In preparation of Lightbox 2022 I've decided to share the first look at Project Contrast as a video game. Project Contrast is my senior thesis, a video game that explores how the game medium can encourage the exploration of human consciousness and inner experience (qualia, or awareness are other names for this).
Because this game has a special emphasis on art, design, and philosophy currently most development has not been on the code, but rather the art, story, and research into neuroscience and philosophy of the mind. Thus, the α0.01 release is BAREBONES, and consequently has taken a while since the inception of this project 6 months ago.
I am not a coder. I am an artist. You will likely notice bugs and the lack of cool features; I hope to eventually iron these out with the help of friends who know GML (gamemaker language). Right now, I'm flying solo though, and I only have so much time for work, university, post-college portfolio prep, life maintenance, and more; learning how to code has been an uphill battle of investing a little time here and there, but I am making progress!
Current features in the game:
Press WASD to move
Press Shift + WASD to sprint
Press E to sit
Collectables
Press Tab to view collectibles
Semi-advanced collisions (took a while)
Animation coding (there are a few bugs with this I'm working on.)
I will make another post after this to dump all the concept art work I have so far.
Windows Download:
(MacOS downloads will not be available until I have enough money to afford a license with Apple to do so, and Linux I'm still figuring out. More to come!)