After 6 years I think I finally figured it out.
I have this entire universe in my mind and up until now I wanted to make it fit into a single Unreal Engine Session. But I recently started to realize, that the limitations that come with this, keep me from making any significant progress. I am too slow. I am a single person working on this insane thing, that I really want others to see. But I can't because I get held up by idiotic issues in relation to my game design. I cannot build this entire thing in a single swoop. No one can. But up until today I really thought I could.
So I'll change the rules and adjust it. I'll make it fit, so that I can actually do it.
I will not make a single large game. Instead I will split it up into many small ones. Like chapters in a book ... like books on a shelf .... each segment is highlighting a different aspect of the forest. A different environment, a different story ... but they are all part of the Bardo Thodol.
Each segment has the same UI, Controls and overall framework. All I need is a basic template and I can create one. The Dharmapalas will still rule this world. But a player will not be able to summon them all in a single chapter, and their stories and backgrounds are told throughout multiple segments.
I won't force myself into a single storyline either. Jonah could be one among hundreds of beings trapped in these woods, experiencing their own unique Bardo Thodol. Each segment could depict unresolved issues by a different person.
"What Remains Of Edith Finch" did an amazing job of story telling and text animation. I will try to study and analyze how they worked with fonts and text in the game and do my best to integrate it into the template. I have no idea how to do it, but by removing certain gameplay features while adding others, and opening up the game world fully to a single storyline I will have time to do it.
I won't need to integrate massive blueprints, I will only need specific features in each segment. And I will limit myself to those. This way I will have results much faster and I can actually complete playable content, that can be tested. This will give me feedback on my own process.
There will be a single brand of game, with many installments each ranging between 1-2 hours of playtime. But they will be constructed in a way so that players can experience them as a form of relaxation. The forest is peaceful unless you travel towards those unresolved issues, that we all carry around with us until we die. And then, once Lakini's fire is burning, the shadows appear and show us all the things we don't want to see. Elemental imbalances in our bodies take form in this world and dreams become reality.
The dharmapalas guard the laws of nature in this place. And the shadows will do everything in their power to prevent unification with the primordial light.
I can use 90% of my previous process and I have learned countless lessons along my way. I can do this.
This is the way to go.
