Game

I think a game is a great way to write a book in our days. For the traditional book with words, I find that many people do not read past a few sentences because they are stuck filtering each sentence that they read with their guards always up. Even though the answer might come a few sentences or paragraphs further, they will stop before reaching that part and judge right away because the attention span nowadays is too short. There’s no flow, so there’s difficulty in guiding someone’s thoughts with a book. People just want immediacy and a sense of decision-making to strengthen their feelings.

So a game is a much more engaging way to touch base with one’s own consciousness. Fortunately, our time allows us to do so. I can’t speak for the future, but in the past centuries, people couldn’t make books as video games. I can’t say if this will radically change things. Let’s see.

Making a game: The wise whispers of the trees

Jane and I, along with Dawn, have decided to create an RPG game in 2D using Godot. F joined the crew in December 2024.

The name of the game is: The wise whispers of the trees - (樹木的智慧低語 in Chinese, and 樹木の知恵の低語 in Japanese).

And we are the - c本y crew - (pronounced K crew).

The word “cây” means “tree” or “木” in Chinese and pronounced like “K” in Vietnamese, while “本” means “root” and looks like “”.

Our - c本y crew - office is set up; it is also our home, with around 100+ plants. Thanks to some friends, all our gears are set up: beefy pcs, drawing tablets, digital piano, etc.

We are building all the plans and stuff with Trello. I have a lot of fun coding with Gdscript, playing with Godot and implementing game design.

F, a friend since childhood, joined the team at the beginning of December 2024. She worked as an architect until now; her latest project was a museum in Da Nang, which is to be opened soon. Now she will be drawing architectural designs, characters, and sceneries for the game.

Dawn is teaching herself Python, GDScript, and Godot with help from a few AIs and me. She’s now building a small puzzle game.

Jane is learning to draw pixel and to create character animations with Krita and Aseprite, and design other assets and architectural elements.

Now, I’m working on the game’s story, which is equivalent to writing a new book.

We are drawing assets and characters for the first chapter of the game.

The game right now has a workable backbone: a turn-based combat system, menu system, bartering system, scene management, items, spells, skills, etc. The plot, mechanics, and characters are somewhat worked out. There will be 30+ chapters, each relating to an aspect of life.

We are enjoying the process, and it’s been a pleasure doing things together. Even the potential financial return doesn’t seem to really matter at this point, though I’m certain it will be a success when the game will be out. Our aim is to make the best RPG game, which is also the best philosophical book, meaning it has to be beautiful, engaging and educational. And this kind of education is not based on discipline, meaning people are not made to conform.

Anyway, we are sharpening every little detail by the day.