ChaoticCrustacean

22 - Artist/Game Designer


My website (WIP, will probably never be fully finshed)
chaoticcrustacean.neocities.org/
Twitter (I don't really post on there much anymore)
x.com/CrustaceanChao5
Bluesky
bsky.app/
Threads? (does anyone actually use this site? idk)
www.threads.net/@chaoticcrustacean

hthrflwrs
@hthrflwrs
Perpetual-Motion
@Perpetual-Motion asked:

Apologies if this is a stupid question, but do you have any advice on how to develop a game out of an isolated mechanic? I get the feeling that I'm coming at things incredibly backwards, because all I ever have are ideas for mechanics in a vacuum that can't carry a game on their own. I prototype them and can usually get them working in my engine of choice, but I keep hoping to get inspired on what Step 2 would be only for nothing to come to me.

It seems like when most people have an idea for a game they either have a more complete concept from the start or else their inspiration just naturally carries them from point A to point B without just stopping dead like mine does, so I've yet to find proper advice for this.

once you have a mechanic, you need to question it from several angles:

  • what is interesting about this?
  • what circumstance would make this worth using?
  • what circumstance would make this not worth using? (having a reason to not use a game mechanic is just as important as having a reason to use it!)
  • what other mechanics would enhance this mechanic?
  • what other mechanics would contrast interestingly with this mechanic?
  • what themes does this mechanic invoke?
  • what stories would this mechanic work well within?

answering these questions will provide a ton of new ground for you to explore. for example, let's look at the "choose your hubris" mechanic from SNAKE FARM, where between rounds you buy enemies to fight (which gets you money and upgrades, which let you buy more snakes, etc etc etc). in many ways, it's the core of the game!

  • what is interesting about this? it provides a new perspective on difficulty curves in roguelikes while creating a profound feeling of power in the player; every death is your fault because every difficulty you face is your choice.
  • what circumstance would make this worth using? a score-chasing system would incentivize buying as many snakes as possible to get as much money as possible to get as many snakes as possible.
  • what circumstance would make this not worth using? using this mechanic increases your difficulty, lowering the chances of surviving a run. the fact that the player needs to balance these two sides of the coin is what drives the game.
  • what other mechanics would enhance this mechanic? an upgrade system on a completely different currency (dropped at random from snakes) lets players choose their own route to power. the fact that it's on a different currency means players don't have to feel bad for taking upgrades while also buying snakes (at least not until a very high level of play).
  • what other mechanics would contrast interestingly with this mechanic? we can contrast infinite growth with a finite lifespan. the player character dies after ten days, tightening every financial decision to a strict timeframe.
  • what themes does this mechanic invoke? well, capitalism, of course; it's a game about forcing infinite growth into a very finite situation. it also invokes themes of hubris, being your own worst enemy. also it's kinda funny; you are buying snakes that try to eat you, after all.
  • what stories would this mechanic work well within? none that are very directed. SNAKE FARM is more about a moment in time than an expanding plot. the moment is that of trying to run a small business, buying snakes from a shopkeeper who hates you, risking your life in absurd ways for absurd currencies.

so from these questions, we've gone from a single shop mechanic to a game pitch. we've introduced score-chasing, time limits, weapons, a nebulous concept of difficulty curves which can be refined further, and the themes and limits of the story. we can take each of those mechanics and put it through the same set of questions, which would result in refining the combat loop, adding a time limit to each day, setting up leaderboards, etc etc etc. game design is a process of iteratively asking questions about the thing you've created in order to approach the true core of it.

happy designing!



