Star Sailors Backstory
in Hydejack
To turn Star Sailors, and Manacaster, into a series that is created, played, and expanded upon by people all over the world, we need to write some lore, or a backstory. To increase the likelihood and quality of sequels, we need to identify and nail down what the universe of Star Sailors is about. 1
Lore for Star Sailors
When I started out writing Star Sailors, I knew that I wanted it to be an expansive and open-world universe, with the possibility - indeed, the neccessity - for expansion upon what I originally build. While I had no idea that I would later be creating a video game based on the novel, my ideas regarding the open-worldness have helpfully been very useful when designing the game as well.
Backstory - not just for the characters, but even for inanimate objects sometimes - is one of the most important things that we can do for the development of the story.
The lore of a game is its backstory, all the elements that complement the principal narrative. These details add depth and richness to the universe of a video game, expanding its history outside the main plot. It is an aspect that is sometimes overlooked by developers, which is a mistake. Good lore writing is essential to engage players, and a good way to offer them more than the base title.
- GameSkinny.com
I’ve spent a lot of money and time reading through books about writing stories and world building, and after also devouring online material about this subject, it’s evident to me that writing lore is a great way to engage the player/reader in the content, and thanks to the internet, we’re all able to contribute to the lore of a game or a story, which will be a great thing for our future.
What’s included in the lore?
Literally anything & everything to do with Star Sailors & Manacaster, including:
- Alien species - a history of the species that make up Midgard’s University
- Characters - a biography of some of the main characters in Star Sailors, and later on, Manacaster. Over time, with a growth in our community, we hope to have biographies for every character
- Players - code may make the game go round, but the players make it worthwhile! The adventures & journeys of our players can be created, logged and maintained on the Manacaster App, as well as on this website
- Vehicles
- Devices
- Weapons
- Buildings
- Technology
- many more….
What’s going on now?
Right now, the development team are working on the pixel art and the script for the game. We’re also actively working on the lore for Star Sailors, which definitely inspires the design choices we make regarding the pixel art. We’ve also noticed that when we’re creating the pixel art, we come up with new ideas that then make their way into the official lore.
The development, including the Inscope.me tutorials, are being done at a rate of twice a fortnight by myself, however anyone else at AC0/RD, or in the community, is welcome to start coding. The files are available in the Resources section, or you can easily create your own little mini-scenes and add them via a PR to our Repo.
Resources
Credits
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