Log 0 - Announcing Ellie Needs to Pee!

Hi! I'm here to announce my first itch.io project, Ellie Needs to Pee, a pachinko-based RPG that tells a story about a trans girl in a very stressful situation.  I wanted to log my experience while creating the game and learning a bit more about game development. This is a rather simple and short 2D game, but I think it'll be fun nonetheless. 

First, I just want to talk about the idea behind the game. In my next log, I'll talk a bit about the first prototype build I put together.

I got the idea for Ellie Needs to Pee a few months ago, when I found myself in a very similar situation. I'm a trans woman, and at the time in my state there was a lot of debate over trans bathroom bills. I was in a Safeway to pick up a few groceries after work, and I really needed to pee. Like, I really needed to fuckin pee. But I was still mortified of the idea of using a public restroom at this point. The idea of going over into the women's bathroom when I didn't feel like I passed very well gave me too much anxiety, and the idea of going into the men's bathroom sounded more disgusting. This Safeway didn't have a family or gender-neutral bathroom, so instead I chose to suffer until I got home. 

Even though my fear was serious, I still found the situation kind of silly. I mean, there was a bathroom right there, but there may as well not have been a bathroom for miles. And I know that this situation is common among other trans folks as well, so the idea of a game about this experience popped into my head. 

The original idea was something of an RPG-maker-style game where you just had to walk around the store picking up groceries while a timer slowly ticked away, the game getting faster as you go on. If you don't finish shopping in time, you lose. 

Over time, this idea evolved a bit. I loved I SPY books as a kid, so I thought of the idea that, for each shelf you interact with, it would start an I SPY-style minigame where you need to find the correct item you need from that aisle. However, after making a basic test of that, it wasn't very fun. So instead, I thought of a different minigame where you drop each of the items you need into your basket, with various obstacles in the way themed after the aisle you're in. This section would function much like Peggle or Sushi Cat, and this is the idea I'm currently going with. I think this will add a bit more fun to the game and make it so you can't either breeze right through the game or get stuck and lose too easily. The randomness of the gameplay also adds a bit of stress and adrenaline as the clock keeps ticking.

As time goes on and after certain objectives, Ellie will have dialogue. The dialogue will trigger and move automatically so the player keeps playing as they read and the timer never stops going down. I think this is a fun way to add personality and story without taking away from the rushed feeling of the game. 

So yeah, that's the basic idea. Next, I'll "show off" a very basic prototype build, basically just testing some systems out. See ya there!