For the Mon River Games pitch session in late October, Mon River Games members as well as community members presented and pitched various different types of games all falling under the theme of "death is useful". All the pitches were then voted on by members of the studio and those who attended the pitch session. The winning pitch that was decided on was "One Man's Trash", pitched by studio member Emma Chase.
One Man's Trash is a 2D platformer game where the player plays as an unnamed apocalypse survivor, who is visited by their late grandfather named Tom Runn. Due to the survivor's ability to communicate with ghosts, Tom sends his grandchild on a mission to resolve all of Tom's past friendships and relationships, engaging in dialogue with people from Tom's past in order to better help him peacefully pass on to the afterlife. To learn more about each person's individual backstories, the player is also tasked with finding each of their specific collectibles.
Although work on the game has only started very recently, many features have already been or are currently being added, both in terms of assets and game mechanics.
Some mechanics that have already been implemented include:
- Basic 2D movement and platforming
- Basic inventory/backpack system
- Collectible pickup system
- Save/Load system for the inventory
The script and backstories for the ghost interactions are also being worked on by Caleb Miller and Emma Chase, with many different variations and interesting types of ghosts and survivors that the player can encounter. A Dialogue system is working on being implemented by Tessla Muir
- A backpack inventory, collectibles, and 2D platforming mechanics have been added to One Man's Trash so far.
Firstly, the basic 2D movement of the character includes left-to-right movement, as well as jumping onto platforms. The player is able to pick up various collectibles using a backpack inventory system which can hold up to 8 items at a time.
The player's inventory is then able to be saved with a key press, as well as when the game is exited and is able to be loaded back in with another key press.
Many assets have also been created for the game by various MonRiverGames members, including a mockup of the UI, a book, a compass, and a fisherman ghost.
- Concept art for the game UI design created by Jackson Sigler
- A 2D Sprite for a book created by Malachi Ruffin
- A compass 2D asset by Malachi Ruffin
- Art for fisherman ghost, Jack Hawkinberry, for the game created by Madison Roy.
- Library level art created by Emma Chase
In closing, It looks like One's Man Trash is really shaping up to be a really awesome take on a 2D platformer, particularly with the dialogue options for the various ghosts and survivors that Tom's grandchild will encounter, and the ability to learn more about each ghost while also searching for their collectibles in a post-apocalyptic world.