ItsMeLilyV
@ItsMeLilyV

a little ramble... i drew so much this year. i drew so much!! i haven't sat down and just *drawn* like this since like, 2016... and honestly, this is the first time i've had so much fun with it. back then, i was so obsessed with improvement that i was really harsh on myself. i was always too afraid of failure to try out new styles or mediums.

this year has been the total opposite! i still want to improve and i still want to learn a ton, of course. i want to get to the point where i feel comfortable and confident putting more of my own art in my games! but i'm genuinely having fun with the actual process of drawing, now, and making mistakes doesn't seem like such a terrible thing. i love it.

thank you so much to the folks who cheer me on, who create art so powerful i can't help but want to draw immediately, who make weird and beautiful zines, who draw yuri, who leave me kind comments, who show my work to their friends... thank you. i feel extremely lucky. i'm gonna keep at it!!


anyway, here are some of my favorites <3

Pencil sketch of a goblin girl. She's wearing a basic tunic tied with thick rope, and has claws and horns. She looks around suspiciously.
April: goblin girl. i like her expression.
A monochrome pen sketch of J.J. Macfield. She's got long hair, a headband, and is wearing a poncho over a blouse. She's got her head resting on her chin and her brow is furrowed. There's an inscription "Am I sweet enough for you to deny?"
May: J.J. Macfield. I've always drawn too small, so doing these full-size portraits was really fun. this game makes me cry
Monochrome pen sketch of Ramlethal Valentine, from Guilty Gear Strive. She's wearing a fluffy military cap, a cloak with "teeth" at the ends, over a crop top and short shorts. Her arm is wrapped in bandages as she reveals it from under her cloak, and she has a serious expression.
May: i love my shoeless daughter
Monochrome pen sketch of Fujiwara no Mokou, from Touhou 8. She's got long white hair and bangs, and a folded paper bow in her hair. She's wearing a collared button-up shirt and a tattoo choker, and she looks pissed. Little flames surround the air around her.
June: at some point i got really into putting tattoo chokers on everyone. looks especially good on mokou
Monochrome sketch of Marisa and Reimu from Touhou. Reimu is wearing a shrine maiden's outfit and hair bow, lying on the ground with her eyes closed, blushing and nervous. Marisa is wearing a black vest and white blouse, with a white apron around her waist. She's got long hair and a witch's hat. She's also blushing and nervous, as she's perched over Reimu, putting on Reimu's eyeliner.
July: perverts
4-color Pixel art of Reimu, Marisa, and Patchouli from Touhou, each in a separate frame. Reimu, in red, is looking at the camera and laughing, with yin-yang orbs around her. Marisa is grinning and is surrounded by stars. Patchouli is angry, her hand extended as she casts a spell from a book.
August: these were inspired by kadabura's demons. i did a lot of limited palette stuff this year! i like their creepy eyes quite a bit.
illustration of lady gray, from void stranger. Monochrome, four colors. A closeup of a woman's face, with short dark hair and a scarf. There is an inverted color pattern in the shape of a grid over her face.
September: surprise! it's void stranger. i finally learned how to use layer masks
pen drawing of bridget's victory pose from guilty gear strive, done in blue and yellow. She's got a blue hoodie like a nun's habit, and messy blonde hair. She's smiling widely as she extends her finger and poses for the camera.
October: surprise! it's bobcat. i really love making these little color pen sketches, they're very loose & fun
Pixel illustration of Marisa from Touhou. She's lost in a dark bamboo forest, and looks very nervous. She's got a black witch hat with a giant white bow on it. She has long, messy blonde hair with a single braid, and she's wearing a black vest over a white blouse.
November: i really had fun with this one. i did a bunch of smaller pixel art for bossgame, but learning how to draw higher resolution illustrations... i'm glad i gave it a shot, i really enjoy it! this ended up being the title screen for TOUHOU LONELY LOVELY BONFIRE
The nun, from Void Stranger. She looks up at the ceiling while she sits leaning back on her hands, one holding a smoking cigarette. Her legs dangle over a strangely square pit. She is wearing a nun's habit, with the hair cover, mantle, and long skirt. Sketched in purple and pink pen.
December: the nun from void stranger!! i've been trying to expand with new poses and angles... this was a wild one
illustration of a woman on a balcony, lit up by purple and pink lights, smoking. she's got a somewhat nervous expression and is staring out into the night sky. She's got bangs and a short bob, is wearing a choker and an unbuttoned top.
December: digital (not pixel) illustration is still so tricky to me, especially light and color... something to study more in the future!
Isometric view of a dark studio apartment. A woman kicks her door until it opens, and turns on the light. She takes off her jacket and sits down to flip through her phone while the disembodied head of a devil sits on her table and chats with her. The woman goes to cook dinner, chopping up food while the devil-head watches videos on her phone. The woman boils a pot of some food. She sits down and browses on her phone again while the devil-head eats dinner. The woman gets undressed and injects herself in the leg, twitching a bit as she does while the devil-head winces. She turns off the light and sits in bed, chatting more with the devil-head. They both curl up together under the covers. The knife disappears.
December: i wanted to try a mockup of a scene that might be part of library game... the original idea was to visualize different activities you might do in your apartment, but it ended up becoming this cute little animation. i stole this palette from void stranger...
pixel sketch of Anna and Sophie from Bossgame, in reds and greens. Anna is holding Sophie from behind and kissing her neck while Sophie smiles cutely
December: drew the bossgame girls on christmas as we watched movies... i'm amazed how well it turned out. the pixels are ludicrously messy, but as a whole it looks... really good?? i still feel so emotionally attached to these two, and it's been a little sad moving on... that's life. what a good way to end the year.
made with @nex3's grid generator

