Introducing Anomalia
Among all of the projects I'd been posting about during this trimester so far, is another that I've yet to mention and a rather important one at that. Over some well earned drinks after the final class of last trimester, to celebrate our hard work. I soon discovered two of my fellow peers and friends, shared a very similar creative vision as I did. An idea that has now evolved into Anomalia, our final project. The name is Latin for anomaly, and reflects the concept of the game quite well. After recruiting a designer to accompany us three programmers, a close team was established that we have coined vec1.
The project is very technically oriented, no doubt having been conceived by programmers. The first few original albeit vague ideas, were based around mechanics that would allow us to flex our coding muscles and produce something awesome. It was a case of taking these concepts and finding a way to interweave them together into a playable product. As students, being able to serve as a portfolio piece that demonstrates our mindset and skills is also important. Anomalia in nature is quite different from most other products on the market, with only a handful of titles that could be considered similar in genre.
Abstract puzzle exploration games that revolve around the notion of impossible spaces and non-euclidean geometry are few and far between. Our leading sources of inspiration are Antichamber with Portal close behind, as pictured above and below. These games are influential in terms of gameplay and design concepts but not artistic merit. Anomalia is not Antichamber or Portal, a mistakable judgement that is easy to make given the limited range of comparative titles. Other sources of inspiration include Myst, Willy Chyr’s RELATIVITY, Dear Esther and MIND: Path to Thalamus.
Anomalia fits into a genre that is quite outside of the box already, in terms of fresh concepts that are unlike the majority of mainstream titles in current consumption. There is a proven demand within this particular market and given the few titles that occupy it, plenty of capacity to grow. As the genre is so modern, its definition remains unclear. This provides us with the opportunity to push boundaries and set new standards, without the restraints that are normally associated with taking a gamble on trying risky ideas in an already crowded market.
Our aim as a product is to further popularise the genre, one that doesn’t exist in its entirety of impossible puzzles and exploration. To achieve this, our goals are to push the boundaries of what alternative games already offer. Anomalia should have players thinking outside the box at all times and keep them intrigued through mind bending mechanics. These emotions and evoked levels of engagement should be complemented with a sense of reward having accomplished something neat, thus fulfilling the goals of our vision.
We are the only team in our class who chose not to use Unity for our final project, opting for C++ with OGRE as our rendering engine and Newton for physics. Development will take place simultaneously on Windows and Linux, more so on Linux so far given our current internal prototype. I have spent some time porting the code we have from our Linux programmer to Windows, ready for full-time development next trimester. I will follow up on this post with more details on the games mechanics and art style, once all stages of planning and documentation have been ironed out.
The project is very technically oriented, no doubt having been conceived by programmers. The first few original albeit vague ideas, were based around mechanics that would allow us to flex our coding muscles and produce something awesome. It was a case of taking these concepts and finding a way to interweave them together into a playable product. As students, being able to serve as a portfolio piece that demonstrates our mindset and skills is also important. Anomalia in nature is quite different from most other products on the market, with only a handful of titles that could be considered similar in genre.
Abstract puzzle exploration games that revolve around the notion of impossible spaces and non-euclidean geometry are few and far between. Our leading sources of inspiration are Antichamber with Portal close behind, as pictured above and below. These games are influential in terms of gameplay and design concepts but not artistic merit. Anomalia is not Antichamber or Portal, a mistakable judgement that is easy to make given the limited range of comparative titles. Other sources of inspiration include Myst, Willy Chyr’s RELATIVITY, Dear Esther and MIND: Path to Thalamus.
Anomalia fits into a genre that is quite outside of the box already, in terms of fresh concepts that are unlike the majority of mainstream titles in current consumption. There is a proven demand within this particular market and given the few titles that occupy it, plenty of capacity to grow. As the genre is so modern, its definition remains unclear. This provides us with the opportunity to push boundaries and set new standards, without the restraints that are normally associated with taking a gamble on trying risky ideas in an already crowded market.
Our aim as a product is to further popularise the genre, one that doesn’t exist in its entirety of impossible puzzles and exploration. To achieve this, our goals are to push the boundaries of what alternative games already offer. Anomalia should have players thinking outside the box at all times and keep them intrigued through mind bending mechanics. These emotions and evoked levels of engagement should be complemented with a sense of reward having accomplished something neat, thus fulfilling the goals of our vision.
We are the only team in our class who chose not to use Unity for our final project, opting for C++ with OGRE as our rendering engine and Newton for physics. Development will take place simultaneously on Windows and Linux, more so on Linux so far given our current internal prototype. I have spent some time porting the code we have from our Linux programmer to Windows, ready for full-time development next trimester. I will follow up on this post with more details on the games mechanics and art style, once all stages of planning and documentation have been ironed out.
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