GAME SCRIPT
TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT
Naamu: The Lost Essence is about humanity, its main character's being in conflict between his nature and her origins. Naamu grew up in the forest, surrounded by nature. She has lived in harmony with the forest and the essences of the creatures that inhabit it.
In this world, the "soul" of each element present coexists with reality, they are visible, and representative. But when a strange virus born from humanity, the corruption, an essence that consumes all others, reaches the Naamu forest, she is suddenly faced with her own nature. She must fight to free his home, on a journey towards the origin of corruption and the acceptance of her own humanity, her essence, her Reflection.
Narrative Structure
Naamu: The Lost Essence has 4 kinematics (Animatics)
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Intro of the game, a kinematic that is reproduced the first time the game is started, and locates the player in the universe of the game.
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Kinematics 1.2: Kinematic post-tutorial, locate the player at the beginning of the game.
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Kinematics 2: Kinematics that is reproduced in the middle of the Vertical Slice
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Final Kinematics: kinematics that is reproduced at the end of the game.
In addition, I integrated the In-game narrative with a subtitle system with dialogues, together with the programming department.
I also relied on environmental narration through Worldbuilding, and other resources such as Level Design, Gameplay, and the UI / VFX. I also integrated an AI with scheduled events and used the Unreal sequencer to perform In-Game kinematics [Event Management]
Pre-Producción
When ideas about the game's future narrative were presented, the present videogame started on a sketch from the art department. It gave us the inspiration to start building on. Before beginning the extensive documentation process, I established the information pyramid on which I would build the narrative of the game. The pyramid is structured in levels. Each level implies a quantitative difference between the players who will perceive the message.
Level 1- What all players will know (Through Cinematics and dialogues)
- The story of the protagonist purifying the forest, in conflict with her humanity, represented by the Reflection.
- The Reflection is the essence of the protagonist, with whom she is in constant conflict. Its role is to convey the message that humanity is not bad intrinsically. Humanity contains good and bad, but it's the choice of each individual.
Level 2 - What the Model Player will understand (Through Environmental Narrative) [See Worldbuilding]
- The narrative of the game is a reference to the real world, to the player's world. This is transmitted through the scenarios, that refer to real environments.
- The message of the game is universal. This is transmitted with the architecture that mixes elements of different cultures and the appearance of the protagonist herself.
Once the structure of the information to be given to the player was completed, the various documentation necessary for the entire setting was carried out.
The necessary assets for the environmental narrative and the cinematics with parallax were defined with the help of the Art department, mood boards were made to help the artists, and the rules of the game world were established. [Worldbuilding]
I also established a timeline with the past events and the events of the game itself relevant to the WorldBuilding.
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Worldbuilding
Essences' Rules
- Every single thing of this world, from the objects to the concepts, has an essence that represents its nature.
- Essence is the representation of a concept or object, in the form of a phantasmagoric image of itself, that shows its true nature, for beyond its physical appearance.
- Essences have a hierarchy. The individual’s essences give strength to intermediates' essences that feed the big essences of concepts.
Example:
Forest's Essence (Major essence)
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Vegetation's Essence (Collective/Boss)
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Tree's Essence (Individual)
Kinematic 1.2
- Individual essences are normally contained in their material element.
- Big essences of abstracts concepts, like a forest´s essence, appeared punctually through elements and moments conditioned by their nature.
- Every existing thing must contain only one essence inside.
- They represent their own nature. They would act as their individual would. If their material element changes, their essence does the same.
- The Collective and Major essences have memory, that´s why sometimes it is possible to see what they were time ago, even if their individual elements are dead.
- Human beings know the existence of essences, but they believe that it is not possible to influence them directly. They did, once. But they have forgotten.
Corruption's Rules:
- It's the essence of the set of toxic elements to the planet, caused by the excessive and disrespectful advance of the humanity
- It's a virus, a set of pernicious essences. It's not natural, the human being caused it a long time ago. They had forgotten.
Appearance:
- Lights and brightness, opposite to natural, reminds of technological elements.
- When the player watches the corruption, he feels the artificiality and the feeling that something is wrong.
Corruption's concept art
- Corruption reproduces in its maximum expression the effects of the excessive advance of humanity in scenarios and enemies.
