I already had an idea of what Session 5 is going to be like so this week I focused on planning Session 5, deciding the overall artistic style, and deciding main interactive objects and how they should work on the map.
(But I was very busy this week trying to finish my midterm Project for another class so I don't think I did THAT much)
I spent a long time trying to decide what Session 5 will actually look like, and my final decision is actually very different from my early imaginations. I only knew in the beginning that it will be a HUGE pink pixel world. I then looked online for inspirations. I really like the theme of night time cityscapes - skyscrapers, lights, clouds, purple-pink cyberpunk stuff, so I wanted to make Session 5 filled with many buildings, hallways, offices, all interconnected and crossed with each other and kind of like a big maze. I then thought about the possibility of making it work in Gamemaker and realized it's almost impossible. (it's possible if i have about 3 - 6 months, considering how big the map is). At that moment I was kind of crushed. I really wanted my initial idea to work but I could not think of a quick solution. I asked what Adrian thought. He really liked my first idea but after hearing the problems, he just said:" you don't have to throw away the elements you like, but think about another way that makes it easier to code and also combines some of the parts you mentioned. I know it's hard for you to let go of these things -- because they are great! But I believe that's not the ONLY possibility. You can make a session in the future when you have more time - or make a mini game embedded in Session 5?"
After talking with Adrian, I had spend about 2 days to rethink. I drew some brainstorm pictures and slowly, my ideas came into place.
Session 5 will be a large "plaza" with all kinds of interactive objects placed in designated spots and the user will walk through the map, with an ultimate goal of finding an exit. There will be 3 exits on the map, and each map leads to an ending with different theme: nonstop work, superstition, and death. These elements have all been foreshadowed in the previous session, (computer -> work, peach wood sword(for taoist exorcism)-> superstition, TOASTER(who self-destructed in S2 -> death)
The two main structures on the map will be the huge woman statue and floating islands. Other objects are either placed around, on, or beside these two objects. There will also be hidden objects that lead to different spaces. The user will be able to move in 4 directions.
(the current screen, the white square suggest the viewport that the user will be seeing) the clouds will be moving
the sprite that the user will be used to navigate session 5. will have a floating up & down animation.