in my norgwang collection found here: http://gamejolt.com/games/arcade/norgwang-games/36471/
City 4:
This game was partly based on my desire to escape into the background of a section in Mass Effect, and to wander around a sci fi city. I was also influenced to make another Tandoor game, Tandoor was inspired by Borderlands and my want to escape into the open, like in Mass Effect, but into the surrounding desert. This game doesn't really depict a city more than a wasteland though, buildings are small rectangles scattered around randomly and there aren't any streets or alleys like you would expect with the word 'city'. It's a desert wasteland game like Tandoor, but a bit more shiny future looking. You can walk around, go into buildings, or take a hover car and speed around the desert. I also think the pseudo 3D half sky/half ground/top down style is coming about in my work because I actually want to make a 3D free-roam game, but I haven't learnt to. Otherwise, Hernhand is the closest I've come to doing that.
I really like Grand Theft Auto. I remember being really excited to play GTA III when I was a lot younger, and only having little access to the game made it really fun to play when I got the chance. It felt really big, I hadn't gotten to explore much, I really appreciated being in the world when I could be. I still find the thought of having a game where you can just go and steal a car and drive around anywhere with the radio on, very exciting. But now I have played GTA a lot, I know it too well, and I get a lot more out of thinking of these early memories than playing the game. But I still spend time in GTA 5, even just walking down a street is satisfying, it's a very well done game, full of sounds and atmosphere. City 4 is probably more based on my interest of wanting a sci fi GTA with flying cars and tall buildings. My Taxi game in my 'Some games' collection was also based on the same idea.
Gregory:
Gregory was mostly inspired by Paul Moose in Space World by the catamites and Beeswing by Jack King-Spooner. I was interested in making a game that was just about everyday, casual life, being at someone else's house that appears different and kind of strange at first. I began enjoying drawing small household objects like cups, chairs, candle holder things and weird collectable action figures. I had read on the online internet that Earth spins more than 1,000 miles per hour, and I began looking at objects on the table with this in mind and thinking "great heavens, would you look at that". So that has partly lead to me appreciating seemingly boring waiting moments, because it isn't actually boring at all, and that also inspired making objects that sit on the table like coffee pots and things for a game called Gregory. Oh, Gregory was also inspired by first person walking parts in the Neverhood, like with the motion picture parts when you walk out the door with the low quality wind sounds playing.
Horse Pastry 2:
I was playing a game called Lander, and I was dropped onto a planet in my Lander space-craft and it was raining and stormy, and I had to find an entrance to a mining facility or something to collect some kind of alien amulet and then climb to 1000 feet to win the level. Lander was based on another game called Thrust, but it was 3D and newer. and a good game. So I wanted to make a game inspired by Lander, being dropped into a level and having to get something. But I was less interested in the gameplay aspect and more into finding/editing music for the games soundtrack, and creating an atmosphere based on the one I liked in Lander. I wanted it to sort of feel like you weren't very important playing as this Horse Pastry (called Lanore France Woodhorn in-fact), or that there was a story going on else where. I wanted there to be small narrative elements, such as characters who were imprisoned by others, characters neither good or bad, neutral characters, I sort of wanted the 'enemies' to be a blur of not really bad or good, who knows who's who. This idea was inspired by Sandard Bits (stdbits) by Mark Johns, I really like that game and how other characters are either helpful, neutral or enemies. And I like the abstraction created by the presentation in general, how it feels like a different world and that you are left to find out what things do. I was also interested in first levels of games. For example I enjoy the first level of Hotline Miami a bit more than the more complicated difficult ones, I like how there are less enemies in the beginning and the focus is drawn more to the set pieces and narrative. Hose Pastry also reminds me a bit of kid's TV shows in some levels, which I like a lot.
Space1:
Ok this was based on what I like about a yoyogames game I downloaded once which had space-ships which, instead of turning slowly, they would flip around instantly like they aren't made of any substantial material. They just flip 90 degrees to turn. I find that interesting though, what is this magical technology? How are these spaceships capable of such incredible manoeuvres? I can really appreciate this very simplistic technical design. I sort of couldn't be bothered making more to Space1 as I had achieved what I wanted; making ships flip by 90 degree angles.
Plains:
Another game similar to City 4 and Tandoor. I like deserts. Inspired by camping and looking at stars.
Planet 2:
A slow mission to another planet with lots of crackly radio transmissions. At first I added lots of free sound effects, one was a man saying 'oh yeah' another was 'hello dare'. But I decided to remove these sounds because I thought it was too silly. You originally got to fight a monster inspired by the Neverhood monster chase, and there was a very graphic death scene, but I decided to remove this for the final product.
Thanks for reading!