- The corruption´s goal is to absorb other essences. In the first place, it corrupts them, replicating its usual behavior in a harmful way. It needs some time to completely consume all its essence, and during this process, Naamu is able to set them free.
- In the game, the corruption is trying to absorb the middle´s essences, weakening them through consuming all the individual ones.
Forest Essence Rules:
- The pure essence of the set of natural elements that shape the forest.
- At the beginning of the game, Naamu gets the essence of the forest and ejects hers.
Kinematic 1.2
When Naamu purifies an enemy, its essence returns to belong to the forest, that’s why her essence´s staff reloads: The essence's come back to the forest, giving him their power again.
Purification's Concept Art
Scenario Rules:
- The scenarios of the video game are located in a forest.
- The unpolluted forests have to be real and credible.
- The purpose of the scenario´s assets is to reach a universal geographic identification.
Kind of forest presents in the scenario:
- Living forest: untouched, natural. Green colors. It's a forest that has not been touch by Corruption.
- Corrupted forest: Forest covered by corruption. It represents in an extended form the action of the human being.
- Dead Forest: The vegetation does not support the damage of the corrupted areas. So patches of dead areas from malnutrition begin to appear around them.
- The ruins that appear in the game represent the old presence of humanity, in harmony with nature.
- Its architecture will be a mixture of representative elements of diverse architectural currents of different cultures.
Types of ruins present in the scenarios:
- Present´s ruins: moderns buildings that represented the contemporary abusive society. Always corrupted.
- Ruins of the past: ancient-looking ruins, destroyed and half-buried in the jungle. They repel the corruption because they are a symbol of harmony between nature and human being.
Initial visual target
Naamu's Rules (Main character):
- She has features of different cultures.
- Was born and raised until the age of 8 in a big city.
- At the beginning of the game she hates humanity. She blames all of them for the corruption of the forest.
- Throughout the game, she developed her own understanding, and accept her belonging to humanity.
- She speaks rudely with few words, as a result of living in the forest
- She is impatient, energetic, and stubborn.
Image of Kinematics 1.2
Reflection's Rules (Main character):
- Human essence of Naamu, expelled from within herself when the Forest gives her its essence.
- She can't move away from Naamu.
- The stronger Naamu´s rejection of her humanity, the weaker is her Reflection.
- Her appearance is a contemporary representation of Naamu.
- At the beginning of the game, she starts as a mere silhouette and is defined as Naamu accept her relationship with humanity.
- The reflection is acquiring features of the protagonist during the game, but never completely loses its contemporary look.
- Subtly breaks the fourth wall, referring to the player
- Its role in the game is to provoke doubt in the protagonist (and the player) about the absolute message that humanity is evil, and to guide the player through the levels.
- At the end of the game, with her acceptance of who she is, the Reflection returns into Naamu's body, as her essence.
Initial concept art of the Reflection
Naamu and her Reflection, in the second kinematic of the game.
Enemy's Rules:
- Corruption's effect mutates the enemies to the high exponent of the effect of human beings on these animals.
- Once purified they become real animals. Recognizable species, but mixed-race to avoid the specific location.
Enemy's Concept Art
Kinematics
Translation and Localization:
For time reasons, the present translation was cooperation alongside the Narrative Department, specifically the programmer that made the code of the Dialog System.
Game's Intro
R- Wait. Sit, listen. I want to show you something. A story about you. About your world, and mine. And what happened between them.
Those in power have spoken many times about the world. They have explained many times how it works. You must know, for you were there. All of us were. They have always explained how things should be.
But then... There was her. And those loud voices had to stop and listen for once
I've seen silence take over when the forest turned into fire. Then into blood, rot. And finally, death. She has seen it happen. And couldn't flee, as others did, that was her home.
Shhh... Listen, I'm not blaming you. It wasn't you, at least, not only you. We have spoken of individuals, and everyone points to the group. No, you didn't do it. But you were there.
And after the fire, the stone, the death...Corruption arrived.
Look, look at her. Look how the world changed. And listen, truly listen.
Cause I... I also was there.
Translation In Progress.
Kinematics 1.2
(Gameplay), Naamu fights with the essence bar of humanity. Finally, the boss makes a final hit. Goes to Kinematics.
