Many years ago, I picked up Mass Effect 1 when it was on sale for about ten bucks. I played through the game and thought yeah, it was okay, then a week later, I found myself on a second playthrough. During this new run, I fell in love with the franchise, and it took me a while to figure out why.
It is that damn codex. There are so many entries to read, and honestly, I am not even smart enough to know if the lore is any good, or whether the science is accurate. All I know is, when I have so much data to soak in, eventually, I start to believe that world is real. Once you begin to think fiction is reality, the love will naturally follow.
Unhack 2 took around three years to complete, and right until the final five to six months, the script was an absolute disaster. With Unhack 1, I got away with my lack of AI research. In Unhack 2, now that the story is our focus, I am forced to confront my fatal flaw. Once there is an element of realism involved, I start to fall apart.
Before I can even rewrite the script, I must first set up the Unhack universe properly. After spending several months with AI related books, documentaries and movies, I locked myself in a library and pumped out 10,000 words of lore in a day. Unhack 2 unfortunately still sold below expectations due to my poor marketing skills, but thanks to that research, I truly believe that is my best project yet.
The thing is, that lore is for my eyes only, so those articles will never see the light of day. With The Last Birdling, I did not want to repeat that mistake. I love reading lore even though they are info dumps by traditional standards, and I wish to offer players that same experience. This is why I have added a glossary feature into The Last Birdling.
Sure, The Last Birdling is mostly fantasy. That said, I learned something from Unhack 2. When you obsess over every detail, the world feels more and more alive. Writers know about the over-research syndrome, but I have the opposite issue. In this case, I had been blinded by my knowledge of these common pitfalls. Now that I have learned my lesson, I will carry it with me into my grave.
In The Last Birdling, there will be 20 lore entries for players to enjoy. Throughout the story, you will see these glossary buttons appear from time to time. Hit that switch and you will be taken to a relevant article that sheds more light on the topic in question.
Though this is my attempt to promote The Last Birdling, I admit this is only the start. From next year onward, I am going to become even more obsessed with my projects. I must thirst for more details. In Doom 4, I obsessed over every word in those codex entries. I will die a nerd, and I want to share that love with all of you.
As usual, I hope you may consider wishlisting and/or joining our Steam community:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/629430/The_Last_Birdling/
Thank you!