In Search of Home is a 2D side-scrolling puzzle adventure game, set in a parallel universe. I created this game concept as a part of my application task for applying at Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln University of Applied Science.
Genre:
Puzzle, Adventure
Platform:
Home Consoles & PC
Target Group:
General Audience
Basic Mechanics:
Interaction (Context-sensitive), Attacking, Throwing Objects, Group Action
(You can view the full resolution photos HERE, in case of ambiguity.)
The day it all began...
“Listen son, today, a new era has begun. The world is finally in our hands! Today, we have the power to create a new world of order and prosperity! One day, it will be your time to rule the world, just as your father did. But always remember this: without ambition, there will be no triumph. Be courageous enough to embrace your responsibility, and make sacrifices, when necessary...”
Many years ago, when none of these disasters had happened, Xavier was talking to his son. The little kid was looking upon his father’s face, without having the slightest clue of what the future has in store for him...
Gameplay
In Search of Home is a side-scrolling, puzzle-based adventure video game, which takes place in a parallel universe, where the race of humans (called the Crooked Men) is in the danger of extinction due to the inferiority to animals (called the Animols). In the course of gameplay, the player will have puzzle-based objectives, which require clearing in order to progress through the story.
The game comprises three chapters, narrating a story about a family of Crooked Men (photo below), who are struggling to find a home, gradually realizing that they have bigger challenges to deal with.
Mechanics and Controls
The player takes control of a group of characters (ranging from two to five). However, he only controls the main character by default, while other characters would automatically follow him. To control other characters, the player needs to press and hold an extra button. There are challenges in the game, requiring group actions, and thus, controlling several characters at the same time.
Here you can see how the player can control each character and perform different actions:
Story
In a parallel universe, in a world where the Animols possess the superior intelligence and power, planet Dearth is on the brink of annihilation due to the unlimited industrial activities and the endless greed of the capitalist system that governs it. Being in a dangerous phase of global warming causes devastating natural disasters to happen from time to time. Somewhere in the corner of this planet, in a nature with almost nothing left of its beauty, lives a family of Crooked Men called the Ardours.
The Ardours family has four members: Turgon (the father), Agrin (the son), Amen (the mother), and Tufin (the little daughter). They live in a relatively mountainous, arid region. Despite all the harshness that life has brought upon them, they love each other to death and prefer to stay far from the chaos of the world. One day however, the chaos of the world came to them: in a staggering incident, the Animols with their sophisticated equipment, blow up a bomb near their habitat. A huge landslide happens, destroying their one and only house, forcing them to escape, barely.
They venture, looking for a new place to live. Along the way, they see signs of destructive actions that have damaged nature, Crooked Men and Animols. They find other Crooked Men who are also trying to survive and find a suitable place to live. The Ardours help some of them and in the process, they befriend someone named Ravos and his friend who are struggling to survive, by helping them and saving their lives. Ravos, with the help of the Ardours, accidentally gives his friend a sip of acidic lake water. His friend dies by drinking that water, leaving Ravos helpless and furious. He tells the Ardours with great grief, that he has lost his family in an accident a long time ago and now, he just lost his only close friend in his life. Confused by this tragedy, Ravos seeks revenge. Turgon tells Ravos that he and his family are just looking for a new home and prefer to stay out of trouble. Suddenly, Ravos sees a barrel of industrial waste in the lake water, with a unique logo and the letter "X" on it. He tells the Ardours that he knows that sign to belong to an Animol-owned company. Turgon remembers the time when Animols destroyed their habitat, telling Ravos that he saw the same sign there, on their equipment. The Ardours, therefore, join Ravos to find out about the truth.
In their quest to learn more about the Company X, they face all sorts of natural disasters caused by global warming. Extreme tornados, severe droughts and overwhelming heat, and grave floods to name a few, but they survive by standing together. Then, they find an Animol trapped in the wildfire, nearly becoming a prey to the fire. They rescue him and then become furious by finding out that he is a worker at an X-affiliated workshop that cuts down forest trees. Agrin and Ravos advice Turgon that they must kill him, but Amen says they are not killers, even if that Animol somehow serves the X. Turgon warns the worker that if he wants to live, he must give them information about the company. The worker swears that he knows very little and that they will find the answer to all their questions in a nearby desert borough. They keep on their way to the borough, sparing the worker’s life. As they are approaching there, they encounter an insect influx. While everyone is trying to escape and protect himself, a strange and deadly looking insect, bites Agrin, making him ill and fevered. They rush in the borough, seeking the help of people living there. After doing a little search and questioning, they find a strange old woman who introduces herself as the sage of the borough. She helps Agrin, lowering his fever a bit. She then tells them that there is no cure to the disease and that they must hurry, as there is only one laboratory nearby, which could help Agrin. Therefore, they carry him towards the lab and when they get there, they see the X Company logo on the facade!
