Overview
- Recently I've been watching a show named Sapphire & Steel
- It's similar to Doctor Who
- It has the kind of storytelling I've been wanting in the Marloth game
Notable Attributes
Cerebral
- The stories involve battles but the battles do not involve traditional weapons
- Enemies can occupy the same room without the need to engage in combat, leaving them free to discussion
- Though some enemies are so powerful that the protagonists can not survive long in the same room with them
- Entity power is not single dimensional
- In the show, an entity can be powerful enough to overpower any human within its reach, yet be incapable of opening a closed door
- The pacing is very slow and methodical, yet it isn't boring
Spatial
- So far, each storyline takes place in a distinct location
- Each location is partitioned into multiple interconnected rooms and passageways
- Each location is urban yet has lots of atmosphere
- Each location is dense and utilizes every square inch
- Even though the storylines are cerebral, the spatial environment is continually pivotal to the plot
- Similar to Dark Souls, the locations are effectively central characters
- As each storyline progresses, the focus of the plot shifts from one or more sub-locations at a time
- As each storyline progresses, the audience becomes familiar with each sub-location
- Sub-locations that initially appear to just be forgettable background eventually become immediately recognizable landmarks, associated with one or more key scenes and plot developments in the story
- Sub-locations begin to develop their own personalities and themes
- Much of this resembles multiplayer FPS maps, particularly class-based team FPS maps
- Each twist and turn of the map is carefully fine-tuned to cleanly support a wide variety of gameplay situations
- Players become deeply acquainted with the tactical implications of each contour of the map
Traps
- A common element in the show are hidden traps