A game design blog based on the theme “Apart and Together”.
Summary
Children of New Eaden is a two-player adventure game set in a dystopian cyberpunk world that tells a heartwarming story about two separated siblings trying to find a way back to each other while escaping the clutches of merciless corporations and their immoral ways of life. The gameplay consists of looking for clues in numerous…
Gameplay: Part Two
One of the most important design concepts in Children of New Eaden is the player’s ability to tailor the nonlinear story by their choices. This concept, seen in games such as Telltale Games’ The Wolf Among Us (2013), and Supermassive Games’ The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes (2021), is an inevitable part of delivering…
Gameplay: Part One
The gameplay in Children of New Eaden mostly consists of exploring the gameplay areas, making meaningful choices, searching for clues that reveal more information, and interacting with NPCs. The two players control their playable characters (they choose between Caidan and Rheyn at the start of the game) through 3rd person camera view in two separate…
Antagonists
There are many corporations that rose to success in this dystopian world ruled by raw brutality and materialistic riches. As previously mentioned, anarchic cities are officially governed by majors, but behind the scenes, an endless power struggle between various corporations and their shady associates is always present. The only reason one corporation could not completely…
Protagonists
The game focuses on a character-driven story about two protagonists (i.e. playable characters) and their relationship. Just like most destinies in their world, Caidan’s and Rheyn’s story is a tragic one. Their parents came from different societies which is considered rarety because in their time people tend to mix within their own communities. They were…
World-Building Elements
Game Setting The game is set in a dark and grim cyberpunk environment. The main location is the city of New Eaden, the capital of the entire planet. In this world, urbanization has reached the extreme and cities are now as big as some countries (for example, New Eaden is bigger than Portugal). Globalization has…
Game Ideation
Since 2021’s theme for the Game Design module’s coursework at Kingston University was Apart and Together, I generated an idea that followed the set brief. Inspirations and Influences My ideation process started with the game genre; it was inspired by The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes (Supermassive Games, 2021) which enhanced the story-driven single-player…
NINA ALVIR 