How The Fortress came to be. Also, my introduction

Hi there, everyone! My name is André and I'm one of the team members behind "The Fortress".

The ideia for "The Fortress" came about in late 2016, when I was taking my Game Design course in Instituto Superior Técnico. We were asked to come up with ideas for games, with the only restriction being the theme: "42".

At the time I had the idea of 42 being a mysterious character who would be intrinsically linked to the truth behind an amnesiac main character's personal story. Get it? 42. The answer to life and everything? Heh.

In addition to that, I had decided that the game would be mostly based on puzzles and exploration, and that each puzzle would correspond to a floor of an enigmatic Fortress. And that was pretty much it. It was a very rough skeleton of a game, and nothing ever became of it.

Until now, in 2018. For our Game Development Methodology class, I joined Miguel and Luís when the time came to form development teams. We were then asked to come up with ideas for a game to develop this semester. Miguel and Luís had several good ideas, and I had a couple of others as well. I thought it would be interesting to propose the idea of The Fortress once again, see if my colleagues could help turn the skeleton into a game idea that made sense.

We spent a significant amount of hours discussing everyone's ideas, trying to make them as good as possible before deciding on one. There are a couple of suggestions that still today pain me that we ultimately decided we couldn't do them: the first was a first-person game set in a haunted house, where we would be playing as a helpless person exploring the house while avoiding the many dangers it presents. In the end we couldn't be sure if we would be able to nail the atmosphere this kind of game requires.

The second was a first-person game set in an office where you must keep working AT ALL TIMES!, despite being constantly bothered by increasingly ridiculous distractions. Honestly the entire concept was incredibly hilarious, and it was a shame when we decided that the scope of the project would probably be too big to be done in three months.

When it came to discussing "The Fortress", Luís and Miguel added so much of their own to the original idea that each time they spoke, I began getting more and more excited about the project. The skeleton was suddenly becoming a game, something that someone may one day play and enjoy.

The whole dynamic of developing the main character's relationship with the woman named 42 became an actual game mechanic. It was great to see, and I thank them for their invaluable ideas.

The final decision was tough, but we've decided. "The Fortress" is going to be made, and we can't wait for everyone to play it. Please stay tuned!

Until next time,

André