The Boss has corned Naamu. She backs off, on the edge of the Cliff. The Boss is in front of her, and, at the bottom, the picture of a modern, big and corrupted city.
Under the water, a color like Essence of humanity leave her body and she closes her eyes (death). She sinks into the deep.
A light comes out of the trees, insects, animals, comes into the river, and gets into Naamu. She suddenly opens her eyes under the water, color essence of the Forest, and starts swiming towards the surface.
She crawls out of the river, look at her hands, now they shine like the color of the forest. She takes the staff and the shine covers it. Close up of her face with a determined expression.
Translation In Progress.
Second Kinematics
Naamu looks up and sees an ancient ruin.
Naamu falls down, tired, and slowly looks at the front. Try to back off, but there is nowhere to go. Finally, she falls to her knees. Because the map is much more corrupted, there is corruption on the floor. When she falls down, it is seen how the corruption begins to climb up her arms, reaches her shoulders. Between the ruins and her, appeared the Reflection.
N - It's them... The humans... They did this... They are corruption.
R- You have to stop rejecting who you are. You will never win without accepting yourself...
N- I don't know who you are, but shut up!
R - You are also human. Hate, refusal, they are part of corruption. Not these ruins, you are feeding it.
Naamu Lifts her head and watches the corruption, climbing up her legs. Reaching her shoulders, her arms, her face.
N- Then... It's true...It doesn't matter how much I fight. I'm part of that humanity, right? I... I am part of the corruption, I made this happen.
R- That's where you are wrong.
Reflection bends over her.
R- There's nothing more human than to continue fighting... Even when everything seems lost
She touched her and introduces himself to her. The corruption seems to be violently repelled. We can see how the forest´s essence leaves her for a moment, and Naamu gets up. The forest´s essence comes back inside of her and the Reflection return to materialize. Slowly, she takes off the hood... and she is identical to Naamu, but up to date.
R- Indeed, we are part of humanity. But we may choose. You are human, as well as part of the forest, that's why you can save it
The reflect disappears, but it is not going too far away. From now she will always be present.
Translation In Progress.
Final Kinematics
((After defeating the final boss))
Beside her or on the other side of the fallen boss, the Reflection arises, She smiles to Naamu with understanding. The Reflection extends his hand through the boss and poses its hand on him. The corruption moves away from his hand.
Naamu poses her hand on the boss, with her skin shining in forest's essence color.
Purification of the Boss. The Essence of the Forest and the Humanity Essence get tangled up together like a whirlwind, and from inside emerge the boss, purified.
Naamu looks at the Reflection, that smile shyly.
Naamu opens her arms, the reflex hugs her.
Humanity's essence gets into Naamu, the Reflection merges with her. The essence of the forest gets out of her body and returns with the forest. (First Close - up, then far away of the same scene)
- And in the same way she changed her world, many others tried to do it.
Naamu, glowing humanity color, turns to the Cliff.
- In the same way you would do it: believing themselves alone, but as part of something much larger
Naamu´s panoramic on the Cliff. In the corrupted far away mountains other little blue lights humanity´s color can be seen.
- Humanity and the forest... together.
Event Management
Sequencer
I used the Sequencer of Unreal Engine so I could make in-game cinematics showing the village ubications, alongside the dialogue system. I used a camera that moves across a rail and faded according to the cinematic necessities.
AI Scripting
The Reflection had a very simple Behaviour tree, a Patrol System with a BT Task that allowed me to move it from point A to point B attending the narrative and level design necessities.
Managing the blueprints that changed those poses, dissolved the mesh and its associated particle system, and edited the gravity of the character and the collisions were more complex. I had to do different events at each level, according to the different needs of the narrative.
This way, I could choose the cameras and reflections that were activated depending on the player's actions, as well as rotate the Reflection and choose the distance in which it disappeared through triggers and level events.
Reflection In Game
Other In Game Appearances of the Reflection
Dialogue system
Alongside the programming department, we made a Subtitle System that showed the dialogues of the game. Each character in the game had a characteristic sound associated with it. The dialogues were triggered by purifying a core, defeating specific enemies, or simply thought triggers on the map.
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