The essential experience of a game are the emotions you want the player to experience. To create a game that sticks and resonates with people understanding what you want it to do as a developer is very important.

I decided to use nostalgia after exploring experiential metaphors in week one and focusing on a lived experience you have had. This made me think of the experience on a Disney World Florida boardwalk when I was 10, I had a digital camera and was using it to explore the area.

Some notes I took about the experience.

Nostalgia is a particularly hard subject to represent visually as it is different for everyone and takes many shapes. It can also be awakened through, scents, sounds and sights dependent on the person. As the edxperience is mine I decided to create a moodboard of things that made me nostalgic for my childhood.

I focused on finding images of childhood, of course not all of these will resonate with people but i found a strong attraction to them. I also noticed that they have some things in common with one another they are all fuzzy and out of focus, the light in them catching the lenses and creating effects. I want to replicate this within the visual style.

The content of the game will be heavily inspired by 80s style grand adventures. From films such as The Goonies, The Princess Bride, The Monster Squad, The Neverending Story etc. All kid centered films about discovering oneself and growing up. It will also be inspired by old point-and-click adventure games. I have chosen these as they were a large part of my childhood despite me not being in the correct generation for them as I was introduced to them by my family. I believe this is the case for a lot of people being introduced to stuff from their own parents childhood thus becoming nostalgic about it themselves.

I have compiled these inspirations into a preliminary moodboard.

Conclusion

I want the players to feel nostalgic and happy, by tapping into childhood nostalgia based off of my own experiences. The game will be inspired by grand adventure films and point-and-click games that I enjoyed throughout my childhood. The game should encourage the player to feel like a kid again.

How will I do this?

By focusing on the games visual style and aesthetics to make them feel nostalgic and warm. The game’s narrative will also be important as it must feel like an adventure a child would go on. To create a good game world the character NPCs must also be definined and interesting