When they enter the lab, a young Animol named Xander confronts them. He “welcomes” them to his lab, and then orders his forces to arrest everyone and bring “the ill one” to him. Xander shows them the same insect that bit Agrin, and explains with a grin on his face, that this illness is nothing but a simple fleeting fever. However, with a small and yet very special effect! He laughs viciously and tells them that he has been carefully designing and planning this moment to test the efficacy of his newly invented virus. Then he injects the virus into his own bloodstream, and then into Agrin’s, making him stronger and taking control of his actions. Xander expresses his excitement, screaming, that his father will be proud of him when he sees this pet! "Pet" definitely suits Agrin as for a name now, as he listens to Xander and obeys him at all costs. He does not even recognize his own family anymore.
Under Xander’s command, Agrin attacks his family, urging to kill them. Turgon, Ravos, and others strive to avoid Agrin’s attacks and try to bring him back to his senses, with no success. Then, while Turgon and Ravos are holding Agrin tight, he escapes with a strike and kills poor Amen and Tufin, rendering Turgon and Ravos severely injured at the same time. Xander smiles in satisfaction when he sees the result, orders for the two survivors to be imprisoned for complete recovery, and then to be converted, as well, into his pets.
Despite being emotionally devastated by what has happened to them, Turgon and Ravos find a way to kill the prison guards and escape. They sneak into the lab, trying to find Agrin. However, it does not take them too long to realize that Agrin is not there and Xander has taken him to his father’s place: a super company called XALU, based in the grand city of Black Rock. The two, who now have nothing more to lose, decide to go to the Black Rock City, avenging the loss of their family and friends, and take Agrin back.
When they enter the Black Rock City, they find that the whole city is controlled and run by the influence of XALU and its mighty boss, Xavier the Great. The city’s atmosphere is loaded with XALU-promoting propaganda and seems to be in Xavier's favor completely. There, Turgon and Ravos meet many dissatisfied Crooked Men and Animols who believe that the only way to break Xavier and Xander’s dominance of the world is to destroy their entire system. Turgon thinks that perhaps by destroying XALU, Agrin (the only surviving member of his family) will return to his normal self. At the same time, Xander’s security forces, who are now aware of their escape, are joining XALU forces in the city and looking for them aggressively, forcing them to proceed with great caution. They also meet up with a militia group of opposing Animols called The Mobs, who are fighting XALU forces in direct battle. The two take the opportunity and help them in the battle, gaining their trust in doing so, and uniting them with Crooked Men as well as other Animols in order to assault XALU.
They rush on XALU with full force, where they confront Xavier and his forces. Xavier tells them with a vicious grin, that the whole world is ruled by his wealth and power, and nothing can stop him and his purpose! The battle breaks out, and in the meantime, Xander comes to his father’s aid, using Agrin and his other new pets on the battlefield. During the battle however, Xander gets wounded and unconscious, giving a chance to Turgon and Ravos to entrap Agrin (who has lost half of his power due to the absence of Xander’s controlling power). Ravos asks Turgon to take Agrin to a safe place so he can deal with Xavier alone. Turgon takes Agrin out of the battlefield and tries to hold his son, who is resisting very badly. On the other side, Ravos, whose sole purpose is to take revenge, dives into Xavier’s room and destroys him and all his equipment by blowing up the room, and the entire building with it, sacrificing himself for the greater good.
At the same time, Turgon, who is severely injured under Agrin’s powerful blows, takes a final look at his son, who is now whimpering back to his normal self, telling him with a soft, contented gaze “Now we can live wherever we want...” and then loses his life in Agrin’s arms.
Puzzles
The puzzles are focused on maximizing the meaningful use of mechanics. Some of them are:
1. Escaping the tearing-down house:
The gameplay starts where the player takes control of the main character (Turgon), just outside of the tearing-down house, and the objective is to save other family members one by one.
1) Turgon goes towards the crying sound of Tufin (Move tutorial) 2) Turgon puts Tufin on his back, after taking her out of the shelter (Action tutorial)
3) Turgon tries to enter the house, but the door is broken 4) Turgon enters the basement
5) Turgon smashes through the obstacle in his way (Attack tutorial) 6) Tufin activates the door switch while Turgon can’t (Action by other characters tutorial)
7) Turgon takes the shovel (Pick up tutorial) 8) Turgon shovels the debris and pulls out Agrin (Pull/Push tutorial)
9) Turgon/Agrin takes a handle-shaped object from the destroyed door 10) Turgon/Agrin places the handle into the lever 11) Turgon and Agrin pull the two levers at the same time (Group Action tutorial)
2. Saving the worker Animol, caught in wildfire: Somewhere in the middle of the game, the player enters a forest area and has to save an Animol caught in the wildfire. A tree on fire is blocking the way, requiring a group action to pull it down.
