Game Dev Log #1: Vampire: the Taskerade Project Launch

Vampire: the Taskerade

Yes, this is the title of my latest project. A video game called Vampire: the Taskerade. The basic premise:

In Vampire the Taskerade, players will play as Vesper Young, a vampire project manager who works for ABO Inc, a health and wellness conglomerate owned by a coterie of powerful vampires. In their day to day life, frenemies surround them and tasks abound. When a new vampire-run company rises abruptly from the shadows, threatening the delicate balance of Vampire Capitalism, Vesper must face their fiercest opponents and their dark history to make it to the weekend.

Vesper will be able to interact with their office environment and will take on three objectives/mechanics: \

• Perform Projects: these will be puzzle games meant to emulate the tasks of a project manager (think Critical Path Method games, agile board management, etc.) that grow their powers as a PM and affect Vesper's relationships with other characters.
• Interact with NPCs to discover the truth: these interactions will be both narrative and combative in nature. What secrets and stories do the other employees hide? What are the three vampire companies? What is lurking in the shadows, threatening  the delicate balance of vampiric capitalism? What is Vesper's story and will it end before Friday?
• Make it to  the weekend. Literally. Survive the entire game. Vampires are MEAN. So is capitalism. There will be THREE posses in Vampire the Taskerade (with a possibility of a 4th because of course, you know how it is): outlive them all and win. There will be different fail and win states, depending who kills who when. The game takes place over the course of a work week, Monday evening to Friday evening.

You get to watch this game get made and see how one person* goes about figuring this all out. I have done some work in video games to date, writing and producing and am also taking PM classes.  Plans right now are for the game to be:

• Scripted on Writesolo (or on similar software...writesolo is a website and free). I've written comic scripts before but I need to up my script writing game. At the end of the day, writing is communication and making sure it's clear means being able to follow certain formats.
• Drafted in Twine. VtT is a branching narrative game, and I'll be drafting this in Twine. The plan right now is to have the in game text above along with the choices, and below that the notes in terms of what would be happening on the back end: other scenarios unlocked or locked, points accrued for certain interactions, etc. 
• Created in RPGMaker MZ: I am not a coder. I am a writer who has made one small game in Ren'py, and I now own RPGMaker MZ. I am learning it. But I learn best when I am trying to do something, not just follow a tutorial. I want to make this game so I'm learning! Is there a chance that the software won't be able to do something I want it to do? I would bet money on it. But I am ready to find out the hard way. :D
• Project Managed. Some of you might read this and go *hiss*. I get it! I've managed a few projects in unofficial contexts and currently do some production in an official status. I am studying to be a certified Project Manager so I can do even more production in video games, although my real passion is in writing and creating weird little peeps like Vesper and the ****ed up worlds they live in. I'm enjoying my PM classes quite a bit and I need to be careful because occasionally the instructor will say something and I'll think "I could use this in my game, if I just..." and if I am not careful I will totally space out while they are talking about EVM. If you're curious about how projects are managed/produced and how shit gets made, follow along. Again, I learn by doing so I am doing the thing. Some of what I do will be tongue-in-cheek. A lot of it might be, actually. But the format will be official! The content will be done with humor. For example, for today's launch/update I have created a Project Charter for Vampire the Taskerade that you can watch as a slideshow here. The actual categories in the charter are good things you should include if you want to make a charter! The info...well, you will have to click and see. You can also download it as a .pdf.

Updates are going to be monthly. They will always be on the last Friday of the month. The subject matter will vary. I think you can imagine what they might include but for those of us who want details they will range between

• Status reports (like, official ones, there’s a format and everything)
• Character profiles: Vampires! Humans! Devils! Cats?
• Game builds that you can play
• Art (this is where the * comes on, because there’s no way I am doing the art for this game. I will not be able to make this game alone. I’ve already gotten emotional support and enthusiasm from some buddies so already this is a multiple person endeavor). The art is not going to be this realistic shit I've been using in the promo images. I am just very decent with Creative Commons Image Database and Canva so this is what happens. 
• Screenshots of pertinent docs, boards, etc.
• Changes to things. Things will change. Hopefully I won't have to change the name, which is clearly meant to be a parody.
• Something else I am not thinking of right now.

So yeah. I am unleashing this news upon the world. I am working on this game. It will have cursing in it and puns, the two best ways to communicate with others. It will have vampires and brutal defeats. If you have been a PM in any capacity you will probably have feelings while you play this game. If you are a vampire, I don't know, man. Please don't k word me. But yes. VAMPIRE: THE TASKERADE. IT'S COMING.

Something wicked this way scrums...*bursts into flames*