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| Axis 3.0 |
About seven years ago I was fresh out of a BFA program in Game Production, teaching Game Design courses, and reeling from a failed student project I had taken on. I was beginning a new stage in my professional life not only as a game developer, but as an educator teaching college courses and developing my skills as an instructor and presenter. While the education career would allow me to continue learning as a designer and satisfy my need to pay the bills, my extracurricular activities began taking form as development practice and applied research. One of the first projects I decided to work on, Axis, was a self-directed solo-developed two week venture that has transformed into a seven year development cycle filled with year-long hiatuses, adaptation to industry trends, and a fair amount of stubbornness in avoiding certain trends. In the next year Axis will be released as Axis Descending on Steam Greenlight. This post, and others to follow it, are a documentation of this journey's iterative process, ups, downs, and outcome.
The primary intent behind this series is to help my peers, my students, my friends and family, and my social media following understand:
- How the project has changed throughout the last seven years and why
- The personal importance of the project's vision
- Individual metaphors related to the game mechanics and character/world design
- Design choices related to the limitations primarily imposed upon myself by myself
- An in-depth analysis of the project's journey while it commences
- Do's and Don't's for independent game development
We'll begin with an introduction to the game, how it came to be, and why it has gone through 3 phases and rehashes.
Like all of my heavier personal projects, Axis began with a session in front of Flash listening to music. In particular, a few key tracks have inspired the development of the game and kept me in the zone while working on assets or scripting within Actionscript. After working so heavily in Flash throughout my BFA experience and beyond, I had a strong understanding of the software tools and what they could produce. I also had a particular look to my work that I wanted to evolve and extend that derived from a failed course project, a capstone project and mentorship via Floyd Bishop (which was amazing), and a failed indie development project post-graduation. The look was easy and natural for me to produce but still needed the time it takes to refine and define an art style.
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| Aegis Steelfleece's base design was used to define the tall and slender proportions used throughout Axis Descending's character designs. On the right you can see the evolution of the forward-facing sprite and the current one. |
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| The original concept for Axis 1.0 included puzzle platforming through shifting between a light and dark version of the world. The dark world would be broken and in ruins, whereas the light world was intact, vital, and colorful (not depicted in the example whatsoever). |
My love of desaturated tones and a deep desire to have blue hair (totally owned it during high school for a short period of time) resulted in the core scheme of "Axis Kailash", but the majority of the design was influenced by other characters, Ko, Aegis Steelfleece, and one of the first 3D modeled characters I created, also named Axis, who defined the new character's history. The original design was influenced by these characters in a number of ways.
The 3D model Axis was influential mainly from a story standpoint. Axis' background as a swordsman who has a war-torn history, coupled with experiences with the world's afterlife or "dark world", framed the new character's history. This history has been manipulated, scrapped, written and verbally communicated in a number of ways. Currently, Axis' relationship with spirituality on a physical and intellectual level are at the core of his past and present. Originally, this manifested as the primary game mechanic within the first prototype in the player's ability to shift between light and dark worlds, causing new pathways or items to appear depending on the current world. This mechanic was by no means new, and has been used many, many times.
Ko's blue hair, energy, and stoicism are a large part of Axis' look and personality. His glamour rock haircut, similar color scheme, and movement have sparked many discussions about whether or not Axis was "Ko's Dad", or "Ko all grown up". Similarly, the weapons and mobility mechanics in the game reflect the mechanics in the Aegis game. The evolution here is intentional for a few reasons. Axis' mechanics were an extension of the mechanics within the Ko game, but due to the project's failure and involvement of peers within an educational setting, it was inappropriate to continue building upon that original world. This new character would be a muse for a new universe, a new beginning, and a new adventure. The design mirrored my own experience with these projects and my intent moving forward.
Axis 3.0, showcasing combat and the player's ability to dodge.
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| Axis 1.0 prototype screen grab. Photoshop backgrounds, primitive vector objects and animations. |
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| An evolutionary prototype between 1.0 and 2.0, showing progression of environment designs and the exodus from using bitmap background art. |
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| Axis 2.0 beta prototype. An explicit set of directions were provided for the beta. |
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| Axis 3.0. Not much has changed in the interface, though scrolling and improved art passes have evolved the art style in subtle ways. |
Axis Kailash. The character's name is heavy with metaphors related to the 2.0 version of the game's concept. The Axis Mundi is the center of the world, often depicted by a tree, spire, or staircase in numerous mythologies. This verticality is represented by the levels in Axis Descending as the player freefalls from level to level, descending further and further down to the lowest point of the world. This lowest point is also the most challenging and may represent the world's version of Hell. Axis is the central focus, whereas Kailash comes from Mount Kailash, which represents the meditative home and seat of power for certain Eastern deities. This represents Axis' rank as a leader within the world and how he is acknowledged by its inhabitants, but also the player's relationship and ownership of their home base. The airship Rinpoche (Tibetan for "precious one", "gem" or "jewel") is this home base. It rests high above the world's shifting floating islands at a "peak" in the metaphysical gamespace, serving as your respawn point and access point for fast travel, crafting, and swapping weapon loadouts.
While there are heavy folklore influences, much of Axis' relationship with other characters in the game and their designs are influenced by my own personal experience. My wife is represented by the blacksmith on the Rinpoche who provides Axis with the ability to grow stronger and upgrade his equipment. Similar to the relationship I have with my wife, as any marriage should be, I rely on her as she relies on me to grow as an individual and grow as a partner. Through the mechanics acting as a metaphor, this is strengthened and the player who has nothing to do with this relationship of mine is assuming that role. Many of the other characters Axis is supported by or competes with represent friends, colleagues, and family.
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| A collection of characters used within 2.0's prototype. |
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| Axis freefalls from level to level. The shifting islands and flying vehicles in the world provide context for the randomization of the game's numerous environments as you descend further and further. |
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| A chart depicting the level flow within 2.0, albeit horizontal. The final 2.0 prototype featured 30 drops. Each drop put the player in one of a handful of potential levels, randomizing the experience and incorporating rogue-like elements. |
The origin of Axis Descending's vertical level structure comes from discussions and feedback related to the game while it was treated as my graduate thesis project. After 1.0's lack of progress due to lack of interest, and major changes in my life, I was afforded the opportunity to earn my Masters in Experiential Design. Through the program's Thesis course, my interest in the project was reignited. The second version of the project was born and the result of 16 weeks worth of research and studio time can be played here. An emphasis was placed on my research topic, Narrative in Games, and how I could benefit both of my chosen career paths as an Educator and as a Game Developer. Development-wise, I would be able to secure a prototype of a project I had been working on and off with for years. It would lead to the eventual release of a game and profit, of course, but more than that it meant the end of almost a decade's worth of time and effort. My graduate paper Defining Narrative Devices in Digital Gamespaces resulted in a guide for students and developers alike to follow to make informed design decisions when communicating with the player and helped define my identity as an Educator.
Completing my Masters left me in a situation not unlike what prompted the original "two week long" project. My progress is entirely self-directed again. After the birth of my son and a brief hiatus over the summer, progress is remaining consistent and the plan to campaign and release the game on the PC platform is moving along. While this post was merely informational and divulged the history behind the project, future posts in the 12-post series will highlight key methodologies, like playtesting, my creative process in Flash, designing the levels for the game, marketing it, and more.
If you have any questions, you can contact me most easily via Skype under the username: nujakjata.
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