After clearing the way, the player needs to find a way to pass through the wall of fire, between him and the target (the Animol). There is a car nearby, which requires fixing.
The player can look under the hood of the car, where he finds a power supply system like this:
First, the player must find a “fuse” that is dropped out of the car, somewhere nearby. After placing the fuse, He needs to connect the right battery cable to each fuse, in order to get the car going.
Each fuse represents a symbol of an element, and each battery cable has a unique color that only connects to the right fuse. Thus, the player’s objective is to find the right connections.
However, after placing the missing fuse, the player can open the car trunk, where he finds a video game that is actually an educational program for Animol children.
The game is all about an Elemental Pentagram that represents the five basic elements of life. A red pin moves along the lines of the pentagram, and each time it reaches a vertex linked to one of the elements, a puzzle mini game related to that specific element starts.
Fire Element Puzzle: Note: You can see a short video for the prototype of this puzzle HERE.
The objective of this game is to turn up the fire beneath all four fuel tanks. The player can turn the valves to left, right and middle, with four simple rules: · Right: The right flame turns up · Left: The left flame turns up, and its own flame turns down · Middle: Its own flame turns up, and the right flame turns down · The player can’t turn the same valve twice in a row
Air Element Puzzle:
Here, the objective is to help all spheres to maintain their neutral fluid state (black color), by turning on and off the fans along the conveyor belt, and to prevent the spheres freeze (blue color), or melt (red color) by following these rules: · If a sphere remains under turned-on fans for nine seconds straight, it freezes · If a sphere remains under turned-off fans for six seconds straight, it melts · The conveyor belt moves the spheres forward every three seconds
Water Element Puzzle:
In this game, the player needs to lead the water and the industrial waste as well, to their destinations. There are also two electrical pumps, which the player needs to fix first, by connecting the right cables in their electric junction boxes:
After fixing the pumps, they start sucking water in one direction, and blowing industrial waste in the other direction. The player should then open and close the valves along the way, leading the water and the waste to their desired destinations:
Earth Element Puzzle:
The objective of this game is to find the chemical solutions, declared in formulas by the scientist, and to add them into the big beaker. The player needs to use the guide paper on the wall to find the right solution for each formula, while following these rules: · Each formula only stay visible for two seconds · The first combination contains three formulas · The scientist declares four different combination of formulas, each time increasing the number of formulas by one
The video game (at the back of the car) then goes back to the pentagram, showing the right color for all elements, and then moving on to the last element; Spirit.
Then the video game displays a system error and reboots, changing the pentagram like this:
A propagandistic video about the XALU Company plays, emphasizing on the importance of making money in modern times. This changes the pentagram for one last time when the video ends:
The player then, is able to connect all the cables with the right colors to their related fuses, and drive the car to the place where the worker Animol is being caught.
3. Escaping the Lab Prison: After being prisoned in the lab, the player has only two remaining characters to control (Turgon and Ravos) and needs to find a way to escape the prison:
1) Ravos finds an object and gives it to Turgon by thrusting through the prison wall 2) Turgon throws the object at the security alarm 3) One of the prison guards leaves there due to the alarm sound 4) Ravos plays dead (by performing his gesture), making the guard suspicious 5) Turgon takes his bedsheet, waiting for the right moment
6) Turgon strands the guard from behind 7) Ravos helps Turgon by holding the guard 8) Turgon keeps the pressure on the guard’s throat and kills him 9) Turgon takes the guard’s security key card and frees himself and Ravos The player should then go upstairs, looking for Agrin (Turgon’s son), where he finds an Animol prisoner who knows where Agrin is. The player then has the choice to set the Animol free, and if he does so, the Animol would come to his aid in the final battle of the game.
4. The final battle:
After Turgon takes Agrin out of the battlefield, the player then has to control Ravos and Turgon separately. First, he needs to plant several bombs in the XALU Company’s building by playing as Ravos. Then while Ravos is approaching Xavier’s room, the screen fades off and then the player takes control of Turgon and needs to hold Agrin down and survive his blows, by tapping the action button quickly and repeatedly.
After a few moments, the game switches to cutscene mode, splitting the screen in a diagonal manner, showing Ravos and Turgon simultaneously: Ravos is running towards Xavier’s room and then jumps inside, blowing up the building, while Turgon is gradually losing his strength and his life under Agrin’s blows, at the same time. The game ends by showing the last conversation between Turgon and Agrin.
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