Thinking of some ideas for the hiking game. I want the game to draw on my experience making no signal, have simpler controls that are easier to port, contain no narrative, and have a smaller scope. This way, I can leverage my strengths more effectively.

I originally wanted to make the hiking game into one of my dream game projects, which is about the logistics of travelling and overcoming adversarial odds. However, the decision space I want to create to make that happen would likely require many mechanics to be implemented. I think it will be better if I limit the scope even further and try to leverage what I’ve learned from making no signal. In any case, I think this game (and other games) could still have the potential of becoming that kind of game.

For the hiking game, I’m thinking that it could be a relaxing game about connecting with nature and being present in the moment (taking advantage of my strength in audio design). Part of the desire to make a game like that is that it would have been nice to do something like that when I struggle with mental health. You would move a character along a hiking path and take photos of plants. The game could start you with a guide that describes where to find certain plants but is missing the pictures as a tutorial and a way to orient the player towards a goal at the beginning, but the rest of the game would be about exploring and discovering new plants to photograph (without specifically quantifying how many plants there are). It would be nice if the game had multiplayer co-op support, but it would need to be accessible in a browser so that anyone could play it with their friends without having to convince others to buy it. I could still monetize the game somehow by either locking areas off or by offering a full version of the game on digital stores like Steam.