A selfie! I'm wearing a black button up and have bright pink hair in a messy bob. I'm making a peace sign and crouching.

thank you, again, to everyone who's helped me along the way ✨ new year ahoy!!



So... 2023. What have I been up to this year?
like seriously, what have i been up to
i feel like this year went so fast

I worked on a few small game things? Not as many as last year, but still!

Stardew Valley GBC

I put together a small fanmade demake of Stardew Valley as part of my game design course. That was fun to make! It was fun to make 8-bit versions of some of the songs from the game too. Stardew Valley has a wonderful soundtrack!

Rust and Ruin

I also made a uh... survival text adventure kind of thing? Not entirely sure what to call it. It was fairly fun to work on. Learned how to use json files, which I probably should have done sooner because they are so much easier than just storing everything in an array. Hand of the Spider probably would have been a lot easier to make if I'd known how to use these sooner.

OUT, Light

I also put together two tiny, minimalistic games as primary research into whether it was possible to convey some sort of narrative through just game mechanics, with minimal graphics and text. They took a little longer to work on than I expected, so I didn't manage to really get enough feedback on them to gauge how effective they may have been, but I'm still pretty happy with how they came out.

Unfinished Visual Novel

I've also recently started to work on a visual novel featuring some of my characters. This is my first time seriously trying to make any sort of project in ren'py, and I've got to say, making a visual novel is a lot harder than I had anticipated. You have to draw so much stuff...

Nowhere


I also found this website at like 1am and decided to make something in it. I guess you could maybe consider it a game? You just kinda walk around and look at the different things.

Characters

I've created some more characters over this past year, I think that's pretty cool. Noteable ones include:


Chronos, my horrible little posh clock man with an unreasonably big hat,


Galactis, my silly little cosmic deity. She's playing 4D chess in her mind at all times, it's just that everyone else is playing monopoly or something so her moves don't make any sense and most interactions with her end in disaster. She means well, though.


The Stars, a group of sinister characters who are hiding away, plotting something...

And many more!

Overall, I think I've still accomplished quite a bit this year. Hopefully next year I'll get this visual novel finished. After that, who knows? Maybe I'll try to put together a little game in RPG Maker! I have RPG Maker VX and RPG Maker 2003, so it'd be good to experiment with them both and try to put together some sort of small game! Hopefully I'll create lots of cool new characters next year too, and develop the characters I have some more as well!


 
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