The collective sound of five minds working in a creative form is beautiful…in the final segment of the creative process. During that, it’s a whole lot of ‘Ums’, ‘Arghs’ and ‘Ers’ as you try to weave each idea smoothly into the next. It’s a brain stumbling process when some truly great ideas are marred by logistics, basic science and common sense, but it’s a hurdle that once over, gives you a sense of pride when put towards the final product you create.
This week we focused on storyboards for Norah’s cut-sequences , which had me dancing around our workspace in a bid to act out the distressed puppets’ travels from upstairs to downstairs to exit, all the while pursued by the rather dim family cat. The overall goal of each is to progress the story in mannerisms a lot more subtle than simply narrating and scribing a narrative throughout, and as we worked through each, they evolved into a somewhat macabre silent movie, each adding to the dark comic relief the game possesses.
The process of forming storyboards is satisfying, but still makes you very aware that these ideas are set in production limbo. It has you nodding your head and feeling proud that cinematically everything works out, but hangs you on tenterhooks to see the final finished project come to life, and inspires you into the animation process. Sparking ideas in such a manner make you really excited to see them finally become a reality and I’m looking forward to the coming weeks where they do so.
Although you are occasionally hindered by a lack of initiative when your imagination exceeds common sense, it isn’t necessarily a negative. Many cons thought up in sequences quickly became pros when somebody else took them on, and have created some of the sequences best moments. It’s what I love about the creative process. Negatives can soon become positives when someone looks at your issues with a new perspective, and again it inspires you to carry forward in more inventive respects with every facet you work on.
As promised last week, we’ve worked on the design of Norah to make a final character who you’ll be controlling from beginning to end and got some concept art for you to awe at, but with the trials she has to go through throughout, it doesn’t mean she’ll be as pristine as she is in that picture by the end of the game. When we looked up Marionette’s in research, pretty much every result we found, no matter how endearing, had a rather cliché ‘spooky’ vibe about it. As such, our artist Farah went away to create an endearing and almost hauntingly humanised toy whose clean look only highlights her abandonment.
The creativity kicks off again next week, with level design undergoing a heavy dose of ‘Try.Win.Repeat’ brainpower, with the illustrious yet technically sullied Waddington Manor coming to form. We hope you’ll join us as we attempt to build a house with such a decadent history from the ground up!