AN OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT:
Hello! I’m Ari and I’m working on a small project called Social Creatures, although I'm debating whether or not to have it be "#socialcreatures" or just "Social Creatures". It’s about social media and how people can be renewed or reborn in social media by creating an image for themselves, but it will also explore how social media can take away from important interactions with the outside world.
In the game, you will be able to give yourself a username. You will not be able to choose your name, however, because in reality, you can’t choose your name; it’s given to you by your parents. You also will not be able to choose your gender because in reality you can’t choose your gender. Despite these set backs in having an immersed experience, you will be able to choose your friends, make decisions, and so forth.
The main character is Alex Lee. Alex is a college freshmen (from Hawaii) experiencing the first semester of college. Being from Hawaii, Alex knows little about the outside world as some, if not most, kids from Hawaii are sheltered and isolated from the rest of the world. As Alex, you will be interacting with and meeting new people. Alex already has a couple of friends from high school (a male friend and a female friend— which will be me), and it will be up to you whether or not you remain friends with them. You, as the player, will determine Alex’s life and personality. Alex’s gender will be revealed to you at the end.
WHAT I AM RECRUITING FOR:
Since this game is about being social and interacting, I think it would be ideal to feature outside artists.
- 1) I want the main menu to shift between different works of art, similar to how the tumblr log in screen works except every few seconds, the artwork changes. I’d like to feature 10 or more artists here.
The dimensions of the window are 600x600 pixels (standard 1:1 ratio for Instragram, yes this means I’ll accept Instagram pics), so if you could keep the art to that window, it’d be nice. I wouldn’t want to crop any of your artwork.
“Artwork” is not limited to drawings. It can be photos or pictures of sculptures or anything, even modeling (but no nudes, please)!
2) I’d like to feature original characters! I think it’d be great to feature writers/artists in this way. Plus, every person is different, and I think these differences can be best captured if different people create different characters.
I’m hoping for six datable characters (3 male, 3 female), all very different from one another in personality. I can feature your characters as side characters too (like that one odd Professor, the cafeteria lady, the librarian, etc.). Also, your character must be set in the modern world and must be human, so no fantasy creatures, etc.
I swear I’m not being lazy in character creation because I’ll be drawing the sprites for you! Just send me a reference sheet and a character description! You can give me details about how your character poses too. I’ll probably draw two different poses.
Because this is your character, you’ll be writing his/her script and route. I don’t think it’ll be in your best interest for me to write your character’s script. And, if you don’t mind, I’ll be the proofreader. Also note that Alex (the main character) is genderless until the end, so if you could, write the route as if your character will be dating a boy or girl.
3) Background/Landscape pictures! I absolutely love those really pretty Instragram pics where people take a picture of a place they’ve been at or live in (not just the beach ones, but the city lights or sometimes even the libraries). So artsy! All the backgrounds in this game will be either from Instagram or cropped photographs of places you send me!
As you can see, this project requires a lot of outside creative input, and can’t really happen without your help. If I don’t have enough people, I’ll literally wait until I do before I can release the game. No joke. So please, tell your friends and spread the word! I know this is a lot to ask for and that it may seem like a huge task to take on, but I think an interactive visual novel like this would be really neat! How cool would it be to play a game and read about something like this, while also being able to enjoy, appreciate, and explore other people and artwork?
I have no money to hire you because this is purely a way for people within this community (and maybe even outside the community) to explore a world outside their own. It’s a project of volunteers, willing artists and collaborators, and people who’d like to make new friends!
WHAT I HAVE DONE SO FAR:
- GUI
The GUI is meant to be a mock up of several different social media apps/sites including Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and iMessage. I don’t have a Twitter so I don’t know what Twitter UI looks like…
STORY & SCRIPT
I’ve already written the introduction, story, and narration. I'll extend the narrations to include your characters! The endings and the rest of the script lies solely in the hands of character creators. I’ll collaborate with you to talk about other character interactions, like if your OC met Alex’s parents or Alex’s other friends.
Please feel free to leave other suggestions as to how I can give this project a more social feel! What other features would you like to see? Please let me know what you think, and also let me know if you're interested in helping out!
I’ll be working on this as well as After-Party Chemistry.
