Thursday, February 23, 2017

Hobo - Bindle - Lesson Notes

Johnny Appleseed
-          The best Hobo
-          Help out your fellow hobos, you may need your help someday

 Mechanic (on the train, gears and steampunk)
-          Dowsing rod/compass (guidance)
-          Don’t cause trouble in the train yard?
-          Make your own work?
-          Female?
  
Junkyard Hobo (Gollum of trash)
-          Ekeltric bindle (power garbage based machines, stun foes for a short time)
-          Respect nature, don’t leave garbage (good version?)
-          Tries to clean up garbage, but just leaves different garbage?
  
Gypsy Sisters
-          Pie tin (vibration/sound)
-          Don’t take advantage of people who are vulnerable, locals, or other hobos (but the selfish version, take from these people)
  
Ratston
-          Plague bindle (rots things)
-          Go home kid, you don’t belong here
  
Dog Chariot
-          Shoe Bindle (speed abilities)
-          Be a gentleman, respect the law when in town
-          Female?
-          Teaching the stereotypical version of chivalry

 Beach comber (hermit crab guy)
-          Brick bindle (hammer)
-          When no work, use the talents that you have and make your own work but the lazy version of it, finds stuff instead of making it?

 Trash Portal Hobo
-          Portal bindle
-          Respect handouts, don’t use them up – other hobos might need help
-          Used to be a hobo but got lazy and uses his accumulated power to not work

 Bee Beard
-          Sticky bindle (climbing, picking stuff up)
-          Recurring character, not a boss?
-          Pigeon Hobo’s lover

 Pigeon Hobo (female)
-          Bird bindle
-          Recurring character, not a boss
-          Bee Beard’s lover

 Magic Beard Hobo
-          Rope Bindle (swinging, grappling)
-          Decide your own life (good version)

 Green finger
-          Respect nature (negative version, leaves weeds everywhere)
-          Female?

 Coal Dust hobo
-          Fire bindle (light, warmth, short-range projectiles)
-          Decide your own life?
-          Don’t cause trouble in the trainyard?

 Cook Hobo
-          Cheese bindle
-          Stay clean, boil up when possible (wash your hands!)

 Spider lady
-          Bad version of make your own work

 King of the Underworld
-          Decide your own life (evil version)


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gBItjaVix4hQoXKxjN4fZm8j15fLZXX5Dn-HfcqsDmI/edit?usp=sharing

eskimobo


Magic Warping effect






Pigeon Peter


Bindle Concepts


Fortune Teller Gypsy


Monday, February 20, 2017

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Older notes on magic I forgot to post

-world has to be about one thing to make the IP be viable.  Has to be about Hobo Magic.
Focus the character's journey to be finding that sibling.  Focus being going into the crazy hobo land.  It's about making it more normalized.  Don't worry about antagonist as much yet.
Hobo underworld doesn't have to be death.  There's just something wrong in this paradise.
Hobo IP is a negative, what makes this thing special?  Zombie hobos? Don't know!!


EXECUTIVE DECISION!!
Journey is about character who accidentally catches the train westbound.

What is the relationship between the magic and the hobo underworld?
What kind of opportunities does the hobo magic represent?
Is the hobo underworld just a place where there's a pocket of magic for hobos?  Or is it a place of death?
-it's like they died but really they're just stuck there, like a limbo world?
-can be a compelling place but also a scary place?
-underworld can be a level in the hobo world? One section that's scary death?
-"Catching the westbound" is the world of the hobos.  Only one place is death.

What is hobo magic?
-Runes? Talismans inscribed with runes? Each have sacks of runes.  (Throws it to the feet of the other wizard and a hole appears.  Or forms a staircase.  Touch on to stuff and creates things)
-how you can manipulate the world around you but you must know the language? Draw symbols on something.  Manipulate matter.  Cartoon, funniest thing?
-music?  Instruments?  Spoons?  Mouth harp?  Pulling magic out of everyday objects.  Coaxing energy and redirect it.  Spirits

-What are the limitations?  What keeps them from taking over the world?
-Don't have a lot of control.  Unpredictability.
-Each character's magic was different.  An expression of self.  Quirky, bees, fleas, sticky to each character.
-powers have to stay in the hobo realm.

