Ink + Godot Mono Prototype 1
A brief exploration of Ink + Godot Mono in space
I've put together a very simple prototype using Godot Mono + Ink. I used the basic outline of space center controls (since they're familiar - I'm not intending to build a Space Center clone of some kind) and layered story on top.
You can charge or discharge phasers (laser energy weapons). Those bits are pretty mechanical - they're not really layered with narrative features, but they work mechanically. If you're not firing phasers, they recharge. If you're firing, they discharge. You can't go above or below 100% or 0% charge, respectively.
The Ink part is more interesting, and was the heart of what I wanted to prototype. Would it be possible to use Ink to layer narrative on top of the mechanical controls?
The story was pretty simple: Scotty appears and says you need to fire the phasers. You have 10 seconds to fire the phasers. If you do, then you get the happy ending. If you don't, you get the sad ending.
This prototype gave me enough exposure to some of the concepts involved to have some ideas about how I might take this and apply it to the story/narrative concepts I've been developing - specifically, I'm not convinced I've built something that works (yet) for more adventure-narrative games. It's much more built around this idea of a static interface that the story animates, rather than an interface that is more tightly wedded to the narrative.
In other words, it's pretty clear to me how to build something that feels more like 80 Days (static interface, you have routes you can travel, inventory & trading, converstaions, etc.) but not yet something like Heaven's Vault, which is both more ambitious and more appealing to me.
I think my next prototype will be something in the vein of Device6.