Sentiente
Sentiente is a Cave Story-inspired story/platformer game concept I started somewhere in 2014. I had many plans for this, but for reasons that I cannot remember, it faded out from memory.
I started putting together a browser version of the game, though I didn't get very far.
Play early test (If you immediately fall into the pit, refresh the page. It happens because the physics activate before the map loads, I didn't notice that problem when I made this because loading the map from my hard drive was instant, but it's slower when it loads from the internet.)
Story and people
The story is about a boy called Ten who recently moved into a village of Hairheads and is trying to find his place there. He has no memory of who or what he is, and the game is about chasing clues to find answers. He has strange memories that don't seem to align with anything he remembers. Each time he reaches his objective, he obtains more clues and memories that can be used to chase new objectives.
There's nothing very special about Ten, he's no chosen one or particularly remarkable in any way, the story is just his personal story. The story was supposed to have very dramatic turns of events that can be avoided by reaching a more difficult true ending.
It's not exactly a surprise that he's a robot of some kind, but robots aren't sentient, even in the game's world.
Hairheads are the primary people that the player interacts with. They are people who come in various colors, their hair is a big part of their identity and source of pride. The hair isn't exactly relevant to the story, that's just who they are.
Ten lives with a certain hairhead family, the parents aren't sure how to treat Ten, their son is arrogant and prideful and has made Ten into a rival (and would become a boss battle every now and then), and their daughter is the only one who's friendly and helps Ten out.
Hairheads are very important to the story and Ten's past.
Keys are a strange species living in the forest that have a key on their head. The keys on their heads are related to their "destiny", and the impressiveness of the key is related to how important that destiny is. Using their key is something akin to the goal of their lives; fulfilling their destiny.
A certain key that Ten meets in the forest was born with a broken key on their head, so it is seen as if he was born without purpose. The reason the key is broken is related to Ten's past.
Hell are demonic-looking people that are much more powerful and intelligent and societally developed than other species. They are not "evil", but aren't usually very friendly towards other species. 2 Hell called Zombo and Blitz immediately recognize what Ten is and end up helping him out, though it starts off as a misunderstanding.
Hell mostly play a minor role in the game, but one in particular is a major character.
Current status
Sentiente is mostly ideas and art at this point.
I have no plans to continue the browser version at all, but there's almost nothing there anyway so that's not a big deal. The idea of the game has also developed more since I made the browser version, so the browser demo should not be taken as an indication of anything at all. Only the characters and sprites are likely to remain.
I am quite fond of the story and characters, but this project is very low on my list or priorities so I don't expect to finish it for a very long time, if ever.