38 Degrees game concept
38 Degrees was the title we finally decided upon for our submission to the Dare to be Digital game design contest in 2007. Our initial idea was to make a small-scale adventure/rpg for a single player, with options to expand the plotline after the contest was over. Pretty much the most difficult sort of game to make, but the four of us in the initial team were determined to not make the same generic, cutesy mass-market tat that tends to come from the Dare teams. Unsurprisingly, we didn't actually make it past the application phase, but we put a lot of effort into the planning.
I ended up hacking the plotline down from the producer's original concept, which was more on par with some of the MMOs out there just now, to something which was barely bordering on the feasible -- barely. The five of us would still have been edging on insanity trying to get the entirety done in the ten weeks allotted, but there was the possibility of getting close. What I've written for the scenario background, up to the point where we received our rejection notice, is here; I'd still like to finish writing it, since I liked the concept.
I also ended up doing the concept art entirely on my own -- as our producer once said, the rest of them had the artistic skills of an orangoutan with a crayon. The aim was for realism, a rather harsh environment softened by weathered rubble and drifted snow, rounded tunnel walls and mist. The characters were designed to match; the sort of society which has crumbled in on itself and been rebuilt through effort, bloodshed and heavyhanded negotiation. Already having a similar concept in Entropy made the design for 38 Degrees relatively easy. We were beginning to look at vehicle concepts when the project got axed by the Dare coordinators. There was some discussion of continuing the project independently after we all finished our respective courses of studies, but in the end we all went our separate ways.
| Character concept art |
| Plotline |
I ended up hacking the plotline down from the producer's original concept, which was more on par with some of the MMOs out there just now, to something which was barely bordering on the feasible -- barely. The five of us would still have been edging on insanity trying to get the entirety done in the ten weeks allotted, but there was the possibility of getting close. What I've written for the scenario background, up to the point where we received our rejection notice, is here; I'd still like to finish writing it, since I liked the concept.
I also ended up doing the concept art entirely on my own -- as our producer once said, the rest of them had the artistic skills of an orangoutan with a crayon. The aim was for realism, a rather harsh environment softened by weathered rubble and drifted snow, rounded tunnel walls and mist. The characters were designed to match; the sort of society which has crumbled in on itself and been rebuilt through effort, bloodshed and heavyhanded negotiation. Already having a similar concept in Entropy made the design for 38 Degrees relatively easy. We were beginning to look at vehicle concepts when the project got axed by the Dare coordinators. There was some discussion of continuing the project independently after we all finished our respective courses of studies, but in the end we all went our separate ways.
| Character concept art |
| Plotline |