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[2020-09-12] Isaac 2 Devlog
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* Overview .............................................................. [001]
* It would be like creating my own D&D adventure ........................ [002]
* I don't know how to code .............................................. [003]
* Endless Dilemma ....................................................... [004]
* Burnout, Not the Car Kind ............................................. [005]
* Final Thoughts ........................................................ [006]


[001] Overview
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Isaac 2 is a text adventure game I worked on over the summer of 2020. I
originally got the idea to make a text adventure game after playing Stories
Untold. The main gameplay element in that game was you playing an ever
unfolding story but interacting with each "chapter" via different game genres.
One chapter would be a puzzle game, the next one a first person horror, and one
of them was a text adventure. All of these seamlessly tied together into one
big story. What originally surprised me was how well each different chapter was
made, not just from a story point of view but from a gameplay perspective. The
game felt good to play if that makes any sense? Puzzles were rewarding, first
person horror kept me on the edge of my seat, and most of all, the text
adventure was such a unique medium for both storytelling and gameplay that I
felt I had to try it out.


[002] It would be like creating my own D&D adventure
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Is what I thought when I first decided on making a text adventure game. Having
players explore a world, that I built solely through my words, painting a
picture in their minds of the atmosphere without relying on graphics. Don't get
me wrong, modern day graphics are amazing, and some games--especially those
with unique art styles--are improved tremendously by their graphics that help
immerse you in the world. That, however, was out of my scope for making this
game as I had neither the time, resources, nor knowledge to create graphics at
a level that would satisfy me. So I settled for making my game solely through
text, with no fancy 3D graphics.


[003] I don't know how to code
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After deciding that I wanted to make a text adventure, my next major hurdle was
figuring out how to actually make one. The last game I made--The Birth of
Isaac--was made using RPG Maker MV, a program that let you make RPG games
without needing to know code. I still didn't know how to code so I would have
to find another such program. I looked through dozens of bloated programs with
UIs that reminded me of games I would rent from my library until finally I
settled on Inform 7.

Inform 7 isn't so much a program as it is a language. Specifically, what Inform
does is let you "program" text adventure games using the English language as
syntax. Instead of setting up a bunch of complex variables, you simply write
out what you want to happen in English and Inform processes it into playable
output. For example, say you wanted there to be a Kitchen with a spoon inside a
drawer the player could open. You would simply write

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                              |
| The Kitchen is a room                                                        |
|                                                                              |
| Drawer is a container in The Kitchen.                                        |
| Drawer is openable and fixed in place.                                       |
| Drawer is closed.                                                            |
|                                                                              |
| Spoon is a thing inside Drawer.                                              |
| The description of spoon is "A shiny spoon, you can see your reflection in   |
|   the back."                                                                 |
|                                                                              |
|                                                                              |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

This is as simple as code gets, it's almost as if you're having a conversation
with your computer and describing your game to it. Inform also has a great
community that has made plugins for it which allow you to save quite a lot of
time. For this game, I used the "Conversation Framework" plugin by Eric Eve to
make dialogue very easy to set up. Through inform I was able to put my thoughts
and ideas into a playable game format without much hassle.

[004] Endless Dilemma
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Now I had the means to make the game, I had Inform figured out and I was ready
to start. The only problem was I had no idea what kind of game I wanted to make.
The game format did not help me either. Other game formats, like RPG's or FPS'
have relatively strict guidelines as to what games in that genre can be. With
text adventure, there were no limits, I could quite literally make any game I
could think of. With this freedom also came the drawback of having to decide
from that very infinite pool of possible games. Originally, I was in the process
of making a slice of life game, where the player would do tasks and interact
with people with no real plot behind it. But I quickly realized that this was on
the fun scale right with reading textbooks and vacuuming. So as quickly as that
project started, I pressed Control+a delete.

I decided that instead of rushing to quickly start making a playable game it
would be best to stop and figure everything out first. Coincidentally, I was in
the middle of a playthrough of LA Noire, a detective game set in 1940's Los
Angeles. It involved a quite unique game system, with the typical level
progression involving 1. Going around the crime scene to find clues 2. Traveling
to locations and questioning witnesses, using your clues to find flaws in their
testimonies 3. Coming to a conclusion using your evidence and accusing someone.
The nature of the clues finding and interrogations really interested me, it made
me feel like I was the one doing the detective work. Instead of having to
randomly point and click until something finally registered in the game I could
use logic and the information I had to solve the mystery. Given how much I liked
playing LA Noire I thought it would be great to make a text adventure game based
on the same core gameplay principles. Players would walk around looking for
clues, then piece them together along with conversations with NPCs in order to
solve the mystery of CG's death. And so, Isaac 2 took shape.

[005] Burnout, Not the Car Kind
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As I started working on Isaac 2, the weeks disappeared as quickly as a dropped
pen, and all of a sudden it was nearing the end of the year. Now, after working
on this game for almost half a year, I was getting bored. To put it frankly, I
was sick of doing the same stuff every day, booting up my computer just to open
the same file and edit the same code. I needed something new. And so that's
exactly what I did; I took a break. Taking breaks is essential in the creative
process, a lesson I learned from this second endeavor. Isaac 1 I had managed to
finish in one stretch of work, not taking any breaks, but since Isaac 2 was a
much bigger project I knew that for the sake of both my mental health and the
quality of the game I needed some time off. Now, taking time off doesn't
necessarily mean to just leave the project and never think about it. As I went
about other things Isaac 2 was still in the back of my mind, be that in small
features I noticed in other games I wanted to implement, certain writing styles
in books that I thought could be interesting to use, or even other things that I
thought would be funny easter eggs to add. Taking a break meant not dedicating
myself to work on that game, but it didn't mean forgetting it entirely, that was
the key difference.

Coming back after my break, I got back into the game with newfound energy,
finishing up what was left of the project. Taking a break was definitely crucial
to Isaac 2, I feel that if I hadn't taken that time off I would have just rushed
to finish the project and be done with it instead of actually making a game that
lived up to my expectations. Originally, I had planned to release it like I had
released other games, by just sharing a copy of all the files, but in the end I
found out that with Inform I could release the game as a playable html page,
then host that for free on GitHub. Plus I had the added benefit of being able to
roll out patches at any time and not have to "re-release" the game.

[006] Final Thoughts
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Isaac 2 was a very fun project, and I got to learn about a ton of different game
formats while exploring its possibilities. Text Adventure games are often
overlooked as being basic or bland, especially with all the new flashy games out
there that make use of modern hardware. But, what these games lack in pizazz,
they more than make up in their charm. There's a certain feel you get when
inputting text and seeing your player character do things, almost like you
yourself are in that adventure. Plus, good authors can use the limitations of
this genre to their advantage, helping the player imagine sprawling cities and
ornate landscapes in their minds. The "graphics card" in this case is the player
themselves, and that comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. If you're
new to the genre and have never really played a text adventure game I'd highly
recommend at least checking one of them out, they will definitely surprise you.

If you'd like to play Isaac 2, please visit https://shrimpram.github.io/isaac-2
where you'll be able to either play the game in your browser or download the
game file if you already have a text adventure interpreter. Thanks for reading!


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(c) Shreeram Modi 2024