Link to download - https://omoriarty.itch.io/storybook-library-giants-causeway
We created this prototype around the idea of "Time Travel." We were allowed to use time travel in whatever way we saw fit- as a theme, as a mechanic, anything so long as it involved time travel. My group decided to go the route of traveling back through time, both literally and metaphorically. We eventually settled on the idea of being transported back in time to some historical/mythical event, and allowing the player to play through that moment in time. I ended up suggesting we use a lesser known story, and offered up the story of Giant's Causeway - a natural basalt rock formation in Northern Ireland.
In the interest of not spoiling the game, I will keep the details to a minimum, but it goes as follows. One of Irelands most well known heroes, Finn MacCool, hears of a giant across the way in Scotland. He gets it in his head to go and fight this giant to prove his worth (and just because he wants to). He goes out and finds these massive rocks to throw into the North Channel to create a bridge to where the giant lives. Once he arrives he realizes he is horribly outclasses and runs away, only to be followed by the giant.
I won't spoil what happens next, but as the giant leaves at the very end of the tale he destroys the bridge, leaving behind the Giant's Causeway we know today.
I worked primarily on the bridge(s) appearing and disappearing as well as the giant being able to follow the player through the scene once they reach the final island. The bridges had to be reworked a few times, but in the end they're game objects to a gate collider that if the player has enough rocks collected, and is pressing the 'p' key, they'll be set to active and the player can walk across them to the next gate. If the player doesn't have enough, they're prompted to collect more rocks, and cannot activate the bridges.
The giant waits until the player is on the island with them before chasing after them, and the player has 30 seconds to try to get back across the bridges and around obstacles to their home where their wife awaits them. If the player is caught by the giant, they are transported back into the first scene, and if they get all the way to the end, they get to see the ending of the story play out.
I would add an image of my code here, but all the code is mixed up, and it would be unfair to (even accidentally) showcase someone else's code as my own. So instead, here's the test scene I worked in when creating the Giant and Timer scripts, with the house being at the far left end and the giant being at the far right end. Once the player gets close enough to the Giant, the Timer appears on screen and the player has to rush back to the other side and get to the house without getting caught by the giant. If the player gets caught it's game over, and they get sent back to the library scene at the very beginning of the game with a brief blurb on screen about how "that's not how the story goes!"
I didn't work on the library scene, but the goal of it is to (if we were to expand the idea) hold multiple books that would transport the player into different games that would tell some sort of one-off story/folktale. It is currently only equipped with the book for Giant's Causeway, but could easily be expanded.
I enjoyed this prototype, and I think it could easily be built upon in the future if I/this group wished to continue with it. For now, I'm content that I brought some modicum joy to my classmates through the dialogue and helped to tell them a story I've found fun and interesting since I first heard it. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did!
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