Frisson™
Frisson is an ultra-fast sci-fi infinite-runner survival game. It features awesome music, heavy neon influence, randomly generated hazards, and audio-visualized stages interconnected with an arcade style dark vapor story.
As Frisson is still a work in progress, and gameplay is subject to change. With a pre-alpha demo currently available, I am in planning for a Kick Starter to help kick off it's early access version. Full versions are anticipated for VR, PC, and Mobile, through the META PC-VR, and Meta Quest 2 Marketplaces, and for stand-alone PC and mobile via Steam and associated mobile marketplaces. With all versions self publishing under the label of my game studio Neon Pomegranate.
"Frisson, also known as aesthetic chills or psychogenic shivers is a psychophysiological response to rewarding stimuli (including music, films, stories, and rituals) that often induces a pleasurable or otherwise positively-valenced affective state and transient paresthesia (skin tingling or chills), sometimes along with piloerection (goose bumps) and mydriasis (pupil dilation)."
~Wikipedia
Below are times-lines and college milestone assignments, which outline how I created Project Re-laser, and produced it from a scratch paper concept into a playable vertical slice. Along with details on re-branding the project to "Frisson", as well as download links to it's pre-alpha versions, which I presented live and in-person during it's showcase at PAXWest 2021. For frequent updates and to join the playtest community, become a member of the Consortium Apotheosis on Discord: https://discord.gg/CSrEbNCTUS.
Concept Art
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Fall, 2020
Project Re-Laser
About:
The first questions asked were: What is the game called, what kind of game is it, what is it similar to, what inspired you, what audience is the game for, what art style does it have, what kind of market is that, how much will you charge for it (if any).
The title will have a cyberpunk aesthetic with high contrast color and lots of neon elements. The approach will be low poly. The goal is to beat your record for how long you are able to drive without being destroyed. Elements of the environment will come into play and cause hazards as the stage progresses and the player reaches new distances. The controls will be simple, left and right, with possible power-ups like extra lives or ways to avoid damage.
With the low poly aesthetic, it will be possible to port the game to any device. There is definitely a market for infinite runners/driving games and the cyber/neon/80’s themes are very popular now. I see this game being something that can be picked up and put down. It won’t involve a lot of time investment and will be entertaining. The mechanics of driving and relating well to a cool car/fast environment with randomly generating terrain is admirable. I would price the title for crowd backing, and the content will be for all ages.
Racing inspiration comes from San Francisco Rush, F-Zero, Rad Racer, and Race the Sun. Simple, fast, colorful, and easily adoptable are the gameplay pillars to hit.
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Assignment: B.A.Sc. Senior Project:
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Working alone or with a group, create the vertical slice of an interactive 2D/3D/AR or VR game suitable for presentation at PAX2021. The timeframe for completion spanned the three consecutive quarters of senior year. The submission deadline was set for the final week of class as a completion requirement for Lake Washington Institute of Technology's "Digital Gaming and Interactive Media" B.A.Sc. undergraduate program.
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Solo Development:
Created through solo development, I opted out of team projects in order to create a game with a pacing and aesthetic that I actually wanted to play. This placed me solely responsible to make a playable PAX-ready demo, under the same production schedule and deadline as the groups. Thankfully, the exponential spike in difficulty came with the added benefit of reviewing and refining skills covering the entire process of functional prototype creation. I brought Frisson to live through several rebrands and iterations and presented it publicly for the first time at PAX West 2021.
