Proto-Glod: Darklit (Lite)

Proto-Glod: Darklit (Lite)

Narrative concept

Proto-Glod is a third-person narrative-fabulative action playground game. The player steps into the shoes of a 5 to 7 year old child in a library, who can change any one object into any other by storing an imprint of the object in a magical book, then targeting another object in the environment. It's all fun and games until you use your powers on a human. Reality-based hijinks ensue, and mystic-cosmic shenanigans emerge out of the chaos. The kid learns that they are a demigod of indeterminacy; conduit of primordial chaos, god(dess) of non-deterministic fate from Mesoamerican mythology: Tezcatlipoca. 

Why 'Darklit (Lite)'?

Proto-Glod: Darklit (Lite) is the 2D, top-down, pixel art version of --game in development-- Proto-Glod: Awakening (3D). This variant built for gameboy and web platforms is mainly a way to explore the purely narrative components of exploration and quest-driven gameplay, and as a way to introduce possible solar media features into the Proto-Glod game concept.  Some of those features are more speculative than others, and Proto-Glod: Darklit (Lite) is meant as an extension, and a compact variant, of the 3D game in ongoing materialization using Unreal Engine 5. The story beats may differ in the 2D and 3D games,  as well as the gameplay and delivery of the narrative experience.

Below follows a dialogue stream written as a script. And further down: a list of detailed feature concepts that tie together solar gaming hardware, the 3D and 2D Proto-Glod games,  and their Narrative and Experience Design components.

Script:

Interior. Library. Undetermined time of day.

This fifth sun might yet come to an end.

At the edge of infinity, the [thermodynamic] gradient may yet bring perfect balance to this era.

And quench the flame of change.

And the sixth sun to come will be unlit. 

Suuuun 12345. 6 fin. In.fin.it, night graaadiEnt un.lit, light. Ob.si.di.an:

Was there always a voice? I mean in my head. I think it used to be only pictures and videos. **This is strange...** And dreams. I don't think the voice was there. ** How did I get here?** There might have been voices in the videos, and there were sounds... **Now...** But it's hard to tell if there was a voice. **I like where this is going.**

...

How does the writing in the books get in my head? How does it play in my brain? **You do that. It's called 'thinking', and 'understanding'** I know that! But how did it get there? And why?

**The 'how' is simple; by chance. Although not for you, by the time you came around it was inevitable. The 'why' doesn't really matter in my opinion, as long as you're having fun. Are you having fun?** Yes. **Okay, remember to take frequent breaks.** I know it's my voice, but I can also make other voices. **That's a lot of power you're wielding. You can read words and know their meaning, you can think of words of your own in meaningful configurations. What else can you do?**. I can run really fast! **Show me**

**I'm not gonna lie, that was pretty slow. But that's okay.** I wasn't really going full speed. **Why would you hold back?** I have to be quiet. Otherwise, the librarian will take me away from the computer. Or worse. She'll call my mum at work. **Very well, I believe you. You'll run if you have to. And you will not hold back.** When I run for real, no one can catch me. Unless they are very fast, like me. 

**Alright, let's try something else then; can you shape-shift? Or shape-shift something else? Try changing that slate into this book you're holding here.** What is a slate? **The black mirror in front of you. It's not quite a smoking mirror, and it feels flimsy from where I'm at, but it will do.**  Smoking is bad. **Smoke is the aftermath of fire, and fire is mostly rapid change.* *

There I did it, the screen is a book now. Are you a book? **I guess I am. To you right now right now anyway. haha! I'm a book!** What is your name? **Your people knew me as Tezcatlipoca, if I remember correctly. That might have changed, though. As things do.** My name is Obsidian. **Obsidian, are YOU a book?** I don't think so... **No, I don't think you think so also. You think you're far from a book, you think you are far from being anything other than yourself. You'll grow out of thinking that way, however**.  When I grow up, I'll still be myself! If I grow up. I don't think I'll do it. **Indeed. That might be so. Although growing in size would probably be fairly easy for you.** 

*Com.bus.tion

noun

1. *The process of burning.

2. *A chemical change, especially oxidation, accompanied by the production of heat and light.

I know what fire is! **But do you understand it?** I like turtles.

**You are going to need to know more objects other than books. Let's see. What objects do you have? Examine the contents of your carrier bag.** I have a water bottle, another book, pencil, notebook, a solar gemboid. **A photonic gem in book form. Some things don't change for long periods of time, other things change back to thighs they were before. Your kind are SUN worshipers, I am fond of the foolish child myself.** I also have a juice box and some animal crackers. **Rations with the shape of creatures, and boxed nectar. As befits your mortal nature. I don't think you'd die in the conventional sense anyhow. But let's not test that if we don't have to. Promise you wont try to die.** I promise I will not try not to not die. **Good.**

**Who is the librarian?** The librarian is a friend of mum. She's ok I guess.

**Who is mum?** Mum is my mom.

**Who is turtles?** Turtles is many of them. I love them. **Turtles sounds terrifying.**

Who are you again? **I am Tezcatlipoca.**

I want to turn more things into books. **Turn as many things into books as possible.** But also into other things **I am curious as to weather you can do that myself.**  But I have to be quiet, so the librarian doesn't notice. Her office is just downstairs, and she will come check on me for sure.

Looks like I can only turn books into other books, and computers into books and books into computers. And computers and books into gemboids. **All those things are all clearly similar to each other.** Same energy. **Information storage properties.** I don't know what that means.

### obsidian... I've been looking for you...

Oh no, It's the librarian. **Run. I sense confinement in her intent.**

To be continued ...

Follow up on Proto-Glod's development on GitHub:
- By checking out my commit history.

- Reading my process journal entries (newest at the bottom).

- And my thoughts on why I do the things I do.

Feature Concepts:

-  Game's time progression is tied to system battery life. The day progresses by the amount of battery left; in the form of message notifications displayed in a dialogue box. The lower the battery, the closer to sunset (or dawn).

- Playing the 'gemboid' in-game version of the game resets game progression to the beginning. Or rather it merely brings you back to the starting location. The intro text displays in a dialogue box, events play out differently from that point, and game progression from before persists: game-state stays the same from the point the player interacted with the 'gemboid'. 

- A version of Proto-Glod: Darklit (Lite) could be played from within Proto-glod: Awakening (3D) by interacting with the gemboid. This in-game version would only contain the intro dialogue sequence and a 2D map of the library layout as a navigable environment. And could be used to fast travel, and time travel, between areas. Using a spatial marker corresponding to area checkpoints, and a sub menu to choose the time of day to travel on the temporal dimension.