@rrhoover This is my first attempt into the gaming world. Why? I guess I just wanted to try something different. While in grad school I did a few research papers on the effect of the digital world on illustration. What I found is that print versions still rule the roost when it comes to illustration - that people generally respond to illustration in print comics, magazines, and books waaay better than digital versions. My theory on that is that we aren't quite utilizing the right techniques for the digital medium yet. I wanted to tackle that idea, and an interactive comic (was originally going to be a print comic) or game seemed like a good way of telling my story and experimenting with the medium.
@laurenthrybyk love that. I'm always inspired by how non-traditional game creators approach the medium. Some of the most innovative titles are created by people "naive" to the platform that lack the "baggage" that some veterans carry.
@rrhoover I wouldn't call myself naive to the platform - I play a lot of games, worked with programmers, coded websites - so I understand the medium. For me I was trying to figure out how this digital medium related to my specific visual style of storytelling...which ended up developing into an interactive comic. I have a few more story ideas in the works as well, but I think they'll dictate a different method of storytelling within the digital medium than in Sam.
I appreciate it when creators mix media together, bringing the mechanics and interactivity of games to other mediums (although far from perfect, Heavy Rain is one of my favorite "interactive movies").
Sam is currently on Kickstarter but there's a free demo available on the Mac and Windows.
The main goal of this project was to create a comic that made sense in a digital environment - an "interactive" comic that emulated aspects of an independent print comic, but utilized the digital format in an unobtrusive way. I plan on releasing the first section of the story in full over the next year (whether fully funded or not). I appreciate any feedback!
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@laurenthrybyk The art is awesome and the story very intriguing! I found the bicycle section to be thematically and mechanically a poor fit for the rest of the game, but enjoyed the other 'game-y' interactive additions -- particularly finding easter eggs that give hints towards the backstory of the characters.
@jeffkinson@laurenthrybyk I actually agree with you about the bicycling scene - in fact it originally wasn't a playable section...just a cinematic shot. Might go back to that in the final version.
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