Foolish Earth Creatures: January 2026
I have defeated you, human! But what happens now...?
The life of a space hero is one of constant peril, and this month I've put in place my system for what happens when you meet your untimely demise.
Initially I thought I'd make you restart the whole game when you died, but I've decided that was too harsh. Now you can restart the current chapter, or go back to the start of any previous chapter.
This has some implications for how I write the game:
- The game has to be divided into discrete chapters.
- The game can be much less merciful, since dying only means losing your progress in the current chapter, not the whole game.
- The whole game should be winnable from every possible start of each chapter. (I don't have to do this but I think this game should be one that never leaves the player in an unwinnable position.)
- The chapters need to have cool names!
Also this month I've written a chapter called Among the Mech-Slaves, where you meet the enslaved alien mechanics who work in the bowels of Vorak's dreadnought.
Make it here and you may be condemned to work in the antimatter furnace! Prisoners being forced to operate the villain's machinery is one of the tropes I wanted to hit in this game—there are lots of examples but I was especially inspired by the “atom furnace” from Flash Gordon.
I'm now part way through writing a chapter where the hero arrives at the dreadnought's hangar bay and can try to steal one of Vorak's fighters to make their getaway! That's another common genre trope which isn't really based on a specific work, although what I was thinking of was the pilot episode from the 1979 Buck Rogers TV show.
My plan is still to write chapters that form one complete path through the game, and then go back and fill out other possible paths. Hopefully I'll have a couple more chapters to show next time!
Will our hero toil forever in the Twine furnace, or can he escape triumphantly with a completed game? Learn more in next month's thrilling dev diary!
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Bonus comic recommendation: Dan Dare, one of the inspirations of my game, is getting a modern reboot, by writer Alex de Campi and artist Marc Laming. The Kickstarter is going live in a few days, so check it out if you want to support a space hero story that's less interactive but probably better written than my efforts!