-What is the source of the magic?
-Always existed but it's running out and they're the keepers of the ancient secrets.
-connection between hobos and ancient magic/religion.
-The lifestyle allows the magic.  What makes that tie?
-nature magic.  Becoming one with the universe/nature.  Giving up one's possessions and becoming a nomad.
-objects?
-riding the rails is what gives them energy/magic.
-Rails is what gives magic and contains it to hobos and this time period.  Too contained?
-personality transforms into fantastical.  Achieving nirvana in your own personal power.

Is this a power that seeps into people...little things that float in and out of reality...???
-hobo hell--they got exactly what they wanted- personality to an extreme.  Become what they are to an extreme.
Balance with freedom.  Check yo self before yo wreck yo self.
"Ultimate freedom also imprisons"

There is power in the concept of the frontier.
What is the frontier? Convergence of exploration and safety/retreat.
-middle between freedom and imprisonment
-big rock candy mountain:fantastical and unknown.
Giving up the power makes you receive power.

CONSENSUS!!

Magic with something that is a power of the universe.  Becoming one with the universe, exploration of self.  Extreme end creates its own prison.  Our character will see all of that and come to the conclusion in the end that safety and freedom have to go together.  Responsibility trade-off.
Brother is a person to save.  Save them from their fate type of boss battle.

How do we manifest this hobo magic and spectrum of freedom and responsibility?

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Kaili, Sarah, Charles' Pitch

Older sister Maeve and younger brother Darby live in a strict, cramped orphanage and everything sucks.  They hear that out west in California, it's a land of freedom and opportunity, so they run away from the orphanage to a train station to catch a train like the hobos do.  They get separated and Darby ends up in a creepy part of the station.  He sees a train marked 'Westbound' and thinks his sister might be on it, but the train starts moving and he's stuck.  Maeve finds him and sees him on the train, but can't catch up.  She can't follow the tracks either because they disappear.

(In losing Darby, Maeve is now completely free to do whatever she wants without the hindrance of taking care of him, but she wants her little brother back.)

A nearby hobo sees Maeve chase after the train and tells her that once you're on the Westbound, you're a goner.  He just started the hobo life, so he can't tell her too much about it, but if she can find the Legendary Hobos, they'd definitely be able to help her.

Maeve finds one of the Legendary Hobos and learns that the Westbound takes you to the Hobo Underworld.  Anyone can ride it, but to come back you need enough enchanted Hobo Nickels (maybe to buy a resurrection ticket or something).  A Nickel will have the face of the Legendary Hobo it came from on one side and a hobo symbol indicating some kind of powe/abilityr on the other side.  So, Maeve travels around to challenge the Legendary Hobos and earn enough Hobo Nickels for herself and Darby to get back.  (Easy to die, harder to come back)

There's an opportunity for mini-games in the towns in the areas the Legendary Hobos are.

The final legendary hobo tells Maeve where the Westbound will probably stop next.  She finds it, hops on, and goes down to the underworld.  She finds Darby, but loses a Nickel or has to spend one in order to actually get her brother back.  Maeve and Darby have to work together to earn the final coin, maybe they have to battle hobo Satan.

The siblings win and use their coins to leave the underworld on a train (Westbound? Eastbound?), which drops them off in California.

*Maeve: Hobo Slang for a young hobo, usually a girl. Also Irish for 'she who intoxicates' in reference to a queen in Irish mythology
*Darby: Irish for 'free from envy'


environment paintings

Kinda got off track painting these so I will be going back to design now!








Bindle as character?

