I will be creating comic pages for the game, but each will have a “novel version” with full text to let readers experience it without comics, if they prefer that format. This also allows the story to be translated (which comic pages will not be able to do).
I also want to have similar effects and actions that the comic version will have. So, in novel mode, it will display some text then wait for the user to hit spacebar to continue, or ask for a choice to be made, or a decision. I want it to feel like the old text game Zork. What I don’t see doing is having an “open world” feel where you can get stuck in maze or have to blindly adventure to find a hidden secret – Boneeaters is fundamentally a story more than a game in that way.
But the visual interface I also want some more modern cues such as small headshots to the left of dialog – like a scrolling chat screen. The dialog boxes can have different visual effects for talking, yelling, thinking, etc. Adding a comic-like feeling even for novel readers.
I can also consider adding static images in the novel mode (possibly a user setting) which would add a different feel to that mode as well.
Another big advantage of novel mode is that I can move strongly on doing the full game, before art is done. This can allow for the script writing, play testing, and game flow to be completed. In addition, it will act as a complete storyboard for the comic creation part. And the comic format could be considered a storyboard for an animated version…!
The downside is that this means I’m writing novels first – with far more descriptive text than a normal comic script would have. And yet I’ll have to pay attention to not getting “carried away” and write details that can’t be easily shown in comic format.
To implement this properly, I’ll need to add some markup language to indicate pauses, choices, decisions, and more. And I’ll probably have to brush up on my writing skills a bit, which was not something on my life to-do list.