LEGS
Report
LEGS was an important project for me as it was my first time I had the chance to show off my skills of storytelling in the games I work on. Playing it safe, I decided to write in the style I’m most comfortable with, being over the top comedy.
The concept first came to me while I was out walking by a river, where I thought to myself “what if there was a staircase in that river?” Followed by the thought “like not even an important one, it wouldn’t lead anywhere or anything, just exist… in the center of the river.”
And then I decided to write out a story about a world filled with stairs.
The narrator and main personality of the game was made to be an over the top, all powerful, and completely informal God. This allowed me to create any hot mess of a set piece and still have it fit the theme of the game (such as a field of tables or an underwater graveyard of dead bottles). Meanwhile the player character, Not God, exists as a blank slate for God to bounce conversations off of. They are merely defined as an eyeball with legs, with the main purpose being to look at and utilize stairs, God’s greatest invention.
Mechanics wise, the game is almost purely narrative focused (with minor 3d platforming), where the player can only walk, jump, swim, and examine props. These were all chosen as they allow the player to freely move around the world and appreciate the story behind it.
The overarching plot follows the player character trying to find meaning in life, all the while God gives essentially “developer commentary” about the world you move through. Said commentary mostly relies on being absurdly over the top to remain entertaining (such as describing stairs as a tool that bestows the power of vertical displacement), as well as occasional puns (tables have legs too, so you’ve both the same rights to operate stairs).
Ultimately the project wound up exactly as I had hoped it would, cementing my confidence in my skills as both a designer and comedic author.
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