Joe’s Pitch:
-          Main Character with amnesia. Wants to find her way home. Aquires bindle through different interactions at beginning of game. Then she gets an enchanted pigeon feather from the pigeon man. Told to find someplace that “jogs her memory.” Comes back to the railroad and finds it in disarray. Goes on a quest to find parts to fix the rail. She has to help each of the different factions of hobodom. Antagonist also has amnesia, obsessed with finding somebody. As you help different people, they give you different abilities. Then you meet the queen of the gypsies, who turns out to be your mama. Antagonist turns out to be the chief of police and your bro. Pigeon man is your dad (of course).

Erik’s Pitch:
-          Johnny BeGood is a poor kid with a sick mom. Tells Johnny to find is bro. Sucked into hobotopia. Bro trapped in underworld. Has to face legendary hoboes in hobo-off. Unlocks secrets to hobo magic. You can use it, but if you use it too much it will slowly corrupt you.
-          Bindle is the totem. Imbued with our own magic. Like a wizard’s staff. Everybody has their own totem.
-          To get through the underworld, we have to use magic, but not too much so that you get trapped like them in hell. Balancing act.
-          Find bro, beat the stupid out of him, and escape the underworld- fighting through all the hellbos with your combined power. Final boss is the evil king of hobos (satan on fiddle throne). Get home to mama and heal her witcho powaz.

Kaili’s Pitch:

-          You are in a cramped orphanage with your brother. Hear there’s space and freedom out west. Embark on hobo journey, but you get separated at the station. Meet a hobo who refers you to some more knowledgeable hobos who tell you you can take the westbound train to find your bro, but you need hobomomo to come back. You fight your way all the way through until you eventually get to the underworld, where you fight a final hoboss and rescue your brobo and come back homebo. This one’s for you Joebo.

Environments and Mech


MORE BEES


Some more explorations


Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Explore hobod

environment


CRUSTY KARL

Greenthumb


Story Beats

Joe's Idea

  • Character wakes up in a train car, with a hobo hovering nearby.
  • Hobo asks who they are, but the character has no memory of who they are or how they got there
  • Hobo tells the kid to go home, and that life on the rails is no place for a child
  • MP come to kick the hobos out of the train, MC and hobo get separated
  • MC gets taken in by a group of gypsy sisters who tell her to stay and travel with them
  • MC decides they need to go back home and is told to see the Pigeon man
  • Pigeon man tells MC that all pigeons know the way home and that the MC needs to find something that will jog their memory.  He suggests going back to the track they came from for clues.
  • The police have shut down and even destroyed some of the rails.  It’s revealed they shut down the rail until they find someone that was on the last train.
  • MC finds an engineer who’s willing to fix the rails if they’re given the proper parts.
  • Parts are found scattered throughout Hobo World
  • Chief of police, young man, also stricken with amnesia says he needs to find someone important, but he can’t remember who or why, but that he feels it’s the MC
  • Hobo world is being overrun by MP who are placing embargos and travel restrictions.  Sealing camps, aggressively attacking hobos, closing railways, and overall being a pain in the butt
  • 4 major sects being affected: Hobos, Gypsies, Tramps, Bums.  Each have their own champions (legends) that are fighting for each rights, resisting the MPs and trying to help their people.
  • MC goes and works with these legends to clear out the MP influence in various areas, creating more freedom as well as obtaining the parts for the main rail.
  • Chief of police is encountered multiple times throughout the game.  But each time he looks more obsessed, chained, and spectre like as he loses himself to his obsession
  • MC enters the main gypsy camp and finds the gypsy sisters who take them to their Queen.  The queen immediately recognizes the MC as their child and informs them that the Hobo world is really the afterlife and the reason they lost their memory is because mortals can’t retain their memories in the Hoboworld while they’re still alive.
  • MC remembers that they hopped on the Westbound because they were looking for someone.
  • Queen demands that MC return home, as it isn’t their time yet.
  • MC finishes gathering the materials to finish the main rail.
  • Before MC can get on the train home the MP (all buffed with dark hobo magic) lay a tremendous siege on all the Hobo settlements and the MC has to go help.
  • MC rushes through all the settlements they helped throughout the game, once again teaming up with the Legends to work their way to where the center of the dark hobo magic is.
  • When the MC reaches the source it is revealed to be the Chief, who is now so corrupted by his obsession that he’s almost unrecognizable.  They battle and critically injure each other.  On death’s door they both regain their memories.
    • The MC boarded the Westbound after their father passed away, hoping to see him again.
    • The Chief is actually the MC’s brother who promised their father and mother to keep the MC safe at all cost and bring them home if they ever got lost.
- The pigeon man appears during the chaos and is revealed to be their father.  He tells them it’s time to go home.  With the help of the Gypsy queen and the Legends they are able to save the MC and Chief and get them on train home.




