A Journey Begins
This blog will closely document the design journey of “Flight of the Icarus”, a 3-D puzzle game with a coming-of-age story backdrop. It will be updated weekly with the newest developments in the design.
The game follows young Ike Anderson, who finds him/herself high up in the clouds after waking up from some sort of earthquake the night before. The neighborhood of Waning Heights, Idaho seems to have broken apart and floated into the sky, and it is up to Ike to save those who could not flee before the calamity struck. Armed with his/her kite and a long piece of rope, Ike goes to work hopping from sky-island to sky-island picking up the stranded townsfolk and gently whisking them away ever further toward earth. But what could have caused this unusual catastrophe? The solution inches closer and closer as Ike uncovers the scattered town’s secret.
Flight of the Icarus features gravity-based puzzle mechanics on land and free flying in the sky, which allows players to choose where to go next. Over the course of their journey, they can find intriguing locations such as the town’s police station, city hall, middle school and even prison.
Besides the many townspeople to rescue, the main characters are the Andersons, Ike’s family.
Ike Anderson is a young boy/girl from Waning Heights, Idaho. Being an only child, Ike grows up a loner, since their parents are physicists and often choose their work over spending family time. They try to make up for this lack of parental attention with gifts and toys.
David Anderson is a physicist. He mostly lives in his basement, where him and his wife spend their time inventing gadgets with their knowledge of physics. He feels overworked and wishes to spend more time with his only child, Ike. However, his wife pushes him to work increasingly more toward the invention that will make them rich and allow them to retire. David cannot help but to give in to his zealous wife most of the time and thus tries to appease his feeling of guilt by regularly giving Ike toys and other presents to play with.
Sonia Anderson is also a physicist. She is the main drive for the Anderson family, pushing for hard work on new innovations from the family’s basement lab. She is eager to test out her newest invention, which she thinks will make the family millions if not billions. David on the other hand believes it is not ready yet and argues with her about this. Sonia truly intends to help the family through her actions, but due to her intense work load, she is not fully aware of the hurt she causes both David and Ike.
What has caused the town to suddenly go up into the sky? Will Ike succeed in their mission to rescue the remaining townsfolk? And what will happen to Waning Heights once the sky-islands have been evacuated? If you have caught some curiosity for Ike’s adventures, make sure to check back weekly with this blog and witness the design-process of Flight of the Icarus first hand.
Only the sky is the limit, but one should be careful to not venture out too far as to not be burned.