An early look at Guild of Unicorns
Guild of Unicorns – DeviantArt
An early look at the game
You begin as a young unicorn from humble beginnings who has ventured out on his/her own looking to discover the mysteries of magic. Having only a small amount of magical skill, but a great aptitude for learning and occasionally getting into sticky situations. Our unicorn eventually finds himself/herself in the care of a humble yet wise and seemingly powerful unicorn. Nested in a somewhat overgrown yet idyllic cabin overlooking a lake flanked by rolling hills and meadows encircled by forest and mountains. You spend your days working in nature practicing magic. Rarely is another pony seen traveling the one discernible road carving its way through the valley. You are, however, befriended one day by a unicorn accompanying a passing caravan. This unicorn elects to stay and visit. You hear tales of a great guild of magic and tales of mysterious perils involved in reaching it. Perhaps one day you’ll find yourself following that very road to discovery and adventure.
Currently I’m working on building a small team with the help of a project coordinator to help create new unicorn designs, then I’ll be working on the technical aspect for them. also I’ll be building the lake cabin environment in UDK shortly after.Then its a matter of scripting new mechanics and learning how to improve animation quality in UDK and setting up matinees for cut-scenes. I plan to have a large chuck of this done by Bronycon.
Q&A
What was the inspiration and drive behind this project?
The inspiration was driven by the idea of being able to use the virtual world to experience what life is like as that character. Most RPG games give you a taste by allowing some interacting with people and the environment outside of a battling context. So I’d like to create a game that can focus on immersion and getting the player to feel like they’re living in that world.
How long have you been working on the game?
I’ve been working on the Guild of Unicorns since last March, so two months now. However that doesn’t take into account about a year of previous work in studying the tools and workflows.
Do you plan on multiplayer at all?
Currently I’m planing on a standalone tile. Multiplayer would require both network programming and dedicated hardware to host it. Also since my goal is immersion other players can take away for the realistic feel at times.
What have been some challenges in working alone?
Working alone has its advantages, however I think the hardest part is trying to accomplish a task that requires talent. For me, the area of concept arting and coming up with creative ideas with little references requires a large amount of time since I lack skill in that particular area. I have begun building a small team to help in the concept art regard now and others will be used later once I’m ready to expand the game size.
Do you have a name for any characters?
I’m still developing the characters, once I get new concept art back, build them I’ll begin to come up with there names and personalities.
What stage of development do you consider your project?
I consider myself in the asset creation and mechanic programming phase. I’m in the process of learning/building the environment, Writing custom game mechanics, building and some learning left for the character assets. Then learning how to build a flash menu system / HUD in scale-form graphics. I plan to reach a decent point in the next few months leading up to bronycon.