Thursday, February 9, 2017


Hobo Code

An ethical code was created by Tourist Union #63 during its 1889 National Hobo Convention in St. Louis Missouri. This code was voted upon as a concrete set of laws to govern the Nation-wide Hobo Body; it reads this way:


  1. Decide your own life, don't let another person run or rule you.
  2. When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
  3. Don't take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.
  4. Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.
  5. When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.
  6. Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals' treatment of other hobos.
  7. When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as bad, if not worse than you.
  8. Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.
  9. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
  10. Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.
  11. When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
  12. Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
  13. Do not allow other hobos to molest children, expose all molesters to authorities, they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
  14. Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.
  15. Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.
  16. If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it. Whether for or against the accused, your voice counts!

Hoboboses

hobos


Greenthumb and his cockroach


Hobo Hermit Crab


The Beekeeper



Beekeeper.  Has a hive on his back.  Wanders from place to place to find flowers and orchards.  Peddles honey for a living.  Shirt, beard and hair are composed of bees.  Super jacked, even without the bees he can kick the protagonist's butt.  Use smoke to make the bees docile.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Notes from class

we need a way of interacting with hobos that’s the core gameplay.*
            card trading
            battle
            ?

boss battle with each hobo
street fighter-rpg
it must feel right for the Zelda/mario idea we’re going for.
I challenge you to a hobo off!
It doesn’t need to be antagonistic/searching for hobos is fun/gotta catch ‘em al
Lesser hobos up to legendary hobos or they are all legendary hobos and you have to deal with other npcs

we need to go farther-epic hobos-what makes them so fun?

Junkyard hobo-giant mech that forms

Dog hobo: roman chariot with dogs

Pigeon hobo: you hit him and its just a bunch of pigeons. He’s an ex magician. His coat is just stuffed full of pigeons. He tends to the birds

Hermit crab hobo: carries all this stuff around and when he sets it down he can open the door and walk inside. Extreme backpacker. Reflect hermit crab.
King of rats: coat of rats that looks like a king’s robe but its just rats holding on to each other. His rats form into a giant fist when he fights you.

What is the icon? What makes them unforgettable?
First impression should be unforgettable.

Bee beard: becomes exposed as he uses more extreme moves.

magic beard guy: doc oc with a beard. His feet never touch the ground. Multiple beard legs with the mustache as well.

Trash can portal dweller: portals and can give you the ability to travel- throws trash cans from his trash can to travel. Defeat him by trapping him in an eternal look.
Maybe it’s the string that connects cans that allow him to travel.

Chef hobo: controls his vegetables through dance. (dancing soldiers in wiz of oz) but he’s a terrible dancer but he can keep the beat. Defeat him through stomp style dance moves?

Dandelion head: everywhere he goes weeds pop up. Like a Disney princess but it’s cockroaches. Terrible for people with hay fever. He’s got the worst hay fever of all(Sneezy) like a chia pet where he has so much dirt the weeds can grow on him.

Spider lady hobo: ? figure out how to make her iconic

Soot guy: extremely flammable but can disappear and reappear anywhere on the train. First read must still be hobo and then you add the magical element.

music hobo:  one man band? Made out jug band instruments? Huge guy that carries around the rest of the band.

balloon hobo: has super baggy clothes that inflate and lift him into the sky. He’s got a basket/barrel around him like a hot air balloon. Figure out how to solve the inflation problem.

1890's to 1930's is the time frame we’re pulling from.

Assignment: upgrade our hobos and push them much further. First read must be hobo.