Project Forage:

I have finally come up with a new idea for a game I’d like to make. I have been making very basic prototypes for a few weeks now, and my passion for the idea continues to grow. For the first time I’d really like to share the process publicly. Both because the more people share their experiences, the more we can learn from eachother, and because I think this game has potential, and so I’d like the world to know about it as early as possible.

The inspiration

The idea came to me when I become interested in foraging. The idea of wandering in nature collecting delicious herbs, mushrooms, roots, etc, is very appealing to me. However this isn’t easy to do safely, and is basically impossible to start on your own. It is very dangerous to go into the woods and start eating plants and mushrooms that you aren’t 100% sure you can identify.

So I did some looking around to see if there was some kind of group in my local area that could teach me how to identify properly, and keep me safe. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really find a group, which is a bummer because it seems like so much fun.

The more I thought about this unfortunate scenario, the more I realized that there don’t seem to be a lot of foraging games, and games with foraging mechanics are not very deep or engaging. I started to think about how the fun of carefully inspecting flora to identify tasty treats could lead to a fun and satisfying gameplay experience.

And that lead to the idea I am currently working on.

The idea

As mentioned before the idea is to translate the foraging experience (or at least how I imagine it) into gameplay.

The main gameplay loop will consist of the player setting out each day to explore the surrounding environment and find plants and mushrooms to harvest. The player will be able to inspect each thing they come across in a 3D view and will have resources to reference, compare, and identify. At the end of the day the player returns home and decides what to do with the spoils.

Obviously that is a very high level overview, and I have many more ideas for the nitty gritty details, but that is what the game will be at its core.

There is always a risk of overscoping here, but I really like to challenge myself, and am not content to stick with smaller ideas that don’t push me enough.

The goals

My main goals will be to improve my 3D texturing and character animation. I will only really need to animate a player character, so I should be able to focus on that and refine my skills. The detailed flora will also give me many chances to improve my texturing.

There are many technical things I will learn along the way, but the goal is to improve my artistic skills. Technical skills tend to come easier to me.

Interseted?

Here is a video of my current prototype!

If you want to follow the progress then please bookmark my blog and or follow me on the links at the bottom of this page.

I’d be happy to hear your thoughts!